Clarabelle is holding a raffle to benefit the UK Multiple Sclerosis Society in memory of her father. The prize? Your choice of hand-knit shawls. That’s right: she’s got three patterns posted, along with yarn choices. If you win, you tell her which one you’d like her to knit for you (I’d like Laminaria in the Laughing Rat Studio hand-dyed merino, thank you!). And Clarabelle is a lace knitter extraordinaire. If, like me, you’ve been ogling her beautiful shawls, here’s your chance. If you’re not familiar with her work, what are you waiting for? Visit her blog and check it out!
Quite a while ago, I promised a pattern for a hat-and-scarf set that can be knit from a single skein of Dream in Color’s Classy. This delicious, hand-dyed wool comes with a generous 250 yards to a skein. I treated myself to a single skein and then set myself the task of using up every last inch of it. Here’s the result.
My skein was in the Chinatown Apple colorway (Dream in Color’s web site shows this as a peachy shade, but the hank I got was much more green and gold), so I wanted a pattern that would echo the leafiness of the yarn’s color. I chose a lace from one of Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionaries, then rewrote it to add moss ribs between the lace panels to create a textured, woodsy feel.
If you decide to knit these as a pair, make the hat first. Then you can devote the remaining yarn to making the scarf as long as possible.
Getting Started
Yarn: one skein of Dream in Color Classy (4 oz./250 yards per skein) or equivalent
Needles: 16″ circular, straights, and double-points in U.S. size 8
Notions: 4 stitch markers, yarn needle for weaving in ends, scrap yarn and crochet hook for provisional cast-on (if desired)
Gauge: 4.5 stitches = 1″ in moss
Frondly: The Hat
Note: the band for this hat is knit lengthwise, then joined into a circle. The stitches for the sides and crown of the hat are then picked up along one edge of this band. Use your preferred technique for joining the band. I began with a provisional cast-on, then put these stitches onto a needle after knitting the band and joined the ends using a three-needle bind-off. You could also join the two ends with Kitchener stitch. Or, just used a traditional cat on and bind off, then seam then two ends together, using a yarn needle.
Six-Row Hat Band Stitch Pattern:
Rows 1, 3 and 5 (WS): K 4, P 5, K1, P1
Row 2 (RS): K1, P1, K1, YO, Sl 2 tog K-wise, K1, PSSO, YO, K1, P1, K3
Row 4: K1, P1, K2, YO, SSK, K1, P1, K3
Row 6: K1, P1, K5, P1, K3
Moss Stitch:
Round 1: K1, P1 around
Round 2: P1, K1 around
With the straight needles, cast on 11 stitches using method of your choice.
Work the six-row band stitch, until your knit piece fits comfortably around your head, ending with row 5. (I worked 19 repeats on the sample.)
Join band into a circle using method of your choice.
Using circular needles, pick up stitches between the single K and P rows along one side of the hat band (the other, ribbed edge will serve as the brim of the hat). Pick up approximately 4 stitches for every 5 rows of knitting, being careful to end with a number of stitches divisible by 8. (I picked up 88 stitches.) Place a marker between the first and last picked-up stitches.
Work in the round in moss stitch, until the piece measures 4.5″ from edge of band, ending with a P1, K1 round. On this last round, place a marker 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the way around the hat (in my case, that was every 22 stitches). You will now have four evenly spaced markers placed around your work.
Work decreases as follows, changing to double-points when necessary.
Round 1: K1, P1
Round 2: [P1, K1 until three stitches remain before marker, sl 2 tog K-wise, K1, PSSO] repeat a total of 4 times per round
Repeat these two rounds until 8 stitches remain, then clip the working yarn leaving an 8″ end. Run this counter-clockwise through the live stitches, then pull tight to close the top of the hat. Run this yarn to the inside of the hat. Weave in all ends.
[Courtesy of Melissa, who found this item in a $1 bargain bin.]
Me-arrrgh! Here be pirates!
Archy declined to participate in the festivities.
Please note, no cats were harmed in the photo shoot, except for maybe their dignity.
And in case you are wondering, it is a one-size-fits-most foam hat. Kind of an upside-down and reversed tennis visor, if that makes any sense. Or a rally hat.
Please join me in a stroll through the Napa County Iris Garden, courtesy of Melissa. (She would like to point out that the resolution is better on the original, but that this was all that was possible on You Tube.) As the sign explains, this has been a low-blossom year because of frosts lasting further than usual into the spring. We didn’t get to see the broad sweeps of color of thousands of flowers in bloom, but the individual blossoms were as lovely as ever.
