Knitting Hats

November 1st rolled around... and it was a SUPER busy day. Eight hours at work followed by a four hour drive on the Interstate (little 'a' was heading to dad's for the weekend).

I had started a hat in August and left it with a single end to weave in for a ultra-fast turn in to the Forbidden Forest (detention) in HPKCHC.

This was made with some self-striping cotton scraps and I didn't think I could really find a good coordinating color to go with the 'chocolate mint' look. But it sure is super-cute. I held onto it until the First so I could WIPtheFirst... and it took me less time to finish the hat than it did to figure out how I was going to get a picture of it with my camera/cellphone in the dumps. This ended up being a webcam shot.


Then I proceeded to spend two days at a LOVELY and AMAZING knitting retreat - KnitXMidwest - I hope they plan to do it again next fall because it was UBER-Awesome.

Part of the awesomeness of it was getting to spend the whole weekend with a good friend from HPKCHC - and owner of She Makes Hats. I had planned to work on both my Pikachu stuffy (which needs to get restarted due to yarn issues); and my Know Your Mushrooms blanket... and I had pre-loaded jpgs and pdfs to my Kindle... only to have the Kindle charger die (serious tech issues lately... sigh).

So, instead I took along my double-knit blanket project. Which needs work. And I had thoughts somehow in my head that I could work on it for the whole weekend and get it to a reasonable length that it wouldn't be impossible to finish before the 23rd. Yeah. Right. I don't think I even finished a whole row before I threw it back in the bag in disgust. It's not that it's that hard. But it did require both concentration and focus - which was just not working for me at a retreat.

So, I reached back into my bag for a Purple hat I had cast on ... and didn't find it. Sigh - I had grabbed the wrong bag. Which was really a shame - because that had the circular needle I had planned to use for making more scrap hats when I finished the purple one. But, no big deal. I had a smaller circular needle in my notions bag (a just in case, kind of needle)... and I had lots of scraps of yarn.

So, I cast on and knit charity hat #2 for the month:

But on a slightly too small needle, and sitting next to a person whipping out about two crochet baby hats an hour... I got impatient. So, I went to the vendors/hosts of the retreat and found a bigger diameter circular needle... and whipped out one more hat with scraps:

Then we got to visit my favorite LYS (the hosts of the retreat) and visit some more and pick up some yarn. And I thought - well, I could still get a purple hat finished if I pick some up, right? And got intrigued with playing with a coordinating purple-ish/pink-ish variegated yarn... and on Saturday night I seamed in the ends on charity hat #4 for the week:

Sunday, I cast on for an adult hat (much more slow to knit) with the two shades of purple... in Brioche two-color stitch. I'd share a photo if I had one... so I'll post a reminder to myself to get one. I worked on it a little more this week... but not much. I had too much prep-work to do for my knitting class.

The good news is that these four hats here? Got me to my 2013 Charity Knitting goal of making 50 charity hats. Apparently I'm not done with hat knitting though - since I have two charity hats on the needles, one more that has been musing my noodle... and at least one to make for a gift for my grandson.

Rethinking the blog

Between technical issues ....

... work laptop ancient browser cannot be upgraded and blogger no longer supporting it
... home laptop power cord died
... kindle power cord died
... cell phone vs ultra-frustrated 10 yr old

Etc etc

And new found inspiration found at a knitting retreat where I spent two days with ultra crafty folks

And especially two days being inspired by and charmed by both Robyn of http:\\www.shemakeshats.com and Jen of http:\\www.makexdo.com...

Well, let's just say I took a look at my out-dated and ever-so-slightly boring blog.... and decided its time for some changes and focus.

I still plan to post info about what I am making and a little time talking about the inspiration. But instead of doing monthly planning... a single progress post and an end-of-month wrap up that throws all the projects en masse and probably a bit more overwhelming.... I am thinking I will focus more on what, when, why and a bit at a time... see if I can't share more thoughts... a little more of myself.

Stay tuned.

