The Hat that Could Not Be Lost

Let me tell you a wonderful story about the hat that could not be lost.

The protagonist of this story is a lovely hat. The black, squishy, yet washable yarn holds the intricate and simple cables well. It goes with all of my coats and is worn so often there is a ring of foundation around the brim. The extra ribbing covers my ears perfectly and it hugs my head without being to snug or too slouchy. My fellow knitters will understand it to be a Traveling Cable Hat made with black Cascade 220 Superwash yarn. It is four winters old, which is something like 80 in hat years. Aside from the aforementioned ring of foundation, it barely shows its age.

It is a good hat.
It is a hat that knows where it belongs and always find its way home.

About me: I lose a hat a year or just about. They're left in cabs for the most part, though perhaps they fall out of bags, pockets, or the hood of a coat. Not this hat, though. This hat has fallen out of my hood on the subway in a distinct manner so that a fellow New Yorker could see it, and call out to me in time to collect it before the doors closed. It is a special, loyal hat.

Birmingham, Alabama was chilly in January 2019. Expecting weather in the 50s, I almost did not bring this hat with me on my sales call. However, the morning I left New York was cold, so I donned the hat without thinking. I was glad I did. The rental car was chilly at first.

Purse overflowing with not only the usual items, but also my work laptop and folders of presentations, I went to my account's offices to sell some great books. The day grew warm and as I left their offices I tossed the hat on top of my purse and rushed back to the hotel to meet colleagues for dinner. Quickly, I deposited my sales materials into the hotel room and left for dinner. I had wished the hat had come with me as we left the restaurant as it was quite cold that evening. The hat was not in my hotel room when I returned.

Disappointed at losing the hat, I made plans to use a bit of extra time the next day to visit a yarn store in Birmingham and to knit a new favorite hat on the way home. I opened the passenger side door to place my (still overflowing) purse on the seat and was greeted by the hat!
"What's new?" it seemed to say.
Delighted to be reunited, we went to breakfast (and still to the yarn store because, well, now I wanted to knit another hat anyway!).

All day we traveled together. We had tea at Starbucks and meandered to the airport together, waiting for our flight. We walked almost a mile from the gate to the taxi stand at Laguardia together. The cab was warm and after spending so much time together, we needed our space so I left it reconnect with the (still) overflowing purse.

The next morning I went looking for the hat. It was perfect weather for this hat and the coat I was planning on wearing gets along so well with this hat. Yet, I could not find this hat. With disappointment, I put another hat on my head and left for work.

The day was busy, but I thought about where I could find more Cascade 220 and when I'd be able to manage that during the weekend. It was a good hat. It needed to be re-made.

My husband will not have even 1 beer before getting into the driver's seat of a car, so I suggested we take a Lyft to and from dinner. He agreed. Beer and a plan in place to re-make the hat allowed me to relax enough to forget about the hat.

Forget about it I did. Until we arrived home. The Lyft driver stopped the car. I got out and spotted something on the black road.
Could it be?
Yes! It was!

Lying there on the road. Soppy, soggy, and sad, but happy to be found! My hat!
Happy to be brought inside the nice, warm apartment to dry out and rest after prolonged adventures. Waiting to be washed so it can take its rightful place on my head once again.

Delinquent Blogger

I've been up to a lot recently.
Let's start with what I was up to in 2010.

