Scott Pilgrim vs the Cold

More Christmas knitting to catch up on.

I asked my sister if she had any suggestions of gifts for her daughter. She gave a few ideas and made a comment that her daughter was completely into this little quirky movie "Scott Pilgrim vs the World".

While on Ravelry one day soon after, I thought I'd just search "Scott Pilgrim" because you never know what may turn up. It's amazing what kind of "tributes" knitters can come up with when they love something.

Well, what turned up was the pattern for the hat that the title character wears in the movie.

Picture from Ravelry pattern page.

The pattern was written by the person who knit all the hats for the movie (all six of them). That's pretty cool, right?

I had some brown in the right shade left over from the dress I knit another niece. And I had some blue that was pretty close left over from a sweater.

I got worried that I was going to run out of the brown yarn, so I found some in a Ravelry stash and bought it. I figured I should get two skeins but since there were three in the stash, I just bought all three. I ended up using one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The hat is worked in the round and is a pretty simple pattern of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch stripes. What makes it stand out is the rolled brim and long length and pouchiness at the back.

I didn't think about it when I started, but I have a history of knitting things for this niece. (In a previous year I knit her some Tardis socks.) She got a Dobby sock bookmark too. After the gifts were wrapped but before she opened them, I got a little worried that she would prefer something from a store and not more stuff made by her crazy knitting aunt.

But it doesn't look like she minded! :)
Project Stats
Started: 10 Nov ‘18
Finished: 2 Dec ‘18
Pattern: Scott Pilgrim Hat (The Original Costume Pattern) by Lulu Bee
Materials: Knit Picks Swish DK, 24633 Bark (90 g) and 24053 Dusk (don't know how much...I didn't weigh the hat before I wrapped it!), mostly leftovers from other projects.


Special thanks to my niece who not only let her mom take pictures but let me post them here!

Hats for Little Heads

I mentioned about a month ago that I started a hat for my "take along" knitting.

I did indeed take it with me wherever I went. I didn't always work on it, though.

One time I pulled it out and realized I had decreased enough stitches that I had to switch to using double-pointed needles. I didn't have them with me.

The next time Troy was driving, I pulled it out again...and the same thing happened. I still didn't have the dpns with me!

But eventually, it all came together and I had a finished hat.

But as soon as I had that finished hat, I knew I had to fix it. You may recall that I had cast on with a provisional cast on and started with a (version of?) Turkish cast on. Or maybe I didn't tell you that? Anyway that's what I did because I didn't want a tough non-stretchy edge. But it was too loose. It's pretty easy for it to be loose. At least in my experience.

But it's all one continuous piece of string, so you can pull on it and adjust the tension and that's what I did. I hope you can see in the picture below that on the left side of the bottom edge, the stitches are smaller, do not spread out as much, and are more even.

I'm at the same point in the process in the next picture, but I wanted to let you see how  much yarn I had pulled out already. At this point I had made it half way around the hat, and that was how much extra length there was in the cast on.

The brim edge is still stretchy, but not nearly so sloppy.

Here is a shot of the swirling decreases:

The hat is a little small for my head. (Not surprising since I made the child's size.)

I would say the colour is the most
accurate in this picture.

Project Stats
Started: 19 Feb '16 / Finished: 10 Mar '16
Pattern: Barley by tincanknits (size: Child = 19")
Materials: 65 grams vintage Brown Sheep Co. (85/15 wool/mohair), colour 160


But wait! There's more!

When I finished this hat, I had 56 grams of wool left, so I thought I could make another hat. I would just go down a size and should have enough yarn.

But since I wasn't sure how far the yarn would go, I started at the top and knit the hat from the top down, reversing the pattern directions.

