Stripey hat and new Afghans for Afghans project...

Actually finished this one several days ago. Isn't it cute? A little too Christmas-y for my taste, but hey, I was being virtuous and using up bits and pieces of holiday wool from my stash. This one will go to Afghans for Afghans in their spring delivery. It's the (slightly modified) Helix Striped Cap pattern from 2007 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar.

Next I plan to make (at least) four more children's hats for AfA's special hat project to support the Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children. These need to be knit in solid colors to match the circus logo: red, light blue, yellow and lime green. I didn't have the colors, so I've just ordered the yarn from Peace Fleece and can hardly wait to get it. For anybody interested in doing this, the hats are due February 28.

Meanwhile, I'm doing a bit more stash-busting for small hats and perhaps socks.

Making More HEADway, LOL

That's a terrible pun; I should apologize. I have finished one more crocheted beanie, for DES whose birthday is next week and another Fun Fur beanie to send to Boston Childrens Hospital. The son's beanie was made in Lion Brand Cashmere blend, which really has a lovely hand to it, and would be luscious as a baby blanket or a sweater for me; glad to make a hat as a way to sample it. The fun fur beanie used one strand fun fur in hot pink, one strand bright red eyelash recycled from a failed project as my UFO Resurrection project for January, and one strand hot pink Lion Brand Microspun... I will take photos in good light tomorrow and post them on my blog. That makes five hats since I joined! I guess I really do make a lot of hats, which is what Sallee said to me when she invited me to join the group.

Three More

This week I took the pictures and checked them before turning the hats in. {g}









It's sort of amazing to me how much knitting I get done when I'm limited to a couple hours a day on the computer. I've been staying with my Mother (she very conveniently lives two blocks away) since she entered Hospice care and only get back here once or twice a day to handle email and blog. Fortunately, she's been getting stronger and I may be able to spend more time at home, but I'm still planning on spending the nights there and fixing meals.

Two More Headcoverings!

Last week, I managed to make myself a Calorimetry from some leftover Berroco Ultra Alpaca (and sure was grateful to be wearing it on a cold Saturday spent outside), and to finish a fun fur beanie for Boston Childrens Hospital Challenge(for a teen on the cancer ward) that Mini is shepherding along. There are now over 400 knitters making hats for this charity project, with a deadline of the end of February, in case you hadn't heard. I have started work on a second, and photos will be coming...


Calorimetry is really more of a narrow headscarf than a headband, but does a good job blocking the wind, and will be useful through the rest of the cold season. The color is really a purple heather... unfortunately, winter light doesn't make for the best photos.

Two More, One Missing

Somehow, my camera ate the photo of the last set of three hats that I made this last week, so I only have two sets to show of the 9 hats and 7 scarves I turned in for charity this last Thursday.





If anyone is interested in the pattern for the "window-pane" hat, it can be found here. I like to make them with a solid color matched with one of the Caron Rainbow Dreams colorways (Tradewinds is my favorite), but the hats look nice with a regular variegated in the "windows" or even another solid color.

Egads! I scared the cat!

Actually, we both look a little crazed, no?

It's my version of the Bobble-Edged Hat. (I told you my bobbles come out more like blumples.)

In spite of the clear resemblance to a bathing cap or knitted toilet paper cozy* or retro lampshade, I really like this hat.

It was fun to knit, and I think I'll do it again, perhaps in the Patons SWS Geranium colorway (or whatever that pinky-green one is). I'll make it just a tad smaller for my little pea head (I'm thinking about fulling this one a bit). I might leave off the bobbles, although they're kinda growing on me. (No, not literally.)


Hats are a necessity in Alaska... It's currently -42 F at my house. But I hate wearing them because I have such thin, fine hair that I always end up with a horrid case of hat-head. This hat, tho, is structured just enough and fits loosely and lightly enough that it doesn't mash my hair down too much.

[Thanks again to my wonderful ISE3 scarf pal, Pennie, for knitting the scarf and dyeing the yarn for it and the hat.]

*The photo above shows the hat drying on a coffee can. It looks a little more normal flattened, but it's definitely a bit daffy on me.

Caps to the Capital

Hello everyone! My name is Mallory and I'm new to the KAL. This is my first KAL and I'm excited about it! I'm posting a picture of the three hats I sent in to Caps to the Capital. They're all made with Sugar and Cream yarn using the Caps to the Capital pattern. I look forward to knitting lots more hats!

Hats, heads and patterns

I suppose it it good that my hat recipients like their hats so much that I don't have pictures of them... Or are the 2 totally unrelated?
At any rate, my SIL, brother, and supervisor all wear their hats nearly daily (a feat in this freakishly un-winter weather).
SIL and brother have my own designs - patterns to come someday. Supervisor has my 1st fake isle (magknits.com) hat. And then... I made a negative one. I had justenough! yarn to finish it and fell in love with it so I kept it :) Obviously we don't wear them at the same time, in fact I haven't even told her that I have it. As soon as my camera stops misbehaving, I'll post pictures.
I'd sworn off hats for a while as I HATE DPNs. Then I discovered magic loop and the fact that I can knit a hat in just a few hours and I'm back on the hat-wagon.
I may have mentioned before, but I'm in the process of writing a winter accessory book - any contributions would be fantastic and of course you'd get full recognition and rights to your pattern. So far, I have 3 hat patterns, 1 mitten pattern, 1 scarf pattern, and 1 felted bag pattern.
Thanks for reading!

