Third Time's A Charm!

My third attempt at the rolled brim hat. Success! It actually fits! Woo-hoo! To celebrate I took my daughter out to feed the ducks. She wore her hat, too.

Flushed with success (or possibly just chilled from feeding the ducks in the rain), I am going to turn my attention to my mateless mittens... We'll see if I can't knit up some mates that match.

I Go To Extremes

Rolled Brim Hat - Part 2 (Different Yarn, Different Size)




The first attempt at the rolled brim hat resulted in The Hat That Ate Malmo. A giant hat that bore absolutely no resemblance to the original pattern. I blame it on the fact that I used the wrong yarn. So for the second attempt I was going to be smarter. I used the correct type of yarn. And just to hedge my bets, I made the 'small' size. Well, small it is! A little too small. For me, that is. It fits my daughter perfectly!




Stay tuned for Rolled Brim Hat Part 3 - Same Yarn, Different Size.

My Mom, the Knitting Machine

My Mom came to visit. She was here for two weeks and it was WONDERFUL. I miss my Mom. She used to knit when she was younger, but hadn't knit in over 30 years. But since I have recently 'discovered' knitting, she's decided to take it up again. Only, she had forgotten how to cast on. So while she was here I taught her how to cast on. (No easy task - my Mom is left handed and I am not.) But cast on she did. And she knit herself a scarf. Then she knit herself a hat. Then she decided to start knitting baby hats. And knit baby hats she did - 11 of them! (In like, a week.) She is going to talk her Red Hat Ladies into knitting baby hats to give to the hospital. She is a kniting machine. She is unstoppable. She is my Mom, and I miss her.

What Is It With Me and Big Hats?

I finished knitting the hat for my sister. I started by knitting for guage. I made guage, so I started knitting the hat. All seemed to be going well. Then I ran out of yarn, so I went back to the yarn shop and bought another ball. Certainly one extra ball would be enough to finish the hat. It wasn't. I had to go back for yet another ball. I started to suspect that something was wrong. I finished the hat and tried it on and sure enough - another giant hat. This one isn't as big as the hat that ate Malmo, but it's definitely related. Hmmmm, maybe her husband can wear it. Then I can make her another (smaller) one and they can have matching hats! Of course, that must have been my plan all along. I just hadn't realized it.

So Many Mittens, So Few Mates

I was so excited about how well my first mitten turned out that I wanted to make a pair for my daughter. So I set about making a mitten the size that I thought she would wear. It was almost too small, so I made a mitten the next size up. That one was just a little big. At this point I realized that I had three different sized mittens, and they didn't have mates. I thought it would be wise to knit the mates for them before I forgot what size they were and/or ran out of yarn. I started with the smallest mitten. it turned out 'okay' but the thumb seemed a bit big. This didn't stop me from knitting a mate for the next size up. But when I'd finished that one, there was a noticable size difference. Looking through my knitting bag I discovered that somewhere along the way I must have switched needle sizes, because I had three sets of dpns, when I should have only had two (one size for the cuff and a slightly larger size for the hand/thumb part.) Hmmmmmmm - what to do? Instead of ripping out the two mates and/or knitting for guage again, I made a wild guess as to which two size needles I needed, removed the other set of needles and proceeded to knit the last mate. I guessed wrong. And it is very, very obvious. Not just in appearance, but in how it fits. Well, um, it doesn't fit. Too small. The good news is, now I know what size needles to knit it on. A friend suggested that I rip out the last mate and start over, with the correct sized needles. My Mom said 'Well, you can make the odd sizes into Christmas ornaments.' I like that idea better - less work. Just have to attach a string to make it a Christmas ornament. And the best part is - now I have three ornaments to give as gifts! And here I thought I was just knitting mittens...

One Mitten

My husband went on a business trip recently. The first trip he's gone on since we moved to Sweden, so the first trip he's been on in over three months. I decided I needed a project to work on while he was gone. So I started a mitten. I've been wanting to make mittens for a while now. And I found some yarn that I thought would make a nice thick mitten. It was much easier to knit than I thought it would be. Wasn't difficult at all. And it only took me two days (well, two nights after I got the kids to bed.) Now I just need to make it's mate...

Not My Favorite Child...

My daughter, Lilli, is 21 months old. She is not my favorite child right now... The other day I was on the computer and Lilli was watching a video. Or at least I thought she was watching a video. It seems she'd decided to entertain herself with my knitting. I was about 1/3 of the way finished with a hat that I'm knitting for my sister. Lilli got into my knitting bag. She broke a couple of my wooden dpns into small pieces. Then she pulled my ball of yarn apart. Then she pulled the stoppers off the ends of my circular needles and pulled some of the stitches off. I discovered this when she started bringing me the pieces of the dpns. Now, Lilli is an adorable child and I love her with all of my heart. After several hours I forgave her, and reprimanded myself for leaving my knitting within her reach. Upon further inspection the damage wasn't too bad. The dpns were fairly cheap so I'm not the least bit concerned with those. And I was able to save the hat without having to rip it back. So all was not lost, and I learned a valuable lesson: Never leave your knitting within a child's reach.