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Silly Hat night was very… silly.  (Did you expect me to describe it any other way?  I’m not *that* creative.)  Not everyone participated (boo! hiss!).  But!  Those who did had a great time. We had a Jane hat, a hard hat, a face hat, a bling hat, a marvellous straw summer hat, a double-tasseled affair, and a princess hat.

Everyone voted and Kim’s felted princess hat won by unanimous decision. That’s her hat in the picture - without Herself because she’s camera shy!  Although I did like the offer to be in the picture after I ran out of memory – thanks, Kim!  And that’s her prize, a sparkling set of Serendipity needles.  Strange, the needles match the hat…

If you’d like to make you own princess hat, the pattern is available from Magic Hats at Knitty Gritty.  Kim used Lamb’s Pride, and it was “super easy, and mighty quick!”

Here is a sock I started in a one-of-a-kind HaNdKrAfT (that’s hard to type!) colorway. I gave the yarn a really long head start, but nobody claimed it so now it’s MINE. (Insert evil laugh here.) I started it on Addi zeros, got to the three inch mark.  It then occurred to me to try it on and it was at that point… that I learned they would never fit. Nope, no way, no how.  They are a mite small.  If I wanted socks to come up only to my ankle, it would be perfect as is.  Socks aren’t like people, though.  Socks have to be an

absolute perfect fit.  Or be too big.  Too big socks are fine (mine are usually too big).  This is a swatch issue. Clearly I needed a test drive. The second picture is the whole thing.  The blue on one side, green on the other should have been my first clue.  But I think color pooling is interesting, in a mathematical sort of way.  It was Meida’s Socks, an Estonian cable pattern from Nancy Bush, the Sock Queen.  In Favorite Socks: 25 Patterns from Interweave it’s supposed to be sport weight, but this yarn is fingering – actually, it’s

the same as Koigu, which is the same as Louet Gems.  But alas, it is now a memory. An ugly, scary, spaghetti-pile shaped memory.  I really did like the pattern, and would likely like it more on a bigger needle, as was brilliantly suggested by Corrina. Twelve stitches to a single inch was tiny.  So… here we go again.

 

Bag ContestOriginally uploaded by kathe001.

Here they are – the lovely entrants in the Bag Challenge Contest. Each knitter had one month to complete their bag, using 1 skein of Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Silver Gray, 1 skein of LPW in a color of their choice, and 1 other skein of their choice. Embellishments were knitter’s choice as well. They’re each fantastic – you’ve got to see them in person. And vote!

Have you seen the new sock yarns from HaNdKrAfT?  They don’t stick around long, and they only come in dyelots of 2 skeins.  In other words, they are rare, rare, rare!  (They come served on a plate they’re so rare…)

I started something new this week, with a stash linen/ cotton yarn.  The Prairie Kimono on the current issue of KnitScene is intriguing, but a land where sherpas roam is not likely to be in my immediate future given we’re now in late-afternoon shower weather.  But I really like the shape of it, and wanted to do something similar.  So here’s my swatch (don’t hurt yourself by falling over, it really is a swatch!)…

The swatch worked out okay, so I cast on in a different color in the round.  The top part was a challenge because the yarn, gauge, needle size, lace are all different from the Kimono.  Basically the only thing I kept was outline.  I’m trying hard to do this in one piece because finding a darner is a chore when on a knitting roll.

It’s not quite done at this point, although getting up for that needle had to be done at the shoulders.  I didn’t want an inside seam at the top to bother summer shoulders, so I Kitchenered them together.  There is just the contrast trim left to do.

Here is a carrot eating flirt – isn’t he cute?  He’s also a well behaved, great-smelling, and very huggable little guy. We likes him and wants him to stay.  We likes Jane, too, and wants her to stay…!  Darn Seattle, anyway.  You know, it **rains** there!

Thanks to the spinners who came out to spin this past Saturday – it was nice little circle!  We will definitely do that again.  I learned a lot.  Not least of which is every spinner simply must have a wooly winder.  Did you know that 29% of knitters are interested in learning how to spin?  If you’re one of those people, stop in next time we do wheelies.  Thank you also to everyone who helped eat those cookies… don’t know what got into me…

Check out this great bag!  It’s a Creation by Brenda, and was done in Brown Sheep Nature Spun in a Crystal Palace pattern.  It was amazing in person, I hope that shows in this great picture – thanks for being a sport, Brenda!

Speaking of bags, if you haven’t come by to see the entrants in the Bag Challenge Contest, where’ve you been?  You need to vote!  I’ll put up a picture of them tomorrow!

A Sock for Susan

Originally uploaded by kathe001.

Hey Susan of Crystal Palace Yarns! Here’s the finished Prototype Hufflepuff Sock. As I said in the post you posted back to – I love this yarn. It’s just not so much yellow. But I’ve ordered more, in really cool Crystal Palace colors, and it’s all on the way as I type.

As for the final actual Hufflepuff sock, it’ll definitely be a little bit different… especially now that the photo is out of the knitting bag. So just think of this one as my swatch!