THIS is love :)

My hubby wanted two new hunting hats for his upcoming birthday (as well as his elk trip) and he requested the pattern Man Hat by Haven Leavitt for both (the same pattern I used to make the hat from my handspun).   He really likes this “Man Hat” pattern.. no fuss/no frills, and it fits him well.  Plus, it's reversible!

The green one is in bulky malabrigo (a joy to knit, and OH SO SOFT) and it knit up a lovely moss color.  I've never worked with malabrigo before... but I will definitely be revisiting this yarn again soon!

The orange one… well…. the orange one is from a thrift store 100% wool sweater I unravelled and dyed EYE-SEARING HUNTER SAFETY ORANGE with food coloring on the stovetop (quite the undertaking, I might add. That is love). The yarn started off cream, and I mixed up some “Orange Sunset” with yellow and red to get that shade, lol! It is knit double (in case there is a blizzard, of course). I’m pretty sure you could wear it as armor.  It practically stands up on its own, and he thinks it is PERFECT (what more can you ask?)

Carrie's Review?  This is an excellent, and well fitting pattern... (and free, I might add!)  The perfect go-to hat for the manly men in your life :)

Around and Around We Go

I must say that Day 3 of learning to spin on my new drop spindle was much easier (and WAY more productive) than Days 1 or 2, lol!  Even though I still ended up with a heavy worsted/light bulