NuttyIrishmanKnits

Come Fly With Me

Butterfly Hat by Sofiya Cremin
knitted in Malabrigo Merino Worsted, Vetiver
knitted on US size 5 & 6 Addi Turbos
Ravelers find it here.

I really wanted to get one more thing in under the wire for Malabrigo March, and when I saw this pattern yesterday on Ravelry I knew I had my knit.  Since I saw my friend Shelly's latest knit with floats I have been looking for a pattern to test them out on. 

This was a simple pattern to knit.  And once I figured out the basic idea of a float it was gang-busters from there on in.  I was even able to sit back and watch a little TV while working on it.  Usually, on a hat, I have to stick pretty close to the pattern, but this design was really easy to memorize.  I wanted to make a child's version of this hat, so I shortened the butterfly repeat from four to three.  And because of it, I had to reverse all my decreases, but that was a simple adjustment.  So for Round 4 of the decrease, instead of k5, k2tog, k3 to the end, I did k3, k2tog, k5 to the end of the round.  And then you just continue to reverse every round until finished. 

If you've never knitted floats before here's the only advice I can give, when you knit the floats together with the next stitch on the left needle, use your right thumb to lift the floats up and over the needle as you finish the stitch.  In doing this, you can actually see your work and don't have to worry about dropping the stitch you are trying to knit (which can be difficult to see when you are knitting five strands of yarn together with one stitch).  But other than that, it's really an easy technique to pick up on.  And I think the end result looks really unique.

It's starting to warm up here in Kansas, but I think Annabelle can still get some wear out of her Butterfly hat  on chilly mornings this Spring.  Plus it's knitted in Malabrigo, which is so light and fluffy it's really hard to believe it's wool at all!

And changing topics for a minute, I mentioned in a recent post that I had been tagged by Molly, and I had to go read up on being tagged to see what that even meant!  (You guys have to bear with me, I didn't even know what a Webkinz was until last week!)  So I'm supposed to tell you (and all of cyberdome!) seven facts about myself... some interesting, some weird.  (Molly they may all be weird...)

1.  I just began knitting last summer, June 2007 to be exact.  I first taught myself to knit and purl after Annabelle was born five (!) years ago, but I only managed a confused looking dishcloth.  So last summer, while I was digging around in my desk drawer I found my first pair of knitting needles.  You guessed it... size 8 aluminums!   And long enough to ground your house with, or as my friend Kandi says, add tassels to and take up the baton.   But this time it stuck (English rather than Continental), and I am rarely seen around my house without a pair of needles in my hands.

2.  My husband Andy and I met in high-school, and married after our first year of college.  We've been married fourteen years this August.  So, we've pretty much grown up together (he much faster than me!).  Sometimes you might see a picture of him here on NIK, but don't bet on it, he's a terrible model who poses!

3.  I love to run, and have recently taken up yoga, which is a big fat joke.  I am strung tighter than a drum and it's all I can do not to yelp at every down dog... but I'm getting there.   Slowly.  Who am I kidding?  I suck.

4.  I absolutely love to cook and make a batch of Bacon and Gruyère scones that'll blow your mind.  I'll post a picture of a couple next time I make them.  I'd like to add a page and link in the sidebar of some of my recipes.  Maybe I'll do that in the not so distant future.

5.  I am a crazy lady at my son Ben's baseball games.  Awful.  Horrible.  Ben is another member of our clan that you may see occasionally around here, but the only way I can get him to model is if I promise he can eat while doing so.  (But he's still the cutest nine-year old I know!)

6.  I am addicted to Anthony Bourdain's hilarious show, No Reservations.  He may be the grumpiest chef on earth, but I'd love to have dinner with him and just throw out topics to watch him cringe and cuss... Rachael Ray, vegans, boiled wart-hog... three topics I've personally watched him go ballistic on.  That guy is friggin' crazy.

7.  I can burp the alphabet.  Ahhhh.  Now that, my friends, is T A L E N T.

Okay!  That's it.  No more self-indulgent nonsense.  And I hope that will do for seven facts.  Actually I hope it didn't scare anybody away!  So I will wrap up this decomposing bit of a post with one of our favorite sayings when Ben chooses to give us an update on how things came out in the loo...

That was waaaay too much information.  ;-)
 

Are You Kidding Me?

Fake Isle by Amy King
knitted in Noro Cashmere Island, Colorway 10
Rowan Pure Wool DK, avocado
Ravelers find it here

I mess up a lot. But sometimes, I mess up so badly that I just sort of sit there, staring, thinking, are you kidding me? This glorious boo-boo is a humdinger. I mean, a whopper that I should have noticed, oh say... three days ago when I started this project? And not only is this my mistake, but I took a friend down the road with me, because I was supposed to be teaching her colorwork! Thankfully, she's such a great knitter that I didn't have to do a darn thing on that front. But I did tell her to knit Fake Isle (aka Faux Isle to we interior designers...) on size 3 and 5 circs! I meant to tell her 5 and 6's! I've had so many knitting projects going lately that I pretty much stay confused. And now, Shelly and I both have Faux Isles to fit our children! URGH!

