Wow. Where do I begin?! Normally, I'd say "at the beginning", but I am not even sure where that is. Let us work backwards then, shall we?
Crap. I just somehow managed to delete my entire post about Thanksgiving. And I didn't really feel like writing this in the first place. So just...enjoy the mosiac.
I'll give you some details about my Mouse encounter and the Harlot's
Unoriginal Hat (which I revamped ever so slightly to work with a worsted weight yarn instead
of bulky). Oh, and of course, as always, lots of pictures.
Whilst in Georgia with my family, I visited with
Mouse! Not even sure I mentioned I'd be doing that on here. If you don't already read her blog, she is totally awesome. We talk pretty regularly and I am convinced we share a brain. lol Really, it's a little scary sometimes. Our first attempt to get together was thwarted by a freak illness! The little Ky bug got a horrible fever the day before I was to meet up with Mouse. We just rescheduled though. So, I went to the House of Mouse (sorry, I had to) and we hung out. She showed me all her super amazing soaps, and scented oils, and jewelry...and I think I almost died. She gave me some super cute stitch markers that I apparently forgot to *gasp* photograph! A Converse sneaker and a little devil ducky! SQUEE! Then we went to a yarn shop, oh, it was so much fun. Too bad the Crazies were shopping as well. And wanted all of the expensive stuff. I
might have walked out with some things. Malabrigo may have hopped into my basket. Possibly. I can't be sure. It hopped onto the needles so fast that I am still not sure. That whole bottom row on the pictures is Malabrigo pics.
You may (or may not) have noticed that the
Unoriginal Hat is what I decided to use my Malabrigo for. Actually, it was what I picked the yarn out for. Except...the hat is written for bulky weight, and this is a worsted weight. After toying with the idea of leaving it in the skein and using the skein as a scarf (I wore it like that almost the entire time I was at Mouse's), no, I decided I must actually knit with the famed yarn. After swatching, and doing some maths I CO using size 9 needles. Then...about 5 rows into the pattern, I realized that the cables weren't looking at ALL the way I wanted them to. Nope, nope. So I did what any
crazy good knitter would do. I re-charted the cable. That's what you would do, right? Right?! lol Even though I had to do a lot of tinking (yeah...at first I just re-charted in my head, then I realized I might actually need to write it down), I love the finished product. Here is the low-down:
Pattern: Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Loro Barranquero
Needles: Size 9US/5.5mm
Gauge: 16sts over 4" in cable pattern
Notes: There are a lot of these, bear with me.
I loved this hat. I might do it again with the proper yarn weight. Anyways, I decided originally to add in a few purl stitches and add an extra repeat of the cable.
16sts x 5 reps = 80
So I CO the 80sts and got to work. Then I realized that the one cable wasn't opening up as wide as it did in The Harlot's hat, which is what I had wanted. That was really my favorite part. Tink back, twist a stitch here, one there, ah, much better. Knit a few rows...and now the
other cable isn't looking quite the way I'd like. *sigh* At this point I decide to print out some graph paper and chart what is going on in my head. It's very late at this point. I had just gotten back from Mouse's, then hand wound the yarn (singles can be tricky, they don't like ball-winders), and I had dinner of course. By the time I re-chart the pattern, it's far past 1AM. Off to bed I go, but I have a plan now and that hat will be gettin it, oh yeah. As you can see, the chart worked beautifully. If you would like...I can write down the chart row by row...or maybe I'll find a scanner and scan it in. Really, all I did was add in 4 extra rows, and 2 extra stitches.
When I got home there was plenty of mail. To include two skeins of STR, the new Raven Clan...like I was going to be able to resist it. They are Rook-y and Corbie. I am really happy with Rook-y, which is good, because I had been eyeing it for awhile.
Labels: blogging, busy, family, finished object, food, friends, hanging out, hat, knitters, life, mouse, pattern, pictures, purchases, rambling, updating, vacation, wool/fleece/roving, yarn
13:59
|<< Home