Some goals were accomplished, some not so much…
I have a little more direction as to the crocheted hat, but it’s going to need some more time and probably several more fittings. Except that mostly it’s just going to be shaped in felting. So I’ll make sure I’ve finished it by the next time I see Mom, and she’ll felt it, and make it work. I hope.
And as for the scarf, I didn’t even have time to swatch the latest lace pattern she wanted to see, so I still don’t really know what’s going on there.
I did get a few pictures, though. My brother’s girlfriend J saw me getting all bundled up to go outside, and insisted that I pop the collar on my coat, pull up my scarf, and pull down my hat:
That’s the first stranded project I ever made – the Fake Isle Hat from Magknits, in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, Sapphire Heather and Lake Ice Heather, on size 6 (I think) circular needles, also from Knitpicks.
J saw this hat, loved the pattern, and asked me to make her one:
I actually managed to get a picture in the sunlight! Anyway, this one is in Knitpicks Swish Superwash, Copper and Truffle. She wanted a longer brim, to fold up, which was no problem – until I then realized during the crown decreases that because of that long brim, I was going to run out of the darker yarn! I somehow managed to fudge it and modify the pattern on the fly, and I think it actually looks better this way – I wish I’d thought to take a better picture of the crown. I literally ended this hat with about one yard left of the dark brown yarn. I was rather proud of that, and J loves the hat. She wears it nonstop – what higher compliment is there for a knitter?
And the mittens:
Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Treasure (100% baby alpaca). It’s sport weight, and I knit the whole thing with two strands held together. I think I used size 8 needles (again, Knitpicks circs). The pattern is very loosely adapted from this one – since I had to size it up SO much to make it feltable, I really used the pattern just as a general guideline for the thumb shaping. It’s not even visible on the finished, felted mittens. Still I really like the pattern – I’ll be using that thumb shaping design again.
I didn’t remember that I needed a picture of these until I was leaving my parents’ house, so I just grabbed them and put them on the table – so no modeled pictures. But trust me – they fit PERFECTLY, and through absolutely no fault of my own. I’d never done a felted garment before (just a bag, for which gauge was not at all important), and I had no clue at all what I was doing. And of course, I didn’t swatch. I ended up knitting and ripping these at least 4 times, finally settling on something that was hugely long, and only somewhat way too loose. We felted… and it came out perfect! Mom loves them, but she doesn’t want to wear them much until she has the hat and scarf to go with them. Of course, since the hat will be crocheted and the scarf will be lace and not felted… they’ll pretty much match only in color. But as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. Right?