I picked the wrong increase to use. My favourite is to knit into the stitch in the row below. But if you do that every row (like you need to in the beginning of this pattern), then you are always knitting into the very same stitch every time you do that. So all of the beginning increases come out of the same stitch on the second row. That is why it is all "bunchy" at the top of the hat...except in the garter section. That is smooth because I used a kfb (knit into the front and back of the stitch) for that increase, and that has no unintended consequences when you do it every row.

I decided it was ok to leave it and just made the hat a little longer than I would have otherwise. Maybe I should have gone a little longer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

When it was time to add the brim, I decided not to do ribbing all the way around again. I did ribbing under the garter section and did garter under the stockingnette section. Nice little turn-about there, right?

Since garter has a shorter row gauge (it takes more rows to make up the same length compared to the ribbing), I added two extra rows at the end on just the garter stitches. (I just turned the work as if I was doing short rows, which basically is what I was doing.)

Then I bound off with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. (Although we're not so surprised anymore, are we?)

Now I have 13 grams of yarn left. I won't be starting another hat, but maybe it will be part of a hat one day when I have yarn that will work well with it.
Project Stats
Started: 13 Mar '16 / Finished: 18 Mar '16
Pattern: Barley by tincanknits (size: Toddler = 17")
Materials: 42 grams vintage Brown Sheep Co. (85/15 wool/mohair), colour 160


Both hats will go into the pile to be mailed to Wool-Aid.

Rekindling the Spark

I finally finished these socks for Wool-Aid.

They were a slog. Two strands of nearly-worsted weight on small needles. They'll wear like iron but they were uncomfortable to knit. They were the only thing I had on the  needles and I got into a rut where I felt like I had to finish them first. I also did them two-at-a-time so I was wrestling with two socks on a long circular needle and four balls of wool. It was UGH all the time.

When I chose to use these two wools (both ravelled from sweaters) I thought one was a wool blend with nylon and other fibers which would add strength. By the time I got close to the end, I realized I mixed up some labels and they were both 100% wool. So they'll still be warm, but may wear out sooner, and they were not what I had intended. It was discouraging.

But I pushed on and finally got to the cuff, which I finished with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.

They are 9.5" long and I couldn't be happier to be done with something. I hope they keep someone's feet very warm and to whoever you are, I'm sorry if they are filled with bad karma. It wasn't personal.

After a one- or two-day "finger cleansing" period, shall we say, I was energized to pick out what was next. A look at the stash led me to this wool/mohair mix. I previously used it for a couple pair of smaller socks, but this time I cast on a hat.

I am worn out of knitting worsted-weight socks and I think a hat is just the thing. I haven't worked on it much because it is my "take-along" knitting and I guess I haven't been out much.

I started something else to enjoy knitting at home:

Glorious fine-gauge socks! Working on these makes my fingers sing again. I've been enjoying it so much, my first sock is half done already. I'm making another pair of Stripe Tease like I made for my mom.

The sock is worked in narrow strips so it's quick to make progress (if you just look at length of your strip, not the entire project). Last time I did three strips at a time working from both ends of a ball (plus a second ball) in intarsia. I considered it again this time because, in a way, it's a more elegant way to work it and avoids a lot of picking up stitches. But I just couldn't do it. Too much to keep track of. Too complicated. I just wanted simple. So I am working my little strips and loving it.

This is yarn I got on my trip to the Netherlands with my mom (as was the yarn I knit my mom's socks with). Mom's yarn was brighter with more reds and made me think of the narrow strips of colour in the tulip fields.

Since this yarn is more blues and purples, I think of fields of hyacinths instead. The socks won't smell quite as pretty, but they'll be just as lovely! :)

First Item from my Handspun Yarn

I had spun 2 ounces of Blue Face Leicester, some of the fibre I got in a kit at Christmas. I showed it to you at this stage:

but it looks like I didn't get a picture of it after I wound it into a cake. Too bad because it was really cute and fuzzy. But maybe that's like a mother calling her baby cute. Of course she thinks so.

