Slouchy Hat: Free Pattern!

My sister Patty loved this hat that Jennifer Aniston was wearing in a photo online, so we bought some yarn when we were at the grand opening of GoshYarnIt, this cute new shop near her house in Wilkes Barre, PA.

Here is the quick pattern:

Materials:
3 skeins Classic Alpaca from The Alpaca Yarn Company.  110 yds. DK weight.  I used colorway Sea Green.
1 circular needle size 6, 16 in.  1 set of 5 double pointed needles size 6.

Gauge: 22 sts and 28 rows for 4 ins. 

Cast on 122 sts with #6, 16 in circular and rib 1x1 for an inch and a half. Increase Row: stockinette st k5, m1 around, end k2. Then knit for 7 ins. First decrease row:  K4, K2tog around. Dec 2 more sts within the next 4 rows to get to 120 sts. Knit for 2 more ins.

Decrease crown: Row 1:K10, K2tog around Row 2: K. Repeat these two rows, knitting one less stitch (eg. K9, K2tog for row 3, K8, K2tog, for Row 5, etc.) Also change to double pointed needles when crown gets too small). When you get to 12 sts, K2tog around. Cut yarn and slip through last 6 sts, pulling together, then secure yarn. Done.

Here is Patty and her new slouchy hat (and her new grandbaby Lily!)

Take care, Sue

Stolen!

My daughter fell in love with a hat on Etsy and wanted to know if I could make it for her ... so as a famous knitter once said, I unvented it!!!  I made it a little different from the designer on etsy.  I first unearthed a headband pattern from Vogue Knitting Fall 1984: which is basically a fisherman rib band.  Then I made a garter stitch rectangle with two pleats in the middle (I stole the pleat from Norah Gaughan 6 tank Comment) and attached it to the headband.  I used one skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in black

It came out great, but I still have a little guilt about stealing the idea.  Here is the finished product:

Yeah!  It came out cute! 

Speaking of Norah Gaughan, I finally finished Heron.  Another stash complication.  I had about 12 skeins of Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra in colorway Elm from my sister-in-law Wendy's rescued stash, and I got almost 5/8 of the way through the sweater when I ran out.  I found 5 more skeins on Ebay but wouldn't you know the dye lot was slightly darker.  So the back peplum and the collar look slightly off to the trained eye but I've had no complaints.  It came out great.  Another successful Norah Gaughan completion:

Thanks for checking out my blog! 

Take care, Sue

Finished! For babies and some for me ...

Hi,

I've finished a couple of projects since I last posted and thought I would talk about them a bit.  First some stuff for babies. 

A woman at my work is having a baby and wanted some hats for when he arrives in August.  She wanted something simple in basic colors.  She picked out this Blue Sky pattern (which is adorable) and I went to see Hickory at Knitting Etc to see if she had the pattern and a cotton yarn to match.  I think cotton is better for babies than the wool that was suggested.  I picked out Blue Sky Dyed Cotton (worsted weight) and they just came out adorable.  I had some yarn left over to make something for Lily, my new grandniece!!

I made this cat for Lily with leftover yarn from the baby beanies project. CUTE!! I put a bell in the cat’s head so it rings when she shakes it. :-)  I'm thinking she likes it.  I called the cat Bluey after my own precious Bluey, my siamese. 

Well, I also finished two pieces for myself which came out OK.  In April I bought 3 older Berroco booklets, Yin and Yang, Nostalgia and L’Attitude. I love these simple structured, asymmetrical designs. The designers for these booklets are two of my favorites: Marjory Winter and Norah Gaughan.  I picked Gomasio from the Yin and Yang booklet.  I used 5 skeins of Lion Brand Cotton-ease in color Indigo.  It came out a little big but this cardigan is so comfy!! 

Earlier in the spring I realized that my favorite thing to wear is a scarf vest I bought at TJ Maxx.  It is so comfortable and covers the growing love handles!!  So I was browsing through the Spring 2008 issue of Knit.1 and found a bunch of really cute patterns (I couldn't believe how many pieces in that issue I wanted to make).  I chose the Ribbed Scarf vest but unfortunately I had no money to buy yarn so I used this large skein of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Vintage Twist.  I always hesitate to use a yarn like this for anything other than dishcloths but low and behold it came out really cute!  I think I will make this pattern or one like it again with a better yarn. 

Oh my God, please disregard the mess in my bathroom.  What was I thinking!  I don't have Photoshop right now so you will have to live with the mess like I do every day!! :-)

Well, there is my summer update.  Happy knitting my friends!

Take care, Sue

After four years, Silkroad Cardigan is done!!!

Jo Sharp Silkroad Cardigan, Interweave Knits, Fall 2004 

I bought the yarn for this project in July 2006 off of ebay.  The yarn is gorgeous, a wool/silk and cashmere blend. I used colorways Brindle (brownish gray) and Pulp (creamy yellow ivory).  I love the pattern but once I started working on it I got bored from the endless inches of ribbing. Hence it lay in the hibernating pile for years!!

I started working on it again in September 2009.  I got a tip through Ravelry that you really need 3 skeins to finish the collar/tie section and thank God I was able to find another skein to match on ebay. 

Don’t know if there is Errata for this pattern but when I got to the collar/ties and connected the tie to the collar for the first time the ribbing didn’t match so I had to increase a purl st at the end of the tie and a purl st at the beginning of the collar, so that meant there were 44 sts all together instead of 42 (24 for collar, 18 for tie, plus two inc sts). I had to then decrease these two sts when I separated for the other end, collar/tie.

If I was going to make it again I’d probably make it about 4 inches longer but at this point I’ll go with how it came out. The thought of frogging gets me crazy!! :-)  The look is a little different on me than the willowy model in the photo but I'd say that happens for almost all the sweaters I knit!!!  Ha ha.  :-)

Now on to the next late project!! Take care, Sue

Silkroad Ultra Eyelet Pullover

This is a creative stash project. Which means I have a group of skeins that could possibly make a whole sweater if I think creatively.

My sister-in-law Wendy gave me a hefty bag of yarn that she was going to throw out (FAITH AND BEGORA!) so I rescued the poor things, beautiful orphans of merino wool and silk blends. I had two bags of Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra (bulky blend of wool, silk and cashmere!) in colors dark brown, orangey brick, beige and white. I had about 8 skeins of the brown and 4 of the orange, one each of the beige and white. The gauge is 14 st to 4 in on 10.5 needles. I searched Ravelry and my Vogue Knittings from the past 5 years to find something I liked in this gauge.

I was overjoyed when I found this Eyelet Pullover by Rima Mikneviciene in Vogue Knitting Fall 2005. I’ve been wanting to make this sweater for a while and the gauge and type of wool fit perfectly. The only problem was the amount of yarn. The dark brown would not make a whole sweater so I decided to use the brown orangey color for the front eyelet pattern and eyelet sleeve sections, and the dark brown for the back, bottom sections and sleeve tops. It will be a rush to the end to see if the yarn holds out but I’ve already found a seller on ebay that has a stash of 10 more dark brown skeins if I need them.

The next dilemma will be the size. I chose size medium because it was a 40 in bust, which is my size. This sweater has a snug fitting silhouette, so I'm hoping it fits me. If not, I'll find someone who it fits, or maybe I'll sell it on Etsy.

Stay Tuned!! Take care, Sue