Knitting from the hip

Kiddo Hat

2008-11-16T21:25:00.005-06:00

This is my first attempt at making anything kiddo sized.

It's not much. Just a simple cap with an umbilical type cord thingy.

... but not forgotten.

2008-10-05T16:19:00.005-05:00

I haven't forgotten about the blog, or knitting. It's just so hard to knit when it's hot outside. Now that the weather is cooling off and the days are getting shorter, I plan on having more string on the sticks soon. ~~Two~~ Three friends just had babies so I suppose I'll try making some kid stuff. I've also been thinking about trying to make a sweater. We'll see.

Skully

2008-06-07T12:21:00.006-05:00

So here is the first flat thing I've completed and liked.

(-pattern link-)

It's a dish towel! It's got a skull on it!

So far I've been into knitting in the round. Evidently, I started out backwards. Most people start out knitting flat things and move up to knitting round objects. I couldn't help my self. When I started out the flat things I worked on just didn't come out right. My tension was all over the place. I had a hard time keeping track of what row I was on and was never happy with what I knit. So I gave 'round' knitting a shot. I found it to be much more forgiving when my yarn tension was less than consistent. It was just more fun. I finally decided to take a stab at creating something flat.

Hand warmer-upers

2008-03-20T12:00:00.002-05:00

Behold the fingerless gloves! My most complicated project to date.

I took the Fetching pattern from knitty.com and doubled the length for maximum coverage and warmth. If I may say, I think this is the best looking thing I have knit yet. They've been finished for a few weeks now and Kel wears them all the time. Her poor hands are always cold. But not any more!

p.s. The spice cake (above) was sooo good I had to take a picture of it and the gloves got in the way.

Red Cap

2008-03-01T09:22:00.005-06:00

So my Steve Zissou hat failed me a second time. For some reason I couldn't get the size right with the needles I wanted to use. After pulling out two almost complete hats that were way too big to wear I just wanted to scrap the project. But I really wanted a red cap. I decided to give it one more shot.

This hat ended up being very simple. It only took me a couple hours to finish. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. I've been wearing it to work all week.

I'm also working on a pair of fingerless gloves for Kel. I'm almost finished with the second one. I've been working on them on and off for a couple weeks now. I'm pretty excited about these. This project is the first thing I've made that's not a hat.

Hat #3 (Kel's Hat)

2008-02-10T01:26:00.000-06:00

Check out Kel's hat. This one took me a couple of weeks to finish. I went very slowly. I finished it right before we left for our trip to Colorado. I made a few mistakes with the ribbing, but overall it looks good. I probably should have made it about an inch longer to cover her ears up better. But that's just the way it goes I guess. Next time she'll have warm ears.

I didn't use a pattern. I just went for it.

Zissou Hat (take 1)

2008-02-10T01:16:00.001-06:00

So I got this idea to make a Steve Zissou hat. (From the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.) I ran out to buy some red yarn and got right to work. I started off by making a swatch to measure my stitches by like you're supposed to. I measured my head. I measured my swatch. I did the math and got knitting.

So far so good. So I kept on. After I reached about 7 or 8 inches in length I tried it on. It was way too big. It could have been a tube top, not a hat. In frustration I pulled all the stitches out. I'm going to start again. This time I will not measure anything. I guess that's what I get for following the rules. (Sorry, but there are no photos of the 'too big' tube top/hat.)

My other current project is a pair of fingerless gloves for the wife. I'm using the knitty.com Fetching pattern. Wish me luck.

Hat #2

2008-01-02T10:29:00.000-06:00

I thought my first hat was pretty cool so I decided to try another one. I'd been reading up on knitting stuff so I thought I do my next hat in the round. I bought some double pointed needles and nice wool, and got to work.

At first I thought I was doing alright. It seems so easy to just knit in a circle, but for some reason I had a hard time. My tension was too loose and then too tight. The sections where the needles joined were all over the place. The hat looked like I had a ladder going up the side. I kept at it and finally got the ribbing on the bottom to look right. I added a stripe, and then continued with the main color. I wasn't following a pattern. I just started knitting around and around. I figured I'd know when to stop.

I didn't.

Once I started tapering in the top I knew it didn't look right. When I got the thing down to about 10 or 12 stitches it looked like a retarded elf hat. It was pointed, a little sideways and way too tall. I pulled out about 20 rounds of stitches and started my decrease all over again. This time I got it right. It tapers in nicely and fits well. However it is still a little long. It's not the best hat ever knit, but it was the best thing I'd done so far.

My first time

2008-01-01T23:24:00.000-06:00

I did my first project back in June of '07. It was a hat. A simple one. 60 stitches on strait needles then folded over and sewn up the back. I got the pattern out of some teen knitting book I found on the bookmobile.

After many tries and errors it came out nicely. It took the entire duration of the trip to Columbus, IN from St. Louis, MO. I was tying off the stitches when we pulled up to my aunts house. I gave it to my nephew Alex. He said he liked it and that it was cool that I could knit, but he told me he'd tell his friends that his aunt made it so I wouldn't be embarrassed. (How sweet.) I told him that I wouldn't be, but if he thought it would embarrass him he could tell people whatever he wanted about it.