Sept Mid-Month planning

1) WIP the First - DONE 

2) Class 1 - hat - DONE - Olifvander’s - charity hat 

3) NEWT to 50% - DONE

4) Pair of Yoga socks - DONE - Flourish & Botts leg protection 

5) Blanket square #1 - simple square, DONE - Quality Quidditch Supplies - selling it as a cloth for cleaning up -- plan on donating this to a baby blanket for a pride-mate

6) Blanket Square #2 - not so fast, an aran square - Apothecary - blue antique bottles as inspiriation NOT STARTED

7) Planned Partial - a mitered top for me - changing to Magical Menagerie class... original pattern was started and frogged three times before I decided it was not the pattern for me for this time... instead cast on and started a top that has vertical strips used in construction. Hoping it will still let me show off the good yarn and have some fun with construction.

8) Will probably have a hat (or three) on the needles for my traveling knitting - those will get tossed into Madame Maxime’s class at the end of the month Change of plans - one DONE and turned in

9) Quidditch Know Your Nimbus - hat made with favorite yarn and favorite top-of-the-line tools (addi clicks) DONE



10) Quidditch Know Your position - Yarn buster baby blanket (planning one for this month and the other for October) DONE

Unplanned, but DONE

A bracelet for Potage's Cauldron Shop

I'd also like to get Pikachu (yellow blob above) done this month, plus six more blocks, plus get the top as close to done as I can, plus my Aran square AND not the least, at least one more (or two or three) charity hats for Knockturn Alley. 

First half of the month was awesome and I was dedicated and look at all I got done. BUT, now it's been a couple of days where I haven't been able to knit hardly at all... and I can't find the yarn I need that I am running low on for Pikachu. Sigh. Been a rough week.

Sept planning

1) WIP the First - DONE - just had to weave in the ends on a charity hat (have two more sitting & waiting for future WIPtheFirsts 

2) Class 1 - hat - DONE - Olifvander’s - charity hat 

3) NEWT to 50% - I have two more squares to make plus getting my second stuffie to 50% - where I’m at about 10%  -- hope to make this goal within two weeks; then perhaps get another 6 squares and be within two hours-ish of finishing the second stuffie (for Oct Flexible Scheduling)

4) Pair of Yoga socks - should be relatively fast - Flourish & Botts leg protection 

5) Blanket square #1 - simple square, should also be quick - Quality Quidditch Supplies - selling it as a cloth for cleaning up -- plan on donating this to a baby blanket for a pride-mate

6) Blanket Square #2 - not so fast, an aran square - Apothecary - blue antique bottles as inspiriation 

7) Planned Partial - a mitered top for me - Knockturn Alley with the self-striping mitering meant to distort view - but might need to put it into a different class/shop 

8) Will probably have a hat (or three) on the needles for my traveling knitting - those will get tossed into Madame Maxime’s class at the end of the month 

9) Quidditch Know Your Nimbus - hat made with favorite yarn and favorite top-of-the-line tools (addi clicks) 

10) Quidditch Know Your position - Yarn buster baby blanket (planning one for this month and the other for October)

Makes me a little tired just thinking about it. Especially since I'm at a never-ending stockinette stage on the Pikachu.

August - EOM wrap-up

NEWT- out of the 21 squares, I completed 10 (counting 12 as 50%)
           - out of the 3 stuffies, I completed 1 and got the other one started (counting 1 1/2 at 50%)

Hats for NerdWars - I completed four full hats and got them turned in for various prompts; plus got 3 hats to the almost-done, just need ends woven in for future WIP projects tocomplete for detention.

Plus I got the Baby blanket seamed from the donated squares and sent off to the new mom. :-)  I am quite pleased with the end results.

Too cute not to share right away

He's Azumarill ... and I don't think he turned out too bad. I would rather he was a little more 'eggy-shaped', and I wasn't happy at all with my bubbles. I wish I had used firmer wire for the tail. And the ears are quite heavy and want to flop the majority of the time. But the wire inside the ears was a brilliant design as they are definitely posable. And the mouth design is pretty brilliant as well. It really makes the face just-right. He was finished around 9:30 pm last night and little a was already in bed. But not asleep yet. So, he got to see it last night and it ended up sleeping the night with him. Which is something because it's hard for a 10 year old boy to go all gushy and give a girly 'it's sooooo cuuuuuute' claim and snuggle stuffies.

Of course, within five minutes he was thanking me for it, then thanking me for the NEXT one already promised to be made for him, but not started yet, AND requesting food for the Pokemon. lol.

August mid-month Progress post

Quite a few blanket squares finished.

A few hats....

And good progress made on a Pokémon.