And not only that, but I knitted mine in that incredibly sexy yarn, Cash Island, by Noro. Part cashmere, part wool, part mohair, it is seriously yummy yarn. Yummy yarn that won't be atop my head. Not this time, for sure. Right now, my, urgh! I mean Annabelle's hat has just finished blocking in (almost) hot water with the faint hope that it might actually fit me too. But it's a feeble dream. The last thing I want to do is force a hat where it does not want to go...

I've been knitting a lot the last few days. Sadly, I don't have too much to show for it, yet. I've been working on some patterns, which for me, can take several prototypes. (Thankfully not as many as Mr. Dyson!) And we started the KAL for Hemlock at the yarn shop. I only had to rip it out 5 times before fully grasping the concept. I'm considering myself lucky after some of the horror stories I'm now hearing! But Hemlock is so lovely, and once you get going, it really knits up quickly on size 10's. Hopefully I'll make significant progress in the next couple of weeks there as well.

So with Valentine's Day just around the corner, check back in soon! I've got a couple of new patterns that knit up quickly... but your honey will never know! Shhhhhh...

UPDATE: Thank goodness wool likes to loosen up a bit when relaxing in the bath. Fake/Faux/MY Isle hat will indeed fit atop my head! And after checking with Shelly, her hat fits her just fine too! Whew!

One More 'Gain*

It's still January right? For a few more days anyway. Although I don't think the temperature on the prairie has any intentions of rising much. This week we've seen mornings dipping below zero, so I believe another January Hat is in order! Actually, this one is going to hang out at our LYS, Twist, so it's going to be pampered a bit, unlike it's much worn first-cousin.

This one is an adult-small, knitted on US 3 and 5's using Cascade220 wool. The only thing to watch for in knitting this hat is making sure your tension is not too tight between snowflakes. Because they are spaced a bit, it could be easy to pull too much between each, which, on circulars, can be hard to gauge. If I find that my my yarn between flakes is straight, or stretched, I know I need to loosen up a bit, allowing for a bit of "droop." Tension with stranded colorwork can sometimes be tricky, especially if you tend to be a tight knitter (like me). There's nothing worse than finishing a great hat to discover that it won't fit on your head. Even with blocking!

And speaking of blocking, here we are before...

and after...

Now I'm thinking the only thing left to do for the January Hat is to come up with a pair of January Mittens. I'm not usually so matchy-matchy (like Miss Priss), but this hat just seems lonely without a matching pair. So we'll see if I have enough time before winter's over to come up with something! A little lagniappe!**

*one more 'gain is New Orleans speak for "one more time..."
**a lagniappe is New Orleans for "a little something extra..." ;-)
Ravelers queue it up here

Generic Braid Pattern for Knits

CO stitches designated by the pattern in Main Color. Place marker and join for knitting in the round. Round 1: Knit. Round 2: Bring MC to front as if to purl. Join CC and purl 1 stitch in contrasting color. Bringing the MC over the CC, purl the second stitch. Continue purling, bringing each yarn over the other, alternating colors. (This will cause your yarn to twist, so allow yourself plenty of tension.) Round 3: Beginning with CC, purl, continuing to alternate colors as in previous round, only bring each yarn under the previous yarn. (This will cause your yarn to twist the opposite direction, until completely untwisted.) Round 4: Knit in MC. Continue with pattern instructions.

For a really clean embellishment, knit the round before and the round after the braid in your contrasting color.

Hey, could you happen to be the most beautiful yarn in the world?

I know. That's such a long title for a post, but it's how I feel about my new yarn purchase. I've been ogling and fondling (yeah, really) this yarn at my LYS, Twist, for weeks now. I think one skein actually had a hump in it from my petting it. I am in love with this yarn from Rowan. And knew that I would have to use it for my first pair of mittens, Elizabeth Zimmermann's Norwegian's from Knitter's Almanac. I'm starting this project today and am so pumped about it! I thought long and hard about a color combination, that would have a great rustic feel to it. And that would suit me! I finally decided on this...

This morning I also finished blocking the Fake Isle Hat by Amy King. What a fun and thrifty pattern! I think I still have enough left from two different Kureyon skeins to knit one more. Andy walked past it and asked who it was for, then he really looked at it and said, "Ah, for you. That just looks like you." I agree. I really love the shades of charcoal and blue. But, I've already got someone in mind for it, so now I really must knit another!

