Chunky Hats

Chunky Hats

A week or so ago, I made a pair of slippers.  I had to buy a second ball of yarn to finish slipper #2, so I ended up with nearly an entire ball of leftover chunky yarn. Ugh!

I decided to make a hat.  You can see the hat above in white and shades of gray.  The yarn is King Cole Comfort Chunky Multi in a colorway called "Humbug".  I started out following a pattern on Raverly but ended up doing my own thing. I took some notes but can't refer you to a pattern for this hat.

The next day I saw a really cool looking chunky hat with cables on Instagram.  The pattern called for holding two strands of worsted weight yarn together to basically create chunky-weight yarn.  It got me to thinking about the leftover quantities of Cascade Pacific and Cascade 220 Superwash in my craft room.  I purchased the pattern called "Braided Cable Beanie" on Raverly and made the two hats above with big ol' chunky cables.  For the shorter hat, I held together two strands of Cascade 220 Superwash (one strand of a reddish-brown and one strand of a heathery-purple). I was running out of yarn so I made this hat way shorter than the pattern called for.  For the longer hat, I held together another two strands of Cascade 220 Superwash (one strand of silver/gray and one strand of lavender).  I like using up some of the random yarn in my stash and I love they way the hats look using two different colors.  I am sure I have yarn in my stash to make up at least one more of these cool Braided Cable Beanies.  

Here is the link for the Braided Cable Beanie (Click HERE).  This pattern is available for purchase on Raverly.  

One Hour Slippers (Crochet)

One Hour Slippers

On the internet the other day (Facebook or Instagram?), I saw a cute pair of slippers and I decided I had to go to the yarn shop to get chunky yarn so I could make a pair.  The yarn I selected was King Cole brand "Comfort Chunky Multi" and the colorway is "Humbug".  The pattern for these slippers is called "One Hour Slippers" and the pattern link can be found HERE.  A word of caution about this pattern is that the written instructions are not entirely complete.  There is a companion video link in the pattern on line and you have to watch the video in conjunction with reading the written instructions in order to have all the information.  I don't say that to be critical, but to be helpful.  Also, my ball of yarn had 116 yards and it was not quite enough to make both slippers. I had to get a second ball of yarn to finish slipper #2.  If you fear you do not have enough yarn, you can use a contrasting yarn in the cuff area of the slippers to ensure you do not run out of yarn. Specifically, you could do rounds 19 and 20 in a contrasting yarn.  Since I had a lot of yarn leftover in yarn ball #2, I made up a cute chunky hat.  I had so much fun making the chunky hat, that I made two more chunky hat. This is how things are in my world.  I'll show you the hats tomorrow!

Who?

WHO?

I hope that you can see that the design here is owls.

My sister's youngest daughter just had a baby boy. This is my sister's first grandchild and the first great grandchild for our parents. Pretty exciting stuff!  I made up this cute owl vest and matching hat and just got them mailed off.  The yarn I used is King Cole brand "Authentic Cotton Mix DK" and the color way is "Sahara".  I found both of the patterns on Ravelry (both are free).  

The link for the hat pattern called "Who?" can be found HERE.

The link for the vest pattern called "Owl Baby Vest" can be hound HERE.

I did add some small buttons for eyes on one of the owls in the hat and one of the owls in the vest. I do worry about babies and choking so I sewed those buttons on like my life depended up on it. I kind of like the look with just some of the owls having button eyes sewn on.  I am really behind showing you my latest finished objects.  More "show and tell" very soon!

"ALL-Ways" Cowl

"ALL-Ways Cowl"

This is a super fun pattern by Laura Nelkin.  If you look closely in some of the photos, you might see some green beads in there.  My beads match my yarn SO WELL, that you can hardly see them! Doh!

The yarn I used for this project is a worsted weight yarn from "Retold Yarns".  I bought it because the color way is called "I am Groot" (adorable!).  I made a Messy Bun Hat with part of the skein so I guess I have a matching hat and cowl now.  The "All-Ways Cowl" pattern can be knit with any weight of yarn and can be knit with or without beads. My cowl worked up quickly since I used worsted weight yarn. I just kept knitting until I was almost out of yarn; however, I would have liked for my cowl to be slightly wider.  This pattern is easily customizable. Is that a word?  You can make it longer, shorter, narrower, wider, etc.  

If you'd like to make the "All-Ways Cowl", you can find the pattern on Ravelry (Click HERE).

Copy Cat "C.C. Beanie"

Copy Cat "C.C. Beanie"

I've been seeing this hat for a year or two or three?  It's a commercially made hat and it seems to be quite popular. I've made a similar hat for myself.  I wore it to the knit shop one day and I got to talking about it with Tammy at the shop.  She mentioned a hat called a "C.C. hat" or a "Colorado Chick" hat and she told me she had seen copy cat patterns on Ravelry.  