1. Pearl Ten Malabrigo Feather and Fan Cowl
2. Bergen Street Mits
3. Sock 2 of the Pinstriped Jaywalkers - I got sock one and skein 2 at a swap, I just needed to complete the second sock
4. Hoot - an owl barrette for Kara
5. Sparkly Spiral Knee Socks
6. *KNITTING OLYMPICS PROJECT* Tangled Yoke Cardigan (didn't finish in time for a medal, but I did finish it, and I wear it all.the.time.)
7. Ingenue from Custom Knits
8. Bee Sweet Mohair shawl on the Bias - this was a sample I knit for Annie & Company Knitting
9. Damson - this was also a sample for Annie & Company Knitting. I loved this pattern and will no doubt knit it again.
10. Brown Baby Bobbi Bear for Desi, Illanna's baby!
11. Ishbel - this was also a sample for Annie & Company Knitting. They forced me to knit it out of Jade Sapphire 2-ply Cashmere. It's dreamy. I ended up returning some yarn at Purl yesterday and got some Jade Sapphire 2-Ply Cashmere/Silk to knit one for myself.
12. Rainbow Half-Assed Leyburns - Maybe I'll knit the actual pattern sometime. I was too lazy and the pattern wasn't showing up in the solid colored yarn I was using. Still love these socks though. They make me happy.
13. Seraphim - I started this shawl in Hawaii in 09 and finished it sometime in the summer of 2010.
14. Silken Straw V-Tee - I decided to turn this into a tank top, but I might try to put some sleeves on it anyway. Kaplan has some sort of policy where you can't wear tank tops to work.
15. Monhegan - I knit this sample for Nora Gaughan. Unfortunately, every time she's pinged me to knit a sample for her after this I've been busy. The most recent time with freelance for The Knitting Book
    - forthcoming from DK Publishing. :(
16. Kai Mei socks by Cookie A.
17. Twisted Carrot pillows for Heidi & Stew's wedding gift
18. Briar Rose Quincy hat - which I've already forgotten in a cab and have lost
19. Briar Rose Quincy Scarf - which still matches the hat, wherever the hat is...
20. Nutkins out of Mountain Colors Barefoot in Mountain Tango colorway - God, I love these socks. This yarn is still one of my favorite sock yarns.

The only reason I got so much done was because I spent a few months there being unemployed. The stash came in REAL handy, I'll tell you what. I really wish there were a viable way for me to just knit all the time and support myself that way. The amount of money I was bringing in during that time from knitting, however, just wouldn't have cut it on its own (I should give a shout out to the Federal and NYS Department of Labor for those unemployment benefits).

In 2011 so far, I've managed to knit two baby gifts already.
A Robbie Robot from DangerCrafts for Bess and Jeff's baby boy (born this week!).


This pattern was fun, but for some reason kept crashing the Goodreader app on my iPad. It worked fine on the Goodreader app on my iPhone 4 though.

And yet another Baby Bobbi Bear for Beth and Erich's baby boy to come. (I can't get enough of this pattern, it's so adorable!)



I'm working on a gift for my brother's wedding and I'd also like to knit an Ishbel before wedding season because I know I'm going to get cold at all these weddings. I had some extra yarn from the Robbie Robot and the Baby Bobbi Bear to return to Purl on Friday, so I picked up some Jade Sapphire 2-ply Silk Cashmere in Sterling:


I think that'll be a gorgeous Ishbel, right?!

I have so much more I've been thinking and knitting about, but I'm really interested in drawing a little tonight, so I think I'll hop on that instead.

My Knitting Olympics Project = Finished!

Green TYC = Done. I used the same exact buttons on this sweater as I did on the red Tangled Yoke Cardigan I made a couple of years ago, just in a nice kahki color.



I haven't tried it on really yet, so I'm not sure if it fits. I think it might be a little too big because I think my gauge was a bit off. No doubt there will be more photos once I've worn it. :)

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Question now is, what do I knit now!? I've got a Seraphim shawl on my needles, I haven't finished the bucket hat I started (mostly because I"m terrified it's going to be too big!) and I'm thinking it will be too warm soon to knit the Malabrigo Blanket. So I'm thinking of casting on something new.

I have a sock that Bev knit a while ago. I got both the sock and the yarn for the second sock. I really could use a pair of black and grey socks.

At the same time, I do have this lovely Madelinetosh DK yarn. And I'd love to knit Ingenue out of it from Custom Knits.

