Fast forward until after the holidays, when I am back on my feet after a bout with bronchitis, and looking for something to re-introduce my hands to knitting that doesn't involve lace weight yarn or intricate patterns. That eliminated all of my current WIPs, and KD mentioned the hat-grandmother situation.
Not one to tempt the gods of gauge, I demanded to know the pattern and yarn that KD had used in her hat, only to discover that the yarn had been Discontinued. Taking a deep breath, I plunged into the previously unexplored world of stash trade on Ravelry. Sure enough, several people had the yarn, and in delightful colorways. I picked a color, and since I only needed a single skein, chose someone with just a single skein to sell.
The transaction concluded smoothly, the yarn arrived, and yesterday, I cast on a hat.
This morning, I finished it. Is there any sweeter instant gratification than a bulky weight, single skein hat?
Pattern: Capitan Hat
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky Hand Dyes in Ireland
Needles: Size 10, size 8
Mods: I used the size 8 needles for the inside of the brim, starting with the purl (fold) row, to make the fold lie along the edge the way I wanted. And like KD, I left off the button band trim.
That left just enough leftover yarn for a pair of fingerless mitts. After staring at several patterns, I closed my laptop, cut the leftover yardage in half, and cast on 32 stitches. This gave me a chance to try out Jeny's Stretchy Slip Knot Cast On, which KD had demonstrated for me, but which I still suspected might be a scam. Turns out, I like it a lot. I worked K1, P1 ribbing until it reached from my finger knuckles to the base of my thumb, tried out Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off over the next six stitches, then put them back on the next row, making nothing but a buttonhole thumb. In the interest of making them as long as possible, I finished with EZ's sewn bind off. I love Jeny's, but it uses more yarn. Then I made a matching mitt from the other half of the yardage, took pictures, and mailed them off. A successful doodad.
Doodad, you say? Doodads, as everyone knows (after reading this), are things you make out of leftover yarn (way less than a complete skein) that you just can't bring yourself to throw away. Once it's been made up into something, I can throw away the object if it was a total failure with much less angst than throwing away unused yarn.
For instance, I made these Jaywalkers for myself recently (my beloved brown ones bit the dust, and I couldn't resist the colorway of this yarn). They turned out slightly too small, as I was overcompensating for the stretchy yarn, so they are KD's now. I made the leftovers into little socks for my niece, but toddler sizing is never going to be my strong suit, and she couldn't even get them on, despite all the stretch. I tossed them without a pang. Pattern: Grumperina's Jaywalkers
Yarn: Paton's Stretch Socks in Spumoni Stripes
1 comment:
Love the projects. The hat is super cute. I love it. Wanna make one for Eldest Munchkin now. It would look super cute on her.
I desperately need fingerless mitts myself. The apartment is freezing. And the office at home is the *worst*. It is an enclosed porch. It is clear that they didn't bother with anything like insulation when they enclosed it. To make matters worse, there is a massive glass picture window that just pulls all the heat out. (The landlords answer seems to be that since it is really an enclosed porch, it isn't part of the space. So just close the door on it. *blink*)
I had gauge on my Jaywalkers and they still were way too tight. It seems to be a common issue with them. If I ever made them again, I would definitely cast on more stitches. They are fun, but I confess I don't foresee making another pair. They look adorable and I bet they will be well loved.
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