Busy busy weekend

I did a little finishing this weekend and I am feeling pretty good.

First is the kid version of the Guimauve hat from Going Straight. I used worsted weight yarn on US5 needles. I made the hat smaller by casting on 44 stitches and only doing 8 pattern repeats. I decided against the tassel so this is the finished hat. Obviously I don't have a kid to model this hat so Paws, Philip's childhood pal, was gracious enough to pose for a few shots.


Second is the Marley hat from Knit on the Net. I used a worsted hand dye from my stash for this one and I am really happy with the final product. Unfortunately, it is no longer hat weather here so I will save it for the fall. Other than going down a needle size to knit the hat, I followed the pattern exactly (a rarity for me.)


Finally, I have some cute new flower pots for my herb garden. I found some organic seeds on clearance at Target before I left for Virginia which I grabbed and saved for my return. Monday, I bought a few terra cotta pots to replace the ones I broke and I painted them to match the kitchen and the other pots. Meanwhile, I put a few of the seeds in a wet paper towel in the closet to sprout. I know that the seeds can sprout inside the pots, but I tend to be more successful at growing things when I know how many plants are going to come up.


In addition to all of the finishing, Philip and I went to see the Ironman movie and spent hours sitting out in the backyard and playing with the dogs. It was a great weekend!

Back home

After 12 great days in Norfolk, I am finally back home. It was a fun trip filled with friends, karaoke, new vegan foods, and of course work, but I am definately happy to be back at home snuggling with my Philip.

Philip and I are house and dog sitting for his parents again so even though we are both working through the weekend, we are treating it like another mini-vacation. His mom bought and prepared more food than we can possibly eat so we won't have to cook and the weather is beautiful so we can eat outside and enjoy their lush yard. Philip has started referring to his parents' house as our vacation home since when we house sit we don't have to cook, we get to watch movies and cable, we can play video games with the surround sound and we always have a stock of wine, beer to aid in our lounging activities. It is going to be a great weekend!!

This week in hats

I love knitting hats and even though it is not really the season for it, all I am knitting right now are hats. After finishing the Albalone and wearing it everywhere I decided to try another Woolly Wormhead design. This time I went with Ziggy, free from Knit on the Net. Ziggy is a slouchy, tam style hat, one of those hats that you would never see me without about eight years ago. I like Ziggy because the lace work keeps it interesting and the shaping is totally different than Abalone.

Since Ziggy takes a little concentration, I decided that I needed to start another hat which I could easily knit on a plane. The guimauve hat from Going Straight was the perfect pattern for the trip. I memorized the pattern by the end of the first repeat and since the repeats are separated by a purl row it is easy to see where you are at any point. I love the shaping on this hat; it makes me think of gnomes even though it isn’t anything like a gnome hat. I am not totally happy with my yarn choice for this project, but I think when I am done I will overdye the entire thing in red to get a colorway more suitable for my complexion. If this hat looks good on me I have a plan for a second version, but I will wait to reveal that one until I talk to the dyer I want to use.

On Wednesday I went to a birthday movie night for my friend Christy. The plan was to watch two birthday themed horror movies and I knew that the Guimauve hat would probably be finished during the first film leaving my hands with nothing to do during the second. Since I didn’t want to deal with a chart while watching the movie, I decided to cast on for a smaller hat that should get me through both films. I started a child sized version of the guimauve hat using worsted weight yarn and US6 needles. I followed the flow of the original hat, but I changed the cast on to 44 stitches and I am going to add a tassel to the top.

My finished scarf

I just realize that I never posted the finished Hempathy scarf. I finished it a few weeks ago and I am now offering it as a beginning lace class at the shop. I knitted the scarf in two sections and then grafted them together in the center so that both sides are identical. The lace pattern is the fern leaf lace pattern from an old stitch dictionary I have. I used two balls of Hempathy and knitted the scarf on US6 needles. It is the perfect size and weight for a springtime scarf.