Wednesday night I'm going to Jersey for a business trip and I have another this weekend to Boca. I think I could probably finish that one sock during one or both of those trips, but then I'd have all that extra time without a project, so I'm leaning towards Ingenue. I'm having a bit of trouble getting gauge though. If I can't get gauge, I might just bring the sock and the Seraphim Shawl so my bases are covered.

Rhinebeck Tank Sundress

Where have I been? Well, most of late August and Early September were in preparation for this:


Clicking on that will take you to a nifty slide show.
Stan and I went to Hawaii. It was utterly amazing and if you ever get the chance to go, you certainly should! They're not kidding, it truly is paradise.

You may remember right before I left a couple of posts on the sizing of a tank top. I'd like to show you the results, if I may:


From the Spring/Summer Vogue Knitting, this is pattern number 25. I knit it up with Handmaiden Double Sea Silk on size 6 needles for the most part. Funner details can be found on Ravelry. I did end up knitting the size 36 and it fits PERFECTLY. I might have done with another set of smaller bust darts, but it does fit fine and dandy. You'll also notice it's a better photo of the hat that I made at Illanna's that one time.

Also making it's debut in Hawaii was a dandy new sundress I sewed up from a Heather Ross pattern:


I just love the pattern on this fabric. It's Marcus Brothers from their Rainbow Gardens design line called Pink Paisley Garden 1139-0126. I fell in love and purchased it at Purl Patchwork.

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So those are new FOs. I regret to inform everyone that I won't actually be making it to Rhinebeck this year. I was really looking forward to it, but it's not going to happen this year. My stash is already massive, so it'll survive and I think it will only make things better for next year. If someone wants to pick up some beautiful Briar Rose for me though, rest assured that I'd find a way to get some dollars to you for it!

The reason I can't go is actually quite a joyous one. My little brother recently got engaged to his girlfriend! While they don't have a date exactly yet, they're thinking it will happen April or May of 2011. We're all super excited for them, and their engagement party is the Saturday of Rhinebeck. So while I'm bummed I'm missing Rhinebeck, I really couldn't have asked for a better reason to miss it!

Now accepting interesting ideas for knitted wedding gifts. I really want to knit her a garter, I don't know why, I just do. So if you come across any interesting patterns for garters, drop me a line. I found one on Ravelry, that I've added to my queue, but if anyone finds another one that's equally interesting, let me know!

I Know Why They Call it the Hemlock Ring Blanket

Because it makes you want to drink Hemlock like Socrates.


What is this, you ask? It's the stitch count for the 8 different sections once i got to the second to last repeat of the pattern. As you can see, it's off by a bit. Four of those sections had the same number of stitches, but not one section had the same number of stitches it was supposed to have. This occurred the Saturday before Christmas. So I started tinking back. I didn't know how far I was going to have to go, and since my markers were all in the right spot, I figured that tinking was the best option.


I put the Hemlock Ring Blanket on a bit of a timeout and while I was tinking I made myself a cowl.


It's from Knit 2 Together. I absolutely love it. It's knit out of Malabrigo Worsted and it's the warmest thing. I could live in it for life. I might have to knit a couple more of them so I can wear it with each coat (I just bought a new bright orange snow jacket for when Stan and I go snowboarding in January).

Finishing the cowl gave me enough motivation to get back to the Hemlock Ring. In total, I tinked back 36 rows I think. Here's what my diagram looked like after the fact:


So, I moved inward every time I got back to a row that was right before a decrease row. Good thing I only had to tink back that much, otherwise I'd have to re-do the chart. You'll see there are three sections in the middle that are circled. They're all off by only one stitch so I said to myself "fuckit, I'm just going to fudge that one part." Fudge it I did, and I think it turned out ok. I've been on the right stitch count now for quite a while and I'm almost back to where I was when I noticed things were awry.