Finally! I joined this KAL just before it went on vacation. So I haven't been able to count any hats, even though I've been knitting a lot of them. I'm so glad the blog has been revived.

I made six hats in the last month and two the month before. All but the one on the top left were for Caps for a Cure. The top left is a hat I made up to match My So Called Scarf. I made it for myself because I love the yarn, but may give it away if the right person comes along. :)

I love seeing all the great hats posted to this KAL. The variety is wonderful.

A Swirlie!

My ice cream swirl cap in leftover yarns from Peace Fleece and Elann Pervuvian Highland wool.

This hat is really cute, and the pattern is from Caps for Kids, but I doubt that I will ever make another, simply because it is a parallelogram with color changes that either result in lots of twisting to carry the colors up the side or lots of ends... in my case, I used the side with the ends for the top, and incorporated them into the pompom.

In case your family and friends are sick of you trying to pawn hats off on them, or simply because you want to help out, go on over to Mini's and check out her charity project making fun fur hats for young people ages 10-16 at the Boston Children's Hospital chemo unit. These kids are taking losing their hair well by donning fuzzy, fake-hair hats. I dove through my stash and came up with some unused Fun Fur in pale orange and hot pink, and also picked up some bright red Fizz on sale at my LYS to help with this great project.

Okay, I give up.

He's worse than a young'un. I've begged, pleaded, cajoled and chased DH with the camera to try to get a decent photo of the Patons SWS hat and scarf. Finally cornered him, and this is my reward: a blurry, less-than-happy-looking shot. He swears he's delighted with the knitting; he just hates standing still for a pic.

The colors aren't true in the photo. This is the Earthtones colorway, and it really has more greens and browns in it, although the greys and pinkish beige tones are definitely there. I enjoyed knitting with the SWS and highly recommend it for softness, but only if you don't mind fuzziness. I'm thinking felted something-or-other for my next foray with this yarn.

In the meantime, I've decided to knit the Bobble-Edged Hat for myself using the beautiful jewel-toned wool yarn dyed by my ISE3 pal to match the scarf she knit me.

One problem. I forgot that I hate making bobbles. Am I the only knitter whose bobbles come out more like blumps? I cast on with my DPNs, hated it, frogged it, cast on again, knit past the bobbles and then realized that somehow I was knitting the hat inside out (sheesh), frogged it... And now three's the charm. I'm still not thrilled with my Blumples, but I'm liking how the rest of the hat is shaping up. Should finish in the next couple of days, I hope...

Triple Header

Yesterday, I turned in nine hats to our K4 Charity Knitting (& Crocheting) group at the Senior Center. You can see them in detail on
my blog, but in the meantime, here's the whole stack.

New to the KAL

Hello everyone! My name is Hannah. I am a social work student in Boston and an avid (perhaps obsessive) knitter. I just discovered this KAL and thought it timely as I am about to embark on designing and publishing a book of winter accessory patterns. Here is my first charted pattern (that I wrote) and my first FO of 2007.
This one is my own pattern - Song in My Head. The picture is dark so you can't see the beautiful varigations in color, but it's the only picture I have on this computer right now. It is being blocked on a ballon - I need to order some head blockers I think....
As soon as I test knit the pattern once more, the pattern will be available for purchase.












Pattern: my own
Yarn: SWTC Karaoke - 1 skein of Ocean, 1 skein of Black Sheep
Needles: US size 7
Modifications: None since I wrote the pattern as I knit the hat :)

And this is my first FO of 2007 - Fake Isle, a free pattern from Magknits. I love the colors and hope the recipient will love them too!










Pattern: Fake Isle from magknits.com
Yarn: 1 skein SWTC Karaoke in Epiphany, 1 skein Nashua superwash worsted in light blue
Needles: US size 7
Modifications: I went up a needles size since I didn't have a size 6 with me and I wanted to start. I knit the S/M on the larger needles and it fits me perfectly and hopefully will fit the recipient as well.

Sneaking In a Crocheted Beanie

Hi, everyone, I'm Birdsong and recently joined the KAL, after making several knitted hats in 2006, mainly for myself, one son, or a charity. I have the yarn set aside to knit myself a headband a la Calorimetry to wear snowboarding and hiking (I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where exercising in winter involves preparing for the cold first), and also a knitted beret before spring.


This is the first crocheted hat I have made in over a decade... talked into it by eldest son who says that crochet beanies are all the rage amongst snowboarders, and claims they are warmer (and this from the son who has gotten the most knitted hats from me from anyone except charities!). The yarn is Kathmandu Aran and is lovely and soft to work with... there is a thread hanging from the back just in case it doesn't fit him as well as it does me. The pattern is my usual even increase one that I have been using for crocheted hats since about 1974...double crochet until large enough, then a band of a few rows of single crochet for snugness, much like ribbing works in knitting.