NuttyIrishmanKnits

Rrrribet.

Top Down Bonnet from Hello Yarn
knitted in Cascade 220 wool, bright green, with small amounts of cream and dark brown for embroidery
knitted on Crystal Palace 35" bamboo circulars, US size 6
Ravelers find it here.

I've got just a few more days before I start a cross-country KAL (more about that later) and I've been searching the old queue trying to find some fun projects that knit up in a jiffy.  I've had this Top-Down Bonnet queued for some time and am glad I finally got around to knitting it!  I've seen so many lovely bonnets out there on flickr, and I have every intention of getting my hands on some of Adrian's yummy fat sock yarn and knitting a few.  (Note to Adrian, can you just accidentally lose a skein on sale day?  A skein of Horse Chestnut?)  When I first saw Liz's version I was in love!  It's one of my all-time favorite knits.  But, since Lu just got a pair of froggie wellies, well... she had to have a matching hat!

This pattern is so versatile.  My mind's been running through the different options you could use in knitting it.  Instead of ears I opted for eyes, so I shorted my increases to three from six, and then decreased only three times, every row instead of every other row.  For the final row I grafted seven stitches together instead of four, which is the same number picked up for the beginning of the ear/eye.  And because I needed to have eyeballs in a tight space, I used loose embroidery rather than crochet.

Annabelle's not interested in taking this one off.  I told her it looked like a night cap with her pink flannel robe, so she's content to wear it all day, singing "Wee-Willy Winkie."  Annie's little friend next door, Shanley Ray was very interested while I was embroidering the face, and asked for one too.  I am happy to oblige, especially since it's such a fast, fast knit.  I can't imagine how quickly the newborn version knits up.  Following the baby pattern instructions, I used worsted weight wool and US size 6 needles to make a  child's size.  And it worked perfectly.

So after a little run this morning, I'm hoping today is going to be a fairly lazy Saturday, and I can cast on one more Froggie Bonnet for Shanley Ray.  Or maybe I'll do Hello Kitty... or a big purple dinosaur... or Elmo! 

Then there's Cookie Monster, with the crazy eyes...

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!

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!

All Aboard!

Kiddie Cadet by Alice Schenbly
knitted in Rowan Classic Cotton Jeans, blue jeans
Ravelers see it here

My Jr. Conductor has an official Jr. Conductor's hat. And Annabelle is so excited about it! She wanted to wear her new hat to school today, but I hadn't sewn the bottom side of the brim on yet, and reluctantly she agreed to let me finish it.

What an absolutely delightful pattern Kiddie Cadet is! I finished the hat last night watching the Australian Open, and finished the brim this morning. The pattern was so easy to follow and made complete sense as I was knitting. The only thing I got flipped around on was adding the brim. Which is no surprise, because I always think I have the right side facing me, but I never do. Being left handed I get turned around! So the only thing different about mine is there is an extra row of garter ridges on the brim, and on the short rows I had to switch to purl when the directions called for knit and vice versa. But it was an easy adjustment and there were no hang-ups. And the extra garters worked perfectly for sewing the underside of the brim to.

I chose to make Annabelle's with the child-size pattern. I would normally knit the toddler for her, but this is my first time using Rowan's Cotton Jeans, and knew the hat would need to be able to endure both the washer and (possibly) a low-heat dryer. So I went up a size to allow for shrinkage. And even before being properly blocked the hat fits her well, even sitting just above her ears as denoted in the pattern.

So kudos to Alice! I love this hat! And will probably be forced to now knit one for myself using this great yarn again as well! So for all the NIK readers out there looking for a fun, fast, and adorable kiddie knit, I say All-Aboard for Kiddie Cadet!