In the meantime, I've gotten a little antsy. I realized that now that I have this bright orange snowboarding jacket, I need a hat that will match. Something about light blue and sparkles doesn't seem like it will go well with the orangeness. So I stopped by Knit One, Purl Too in Wakefield, RI when I was home and scored some Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL to knit up into a hat. I found a Lucky 7 hat pattern on Ravelry and cast on. I've got two repeats out of 8 done, and while I was hoping to get it done yesterday on the ride from RI to NY, dawn was way too late and I didn't get a chance to. So I'm still chugging along on it.


So that's all I've got now. I'll leave you with some photos of the Red Sox Socks I knit for Beth. I've given them to her for Christmas so it's safe to post them! I'll probably post some sort of 2008 wrap up soon. It's the best way for me to keep track of what I knit every year. Then I can re-set the status bars on the sidebar.

Finished Object Wedgewood Blouse!!! (part 2)

So I finished it, and I blocked it.



That's a horrible photo of me because I look wide and my boobs are somehow at different levels (bra finding is on the agenda for this weekend). I should mention, that neither of these aspects are the fault of the fabulous photographer Ms. Needleworks, herself.

Personally, I think the neckline comes up way too high. I also think the sleeves are too tight, and it should be longer. You might noticed this as being generally too small. In fact, I'm realizing that I knit the pattern at least one size too small. Most of the patterns I've knit from Norah Gaughn's book I've had to make a bit smaller, so I thought I'd just start at the smaller size with this one and that it'd all work out. Nope. We'll see how much wear I get out of it. It was really fun to knit, and if i get the capital, I'd love to try knitting it again in the right size. If I really never wear it, it might end up with my roommate.

Knitting this project did teach me one thing, however, it requires visuals, and flickr just went down, so you're all going to have to learn my lesson either the hard way, or when I update tomorrow.

Thank You Kings County Supreme Court

Were it not for you, I would not have finished the Uptown Boot Socks out of Fleece Artist Merino Sock quite so quickly. Yesterday started around 8:30 AM just past where I picked up stitches for the gussets. I finished jury duty today with a pair of socks!


Alright, so I finished them at The Point last night - but I got most of the sock done at jury duty, so I still think it counts for the court (much in the same way that the starting pitcher get the win or loss of a game even if they bring in a releiver).

I'm wearing them today, and they're making my feet quite comfortable. Check out these heels too:


They were knit with the aforementioned Fleece Artist superwash yarn on size 1 addis. It took a rediculously short amount of time to knit these. I cast on for these on March 24th making the time it took to knit these a little longer than two weeks.

I'm on a finishing roll! I think I'm going to bring those slippers from Weekend Knitting I started in my pre-blog days to The Point to see if Josh can help me decipher the instructions. They're all knitted, they just need to be assembled and sewed together. I couldn't figure out the finishing instructions about a year ago, so I'm hoping that betwen Josh and I we can figure it out. They were supposed to be a Christmas gift to my mother about three years ago. They're a bit late.

I've only got about thirty rows left to do on Icarus! That makes it sound like less than 15,120 stitches right?

But I'm all ready to cast on for a new pair of socks out of my Socks that Rock in colorway Rhode Island Red! I think I'm going to do a relatively simple ribbed sock with just a cable down the sides. Easy, quick and hopefully it'll let the yarn show itself off!

My Brother's Reflection Aran Pullover

I gave my brother the Reflection Aran Pullover today.



It fits! I was mostly concerned about the arms because my brother's rather muscular thanks to the amount he plays baseball and the physical labor job he's got. But it does fit him quite well.

My brother though, he really should be a model.


I think he likes it:



I made him sign copies of the rules and copied all the blog entries on the sweater and the email I sent to my family with pictures of the sweater. Then I blew up the photo I took where I spliced his head onto the sweater. And I bound it all up. I'll bring a copy to SNB this week.

REFLECTION ARAN PULLOVER

Full post tomorrow.