Knitter in the Kitchen

I like the “friend activity” page on Ravelry because it exposes me to patterns that I might not otherwise see. That was where I came across the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern.

This pattern only uses one skein of Malabrigo, which is a big plus.

Sadly, though, I don’t think this beret works well on me. It isn’t slouchy enough and generally looks too small. I should have done at least another half of the pattern repeat before the decreases. I’m still debating whether to frog it and re-knit it, or to donate the hat to charity.

Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (Rav link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, Polar Morn, less than 1 skein
Needles: US #9, #10, #11
Mods: I used US #9/16″ needles for the ribbing based on project notes I found Ravelry. I think this worked well. The US #11s/16″ were for the main body. For the decreases I used US#10 DPNs. I’m not sure why the pattern calls for 24″ needles — I tried them and didn’t like how the stitches were overly stretched out. The 16″ needles worked just fine.

This year, Suzie has organized Knit with Love, an effort to collect at least 25 knitted hats that will be delivered to elders via the San Francisco chapter of Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly. Suzie is currently just over halfway to meeting her goal and will accept hats for two more weeks, so if you have time to whip up a quick hat please take a look at the link!

Pattern: Headline News Cabled Newsboy Cap from Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation
Yarn: Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes, Color 2003 Ecru, 2 skeins
Needles: Clover #8/16″, Clover #8/24″, Clover #10.5/16″, Brittany #10.5 DPNs
Thoughts: This was my first project in August, and unfortunately I feel pretty “meh” about it. Clearly I chose the wrong color yarn for myself; I was going for neutral so that the hat would match a variety of clothing, but didn’t consider that ecru doesn’t go so well with my skin tone. The yarn knits up thick and soft, but it was splitty so I wouldn’t use it again.  I found the decrease instructions rather confusing.  In the absence of pattern errata or clarification on the SnB website, I ended up emailing Wendy completely out of the blue to ask for help because she had knit the hat before. She didn’t know me from the next knitter, nor had I ever even commented on her blog previously, but she still kindly responded super quickly with detailed instructions. Wasn’t that nice?? All in all, this is not one of my favorite projects, but I’m glad I finished something! Yay!  Moving on now to the other projects on my needles…

Gifted to my lovely and talented friend Jen.

Thank you so much for the get-well wishes! My stomach muscles got lots of exercise this week from the constant coughing, but I am finally feeling better. Here are the promised sock photos:

Pattern: My generic 56 stitch toe-up sock with short-row heels
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Yarn, Plumicious, 2 skeins
Needles: US #1 / 40″ Addi Turbo for Magic Loop
Thoughts: Still had difficulty closing the gaps between the live stitches on the short row heel and the ones on the instep, but oh well. This project confirmed my prior feeling that knitting two socks at once really isn’t my thing, so if I do toe-ups again I will do them individually. Love the Claudia yarn!

I also managed to knit a hat.

Pattern: Sparkle Hat from Stitch ‘N Bitch
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky, M-34 Victorian Pink, less than 1 skein
Needles: US #11 / 16″ Addi Turbo and US #10 Brittany DPNs
Thoughts: About time that I knit this because I bought the large sequins two years ago! A little too much sparkle, but definitely fun!