Anyway, I ended up with about 140 yards of yarn with a fairly even thickness. I was thinking it would make a nice swatch of a traditional lace. Maybe a miniature Shetland lace piece.

When I noticed the fair had a category (yes, one category) for something made from handspun, I became motivated to find any pattern that I liked that would work. I finally settled on a simple lace tam. (Etoile Hat by Linda Irving-Bell.)

I got a start on it before my road trip last week because I was counting on some knitting time in the car. (At first I wasn't going to bring it because we were going to be camping, but then I realized I could keep it in the car. Problem solved.)

I knit away happily on my tam in between naps. It wasn't until I finished the patterned part and started on the ribbed band that I noticed something was wrong:

Somehow, right from the start, I had done nine repeats instead of eight! (Yup, count the points; there are nine of them.) At first I thought maybe it would be ok because some people on Ravelry said the hat was too small and my yarn was a little thinner than the yarn called for and I was using a size smaller needle. I had a lot of good-sounding justifications going on in my head, but the hat was just way too big. There was one problem it did solve however--I was wondering if I would have enough yarn. Now I knew if I had enough for nine repeats around, I would have plenty for a hat with eight repeats!

I put it away at that point because I couldn't stomach the thought of pulling it out. I was also worried about the yarn. It was pretty fuzzy (which makes it stick to itself) and I had made it (therefore I was always suspicious of its durability).

A day or two later while sitting around the camp, I realized that it was "find out the truth" time and I had to try frogging it. I pulled gently and wound up the yarn, and it held up quite well. It pulled apart in two spots, but I decided those spots needed to be discovered or they might have come apart in the hat itself and caused a hole. So all was good.

The second time through I tried to fix a minor foible of the pattern chart and got myself confused.

I put away at that point and tackled it again in the car. I managed to figure out what was going on and then happily alternated knitting and napping all the way home.

When I got home, it was thiiis big:

Yup, almost ready for the ribbing. I worked on it over the next few days and then suddenly it was done! I blocked it over a small plate and got this:

 And the back side:

The ribbing was ok before blocking, but I'm afraid the blocking has completely stretched it out. It doesn't have a lot of bounce to it. Fortunately the hat is the right shape and the yarn is the right fuzziness that it sort of just sits on your head and stays there.

 I found it very comfortable, and I have to say, I love it! (I am smitten.)

 And in the less than 10 minutes I had it on, my head was very warm.

It will be fun to wear it when colder weather comes.

Insulate! Insulate!

You should read that title in a very robot-y voice, as in daleks from Dr Who. My sister found a pattern she loves to make and she made one for me...

In wool! (And she never uses wool. But she did it just for me.)

You can see it has police boxes on it with daleks.

But since these daleks are intent on insulating, not exterminating, I feel quite safe. :)

You can find the pattern here. My sister likes it very much and has made a number of them. (I think she said eight the last time I talked to her!) The pattern shows you how to do colourwork working with one colour in each hand (essentially knitting continental with one colour and English with the other). It sounds like she has been converted!

Here's a little peak at the inside of the hat and her impeccable stranding:

I love it when the inside looks as well attended to as
the "good side".

It sure is nice to get a lovely hat with none of the work it normally takes! :)

MORE Hats and Cowls?!!

Yes, indeed! It is the time (and weather) for hats and cowls, isn't it? This time it's a gift for my mother-in-law. I'm not good about giving gifts every year (and I certainly don't always make them), but considering we were driving out to visit I wanted to have something.

I happened to have just purchased some recycled yarn from another unraveler, including some worsted weight cashmere. I thought a bulky cowl might be just the thing and the yarn was really lovely. (So lovely in fact, that a little girl who saw me knitting couldn't stop petting it and saying "nice...soft." I apologized to her parents for introducing her to cashmere so early. Well, it was more like one of those "sorry-not-sorry" apologies...)

