Meet Summer

In my last post I mentioned that one of my friend's commissioned me to make three hats for him. The process hasn't been easy due solely to my own second guessing. The second hat was easy. I knew I wanted something that isn't " traditionally male" for the colour. Something bright and happy....something that will remind you summer in those cold rigid winter days. What better colour than yellow? I had just the right shade of it in my stash...cascade 220 in goldenrod. I think cascade is my absolute favourite go to brand. It really is an incredible workhorse yarn. After going through my favourite patterns in ravelry (it's A LOT) I decided to finally stop admiring Jane Richmond's patterns and just purchase one. I settled on Kathleen and went to work. The knit was easy and quick. I must admit I had some trouble reminding myself when to twist and when to not twist my stitches. Ravelry project page can be found here

FO:- Ribs Delight

A few weeks ago I was commissioned to make three hats for a male friend. I was told that I could select any colour I wanted as well as style. This made me very happy....for about two seconds. It sounded good...great actually until I became overwhelmed with second guessing every decision I made. For some reason I couldn't get pass my own self doubt. I even caved in and asked my friend for his input....that only led to several unnecessary arguments. I finally settled on a vintage cashmere ribbed beanie pattern. It spoke to me. It had everything I wanted for the first hat:- simple design. Didn't have any cashmere or cashmere blend yarn in my stash. Instead I settled on


The yarn was easy on my hands.



The hat looked smaller than it is...I made a few mods to the pattern. Pleased with the results



Ravelry project page can be found here
One down two to go....I've already casted on hat #2

Summer officially starts tomorrow....my knitting maybe taking a backseat to the sun....have a happy weekend!!!!!

Work In Progress:- Edgewater Socks

Since I've started knitting I've enjoyed knitting for others more than I do for myself. But every now and then I get the urge to make something for myself. After modeling the socks I knitted for my mom I fell in love with Handknit socks. I now understand the obsession :)

So naturally I had to have my own pair. This presented the perfect opportunity to do some stash busting. I settled on this beauty I received in a grab bag a few years ago.

I've never knitted with Lorna's laces before and I'm excited to say the least. I love the colours together. It has a few of my favourite shades. The yarn is Lorna's laces shepherd sock multi in the edge water colourway.

I am thankful for the socks with Sarah kal, it's been instrumental in my venture into the hand knitting socks world

Steady wins the race

Nope this post is not about a race of any kind but instead it's about socks. A few months ago, I casted on these bad boys. It was my first time working with sock yarn. I have a few skeins of them but never felt the urge to knit anything with them...not until the socks with Sarah kal. I learnt a new technique and a ton of patience. There were days when I ignored them, when the colours got on my nerves, when I didn't care for the pattern or the yarn. Don't even get me started on second sock syndrome. All in all it was worth it. I am happy that I stuck with it.

They aren't exactly identical but my mom could care less. She's just thrilled she gets another pair of socks :)

FO:- grey fusion hat

A few days ago in the middle of me working on another project I had the urge to revisit a hat I made a few years ago. Since I have started knitting I tend to shy away from doing colour work. I LOVE seeing other knitters display their colour work projects. Secretly wishing that I could do that...I've tried a few times and the result was always the same...horrible. I would settle for doing a stripe here and there but never too much because I have yet to master jobless stripes. But something in me was screaming that I try again. I couldn't ignore the urge much longer. With some leftover yarn and a new attitude I casted on grey fusion. I used the leftover yarn from Charlie, Mary Jane and Greyhaven to make this hat. I love it. I followed the pattern to a T and it came out better than I could have hoped for.

Inside of the hat

Closer look at the lining

Finished Object:- Mary Jane

Last week I finished a hat for Turk's mother. I went through a few patterns before I settled on Graham by Jennifer Adams. The pattern is simple, perfect for TV knitting. I love the texture of the hat. The only modification I made was to start the decreases before what the pattern calls for. It is now more of a fitted beanie and less of a slouchy one. I also used twisted stitches for the brim. It has a neater more defined rib than if I had not twisted the stitches.

Ravelry project page found here

Wrong Made Right

Yesterday I was frustrated and upset by the glitch in the mail system. A friend pointed out that my missing package "must be yarn stuff". I didn't mention what it contained at the time of my venting. There are times when I edit my yarn stories to my friends because ... Well they just don't get it. It's not their cup of tea, so every now and then I spare them the details. But yesterday, I realized that when someone knows you it is easy for them to read between the lines. I can't remember the last time I was this upset over a missing or a late package. Smiles...thank heavens today my mailbox contained the package. Hoorrrrraaaaaayyyyyy lol. All is well with the world now. The brand is new to me, I'm excited to see how it knits up.

Yarn:- schachenmayr micro grande in linen, mint, gold, deft blue, teal and red.
It is supposed to be worsted weight...looks and feel like a light worsted. I don't mind so much.