If you visit the web site, be sure to check out the Photo Catalogue. If you have time to spare, you can have loads of fun playing the pick-one-favorite-on-each-page game.
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In knitting news, thanks to two ball games (plus extra waiting in line time to be sure of getting our swag) I am on the sleeves on the Peplum Cardigan and the yoke of Waffles for Brunch. I had difficulty getting myself to work this morning, as I suddenly realized that I could extrapolate a grid from Waffles at Brunch that would allow me to design my own child’s pull-over with multiple—and more complicated—stitch patterns. I’m looking forward to playing with this possibility soon.
I am absolutely delighted with my Grand-Plan Top-Down Capelet from Wrap Style. It fits; it’s soft; the colors glow like a spring sunrise; it even gave me the opportunity to do some fruitful digging through my button jar.
(Melissa loves me so much, she photo-shopped out my neck wrinkles—can we all say “awwwwwww!”?)
Yesterday, we went on an early Mother’s Day outing with my parents to the Napa County Iris Garden, so lots of spectacular flower photos will be coming up soon.
This weekend will be all baseball, baseball, baseball, as the A’s are having good give-aways, and we can’t resist swag.
Tonight we get the 1968-style hat.
Tomorrow, it’s the 60s-era sleeveless jersey in honor of Campy Campanaris.
I’m having one of those weekends that’s so lovely it could almost lead me to adopt the inanity of those “It’s all good” bumper stickers. (Don’t even get me started on those….)
• 1.75 Down, 0.25 to Go
I finished the Plaited Cable Cowl for my friend Ellen a week or so ago and have been working on one for myself in utterly delicious Cash Vero. I knew I needed one of these cowls to keep me warm at Giants’ night games, but for all my love of knitting, I am fickle as all get-out about what fibers I will actually wear. Knitting with wool? Fun. Wearing wool? Right up there with sand in my socks. Hence my love of the softness that is Malabrigo and my predilection for alpaca or alpaca blends. Cash Vero is 55% extra fine merino, 33% microfiber, and 12% cashmere, but it miraculously feels like 55% cashmere, 33% microfiber, and 12% wool. Under appropriate temperatures, I could swaddle myself head-to-foot in this yarn and feel perfectly comfortable. It’s not cheap ($8-9 for a 98-yard skein), but there are a great many yarns out there that are even pricier and not nearly as yummy. The colors are deep and shiny, a real treat for the eyes. I get mine at The Golden Fleece. If you’ve never knit with this yarn, I urge you to find a local stockist and try it out.
• Raffle-Mania
Cathy-Cate at Hither and Yarn is hosting her own Blogiversary Raffle. She’s asking knitters to donate to their choice of Doctors without Borders, Knitters for Knockers, or The House that Yarn Built. You get one raffle entry for every $5 (on-your-honor self-reported) donation, and the prizes are dreamy!—amazing hand-dyed yarns, including two different Doctors without Borders special editions, and an autographed copy of the Yarn Harlot’s latest book. Go check it out right now and see if you can’t give a little something. All you have to do is redirect the cost of a single latte purchase (the world will manage to put up with you uncaffeinated for a day) to some folks who will do wonderful things with it—and you might even get yarn in the bargain! (And if you’re not a liberal, latte-sipping Californian like me, surely there’s some other small treat you could forgo just this once.)
• Going Batty
I have a particular fondness for bats. It’s not a creepy, vampire, blood-sucking type fondness. It’s a hearty, aren’t their-little-faces-lovely? and aren’t-they-just-amazing-in-flight? fondness. So you can imagine how delighted I’ve been to stumble acroos not one, but two bat-themed knitting patterns recently. First off, there’s Monica Gausen’s Bathat. The pattern is for a child’s size hat and uses sock weight yarn, so a little math and a heavier gauge should result in a lovely adult-sized product. Second, there are the bat wrist warmers from Reliquary Arts. I’d like to make these longer with—surprise!—even more bats.
On Saturday, as I was up in the loft marking papers, Melissa worked downstairs on the computer. I could hear the buzz of a droning narration going on below, punctuated by sudden snorts of laughter from Melissa. I set the paper I was working on aside, went to check out the fun, and arrived just in time for the yodeling bit. Enjoy!
Since I have a huge stack of student papers to work through and my little house is a complete disaster, I have—what else?—cast on for a new sweater. This is, perhaps, not quite as foolhardy as it seems, since it’s just a child’s sweater: the Peplum Cardigan from Leisure Arts’ Daddy’s Little Girl.
I actually suspect there is a method to my madness. When everything else seems out of control, I take on a small, controlled knitting project. That way I can shelter myself on my little island of knitting sanity and accomplishment while the workplace and domestic winds rage just offshore.
I confess I have no idea whom I’m knitting it for. But that will not stop me! I will knit the cute little peplum. I will work the diamond-stitch pattern. Inch by inch, I will bring the ribbed body into being. And since this is a small sweater, I will do all this in a reasonable amount of time, thus providing a satisfying contrast to the slog that is student essays and a never-ending pile of dishes in the sink. I am not knitting for some child—I am knitting for me!
I am knitting this darling in some delicious, pumpkin-colored Highland Silk that I got on close-out at Elann. I realize it is completely wrong of me, but I can’t help doing a gloat-y bit of a heiner-wiggling I-got-the-last-of-it dance: life has been difficult, and snagging this yarn ranks as an important recent accomplishment. Please forgive me.
In other news, Kim Hargreaves has a new book out, Nectar, which is wonderful for her and for knitters everywhere, but completely unfair for me, since I haven’t even had a chance to knit anything out of her previous book, Heartfelt. The new book is slightly less my style than the previous one (by which I mean “more tight-fitting garments that look uncomfortable and would be rather gappy on my figure”), but it still has some beautiful knits. I particularly like
Honey—
and Joy—
And with that I leave you. Papers and dishes—and a few rows of reward knitting—await.
The project? This adorable child’s sweater, which she calls Waffles for Brunch.
As she points out, if you knit it for charity you don’t have to worry much about gauge—it’s sure to fit some child who needs it—so you can dig in and just start knitting. The pattern is simple, but interesting. I’m planning to work on one this weekend for my stop-and-knit-a-few-rows-after-marking-every-third-student-paper project.
If you decide to join in, I’d love to hear about it—and so would Jean, I’m sure.
Madam, I must reply to your assertion of last week that my three very fine cats, to wit, Archy, Maggie, and Damian, have “quirks”. I must point out that they are not guilty of this so-called quirkiness; they are merely asserting their individual eccentricities. Nonetheless, since etiquette demands an answer to your post, I will endeavor to paint a quick portrait of some of their more endearing qualities.
Archy:
1. Archy has a habit of forming lasting relationships with pillows. His longest-lasting, and most tragic, affair was with the lime-green faux fur pillow known as Brigitte. Brigitte had a difficult life, having been orphaned at an early age and raised in a convent by heartless nuns. She ran away to Sweden, where she survived as best she could until she found a job with Ikea, and moved to Emeryville, California, and from there to my house. While Archy proved to be fickle in his affections, Brigitte remained true, to the point of sacrificing herself in the search for Archy when he went walkabout in 2006. Archy has since developed a relationship with the less flamboyant but no doubt more comfortable flannel-covered pillows on my bed.
2. Archy will do anything to get a taste of the treats known as “Temptations.”
Maggie
1. Maggie also has a love interest: fleece-on-a-stick. She loves loves loves fleece-on-a-stick, to the point that if I cruelly refuse to play with her constantly, she takes it in her mouth and drags it along after me, pausing occasionally to drop her amour and meow pitifully: “Please play!”
2. Maggie is practicing to be a saint. She does this by rolling her eyes heavenward, much like the paintings of Murillo or El Greco. She believes rolling your eyes is all you need to do to become a saint…and since she is a divine kitty, I suspect she’s right.
Damian
Ah, Damian…so many eccentricities, so little time. Here are two.
1. Damian likes beer, but is scared to death of beer bottles. If I am drinking a beer, Damian will sneak up and lick the beer bottle or glass, thoroughly cleaning it to the last drop. Blow into the beer bottle, however, and the deep hooting noise will send Damian running, literally shaking like a leaf.
2. Damian wants to be a hairdresser when he grows up. He loves hair, and if given the chance, will grip your head in his giant paws and groom your hair right down to your scalp. He has been known to leap across the room onto the shoulders of complete strangers to give their hair a good working-over (not the best way to charm prospective collectors when you are having an open studio!).
Now my conundrum: I am not a blogger, do not have a blog circle. Who to tag next? I will leave that to Sarah-Hope.