Anyway, I found an interesting yet simple pattern I thought would be just the thing. You knit a rectangle in garter stitch and then do one small seam (about 4.5") along part of one long side to part of the other long side:

 Looks a little odd like this, but if you turn it inside out and fold down the top you get this:

Ok, still not quite cowl-looking. But how about this:

Now we're talking, right?

Oh, and that picture gives away a peek of the second part,

the matching hat--a cute little thing I whipped up while Troy did a bit of the driving yesterday.

I knit it flat and seamed it when it was done. A bit of garter (about 4.25") and then decreases (8 per row, every other row) and boom, a hat.

The cashmere is fluffy and warm and cushy. That hat is not very tight, which I like. The cowl can be worn in a surprising number of ways considering how simple it is. Here let me show you with a ridiculous lot of pictures:

First, with the seam in front and the points lying more in the front than back:

Second, with the seam on top of the shoulder and the points lying to the side:

Third, with the points dead center. This would be great for filling in that gap at the top of your coat's buttons or zipper:

Fourth (finally), with the seam at the back and the points lying more on the shoulders:

I briefly thought about crocheting a decorative edging around the outside or perhaps doing a knitted picot edge, but I talked myself out of it. KISS [Keep It Simple, Sweetie]. But, of course, you could easily add it to one that you made. Or maybe I'll do it on the next one should I make one to keep. I think I need another snug cowl that will fit under my jacket. (Um, yes, I used the word need.)

Project Stats - Cowl
Started: 18 Dec '13
Finished: 21 Dec '13
Pattern: Miss Sadie's Scarflette by Sara Kay
Materials: 90 g of worsted cashmere, held double.


Project Stats - Hat
Started: 21 Dec '13
Finished: 22 Dec '13
Pattern: My own (see below)
Materials: 74 g of worsted cashmere, held double.


Pattern - Miss Peggy's Hat
I used bulky weight cashmere and size 7mm needles.
Cast on 72 sts. (I use the cable cast on.)
Knit in garter stitch for 4.25 - 4.5"
Purl next row.
(Knit 7, K2tog) across row
Repeat last two rows, decreasing the number of stitches knit by one each time (I.e. Knit 7 becomes Knit 6, then Knit 5, etc) until there are 16 sts. You should have just finished a knit row.
Purl 2 together across row.
Cut yarn leaving about 10", enough to pull through the stitches and sew the seam.
Work in ends.
Wear and enjoy the toastiness.

Do We Know What We're Getting Ourselves Into?

About two months ago, I saw a link on Vogue Knitting's Facebook page to this article about a Cabbage Patch Doll hat. It's a hat that looks like CPD hair. (It's worth a click to the link; the kid is stinking cute.) I shared it on Facebook and wondered in writing where the nearest chubby-cheeked baby was.

I was reminded that my two great-nieces would be perfect candidates and before I knew it, my sister and I had committed to making hats for them. My sister got hers done well before me. Seeing her pics on Facebook put me in the frame of mind to finish mine.

It didn't take long. It starts at the top with a tight circle

and increases out until you have the right diameter. Then you work even until it's long enough. Then add a few rows of loopy stitches in the front and you are done.

Oh, wait. Not quite done because you have to add the pony-tails!

I decided to tie mine twice.

In two evenings I had a pretty cute hat! By the time I was done, my sister had already delivered hers:

She looks pretty stinking adorable, doesn't she!!

Of course, when I finished mine, I couldn't resist trying it on. Since I don't mind looking silly, I'll show you:

Little did I know that this was prescient on my part...

When my niece posted pictures of her daughter on Facebook, it started an extended comment conversation between me and three of my sisters. By the end of it, my sister and I had agreed to make hats for all of us to wear when they come to visit this fall and we head to the Haunted House for an evening.

The really funny part is that the fifth sister has no idea. (The price to be paid for not having internet at home.) But she will find out soon enough...like when we hand her a hat-wig and tell her to wear it!!

Rest assured, pictures will be taken and shared....