A Quick Break

Ok, so doing hats on size 5 needles takes a while. After sitting there working on it for days, I needed a break. Something quick and mindless is just what the doctor ordered. So I take a poke through my yarn stash and try to find something I could cast on and whip out without much effort. And then I see it. Jamie had picked up some cotton yarn last time she was down at the LYS.

I do a quick search on ravelry and find an easy dish cloth pattern. I cast on 30 stitches with the knit cast on, and realize that I want a more spongy cast on. So I rip them out and do a cable cast on. Yeah, still not right. Ripped it out again, and this time the long tail cast on is just right. Feeling like Goldylocks I set into a nice steady pace.


The whole project only took probably in the neighborhood of a few hours, and when I was done I had a nice planet friendly dish cloth ready for use. The cotton yarn was interesting to knit, very different feel than most the acrylic yarns, almost closer to wool but more stiff. I was so happy how it turned out, I found a bunch of rolls of cotton yarn on sale (yay) at Fred Meyer last night. I'm hoping to cast on a red white and blue one tonight.

More fun in a circle

I had some yarn left over from doing the hat so I decided to try something new. Wanting something for Jamie, I decided on a headband / earwarmer thing. I got out my #9 16" circulars and got to work.

I cast on 88 stitches and started in a knit one purl one pattern.
I didn't count the rows, I just continued till I thought it would fit her ears well. Actually, if you zoom in on the photo, you could probably count the purl rows fairly easily.


Anyway, it was an extremely easy project, and a good way to practice knitting for a beginner. I went today and picked up some #5 dpn's and a #5 16" pair of circulars. I'm thinking the smaller needle size will fit better with the current yarn I have atm.

Knitters do it in a circle

My first attempt at a hat went better than I thought it would go. I got a pair of #8 circulars and sat down with some Lion brand Wool-ease yarn. I started with a 4x4 guage swatch and just multiplied it out to figure out the base size. I started the knitting out with a knit two, purl two rib pattern for a few inches and then just switched to stockingnet stitch.



Seeing my creation take shape, I got excited and started decreasing way too soon. When I picked up the circular needles at my local yarn shop, I asked the owner when you know its time to switch to double points. She said that when the circulars get too cramped and tight to work with, you should have switched probably two rows earlier. Thats exactly what happened. I waited until it was terribly difficult to work with the circulars and then had one heck of a time trying to slip the stitches on to the double points. I did a basic decrease, starting with K6, K2tog; K all; K5, K2tog; K all, rinse repeat until I had just a few stitches left, and then thread the tail through and pull them together.

Once it was off the needles it was pretty clear that it was too shallow for me, but surprisingly it fits my son pretty well. I really liked making it, and enjoyed not using a pattern at all. I learned a lot from it and will apply what I learned to the next hat which I'll probably start here soon.