Fake Isle Hat by Amy King
knitted in Noro Kureyon, 195
Cascade 220 Heathers, 9452
Ravelers see it here

Coffee & Tarts

Andy went to his first "Power Cycling" class this morning at 5:30. I don't think he intended to wake me up, but searching for a pair of sneakers you haven't worn in a year and a half will wake anybody up. So, up I got, and thought you might get a kick out of seeing the seriousness of my coffee addiction (see my About page). Here we are at 5:43 by my oven clock...

and again at 5:44... same clock.

Some may call it a problem, I call it a gift...

And I have to tell you I am a little bit freaking out right now. As of 3:00 this afternoon, I have had more than 200 visitors to the January Hat post today. That's a whole lotta people for a prairie wife. As a matter of fact I called Andy at work and sent him a copy of the pattern to proof for me one more time. (This is where his being Editor-in-Chief of his law school's law review comes in handy.) And he, once again, reminded me that he does not knit! And has no idea what any of it means. But you know, when you're freaking out, just having someone there to freak out at, helps a whole bunch. So, those of you who do decide to knit the January Hat, please let me know, send me a picture! I can't wait to see what you do with it! That's one thing I love the most about knitting... how we can take someone's pattern and revamp it into our own. Making something to suit you is a great luxury with knitting. And one I take full advantage of!

Now on to my latest FO. I just finished blocking Baby Tart by Cinnamon Cooper. This hat was a booger. But I think it turned out fairly well. It wasn't so much the bobbles that gave me a fit, it was the decrease! By the time I got into the decrease, and had to keep flipping back and forth in the instructions... bobble pattern, bobble decrease pattern, hat decrease pattern... I was completely turned upside down, and ended up winging the last of it. But I should have known this hat was going to be trouble from the start when I had to email the designer and ask, "Umm... where does it say how many stitches to cast on?." Yep, there were dark clouds gathering. But, I think baby Chloe will look adorable in it none the less!

Baby Tart by Cinnamon Cooper
Ravelers see it here

The January Hat

Well, it's January on the prairie, and things are getting downright cold. Yesterday morning's temperature gauge read 11 degrees. Ouch. Not to mention the ever-present wind. And inevitably the colder it gets the more my children want to be outside. With snow still on the ground from from last week's snow, there are forts to build, snowballs to make, and "backyard wars" to be had. Which means this mama stations herself at the window over the kitchen sink tapping the pane constantly... "put the gloves back on... back on, now. Thank you."

And it's with our continuing adjustment to a mid-west winter that I came up with the idea for a snowflake hat for Lulu. I've been mulling it over for several weeks now, since I picked up some white Cascade 220 wool. I knew I wanted to knit something fun and bright, much like the personality of Miss Priss. And it hit me as I walked past the hall tree last week, covered up with a pea coat, two down jackets, numerous hats and scarves, and Lu's bright pink vest, that I would knit the snowflake hat to match her vest.

Well, Lu was all about it, especially when I told her it would match her favorite vest. To match is that child's main concern. Always. We've had complete meltdowns in the closet picking out clothes for PRE-school. Did I mention she's four?

So with the permission of it's owner, I give you the January Hat. A warm hat for a cold month. The pattern download is available here,
and I do hope you enjoy! It's such a happy little hat, I'm really looking forward to knitting a couple more in bright Crayola colorways and gifting them. The pattern is repeated five times over 120 stitches, and is knit on US size 3 circulars. So for a small adult I would use size 3 and 5 needles, and for a medium/large I would knit one more pattern repeat (cast on 144 sts.) using size 3 and 5's. For a baby, I would cut out one pattern repeat, and cast on 96 stitches on size 3's.

The Inga Hat

Oh my goodness, do I love this hat! It may have something to do with the strong resemblance to the wallpaper in my bedroom. Or it could have something to do with stranded colorwork. I don't know, but it was a joy to knit! The only negative is that it is a big hat. And by "big" I mean, long... nearly 10 inches from stem to stern. You could easily dismiss the first few rows of this pattern though and customize it to fit.

I was terrified to block it. I have never "correctly" blocked a knitted piece before so I called on my friends at kathrynivy.com to find out how to do it correctly. Their directions worked perfectly! I soaked the hat in lukewarm water and wool wash for 30 minutes and rolled it in a beach towel and squeezed out the excess water. After that, I let it hang out overnight on the glass head until dry. That's it! Perusing patterns last night I also discovered detailed instructions here.

I could easily knit several more of Inga. But there are so many more great Norwegian hats out there, I'm looking forward to a new challenge!

Calorimetry Double-Time

Below is my pattern modification for the popular Calorimetry pattern found here. Materials: two contrasting colors wool, doubled up. US 10 needles CO 80 sts. Cut short rows in half. I worked 7 rows instead of the 15 specified. That's it? That's it! I knitted several of these for last-minute Christmas gifts. Each takes about an hour from CO to BO. Really, an hour.