I did a little looking and sure enough I found the "Copy Cat C.C. Beanie" pattern. It turns out there is  a company called "Colorado Chick" and their hat called "Boulder Authentic C.C. Original Beanie" is that hat I've been seeing around.  You can see the hats on their website HERE. 

Of course I had to make the hat. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn and I used Cascade "Pacific" yarn that I had left over from my "Building in Color" afghan project.  I got the greatest fluffy white pom pom at my local yarn shop (Yarned and Dangerous, Canon City, Colorado).  The pom pom is detachable and includes a snap.  You stitch the snap receptacle onto the hat and you can pop the pom pom on and off so that the hat can be washed.  How cool is that?

You can see a little video about this type of pom pom HERE.

I did not entirely follow the pattern for this hat.  The pattern calls for starting the brim with a provisional cast on and then, after you work the ribbing for enough length, you fold the brim in half, undo the provisional cast on, and merge the cast on stitches with the live stitches for a brim that is double thickness.  I did not work the brim this way; I was worried I might run out of yarn since I did not start out with a full skein of yarn.  I wish I had made the brim this way; I think it looks really nice. If I do make this hat again, I'll follow the directions for the brim.  I've never made a hat brim this way and I'd like to try this technique.

If you'd like to make a "Copy Cat C.C. Beanie" you can find the pattern HERE.

Fruit Stripe Gum Socks... done!

Fruit Stripe Gum Socks

I got these socks done in a jiffy.  They were so fun to knit that it was hard to put them down.  The pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry and is called "Fruit Stripe Gum Socks".  The pattern works best for self-striping sock yarn.  The socks look as if they may be complicated to knit; some folks think the socks resemble entrelac knitting which is quite labor intensive.  The pattern is actually very simple. Once you complete the ribbing portion of the sock cuffs, you work the leg portion and the pattern is *knit 2, yarn over, knit 2, k2tog* around (every round) over a number of stitches which is a multiple of 6.  The sock pattern also calls for increasing the number of stitches after the cuff is complete and then decreasing the same number of stitches after the leg portion and before the heel. The pattern also includes a different heel which I believe is called an "eye of partridge" heel.  The pattern is very well written; I highly recommend it.  This is one of those projects where you just need to select the perfect yarn for the pattern.  I don't think the pattern will look as good with self-striping yarns that resemble fair isle, but I have not tried it yet. It's fun to look at the completed projects using this pattern on Ravelry to see what yarns work best.  I got lucky. I think this yarn worked very well for this design.

This yarn has a funny story.... it's the yarn I almost lost. I went to the Salida Fiber Festival in September 2017.  After selecting the yarn, my husband and I went to a restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant was so busy and crowded that no one ever came to take our order.  We just sat at our table for the longest with the menus.  We decided to leave and we found an even better restaurant to have lunch.  It was a beautiful day, we got to sit outside, and I had the best salad (it was so good I remember it).  As we were sitting there, it occurred to me that I no longer had my shopping bag with my new yarn.  I had lost it!

After we finished our lunch, we decided to go back to the initial crazy crowded restaurant to see if maybe someone had found my yarn; perhaps they had a "lost and found" box with mittens, baseball caps, wallets, etc. that had been left behind.  When we got to the restaurant I looked over at the table where we had waited for awhile.  There on the table sat two menus and my shopping bag with yarn! I don't think anyone ever noticed that we had sat there and clearly no one noticed that we had left.  

Here is the link to find this pattern on Ravelry (click HERE).  Also, here is a close up of the label from this yarn. It is so nice! There are a lot of On Line Supersocke 4-fach (4-ply) yarns but the "Merino Extrafein-Color" is very luxurious.  If I find it again, I'd buy it.

Nugget Peds

Nugget Peds

Above: Why am I always getting photobombed by Labradoodles?

At the beginning of this month, I got a notification that my next Laura Nelkin kit was coming in the mail soon.  I just couldn't wait!  I decided to cast on another pattern by Laura Nelkin called "Nugget Peds".  I purchased this pattern on Ravelry a few months ago and just had not gotten around to it; however, I did have my beads all counted and sorted out.  The yarn I selected is yarn I got from my mom.  It's Knit Picks "Stroll" in a color called "Duchess Heather".

I finished up the Nugget Peds in just a week and I have a number of photos of them here for you.  My new Laura Nelkin kit arrived on Saturday and I told myself I could not cast on the new project until I finished up this pair of socks first.  

As you can see, this pattern is a short sock with beads in the cuff.  The pattern calls for knitting the socks from the cuff down. 

If you like knitting with beads, I urge you to check out Laura Nelkin's designs on Ravelry. Right now many of her patterns are buy one, get one free. She is also offering a "First Quarter Knit Along" and she's offering some prizes. Fun stuff!  If you are interested in the KAL, here is a link with additional information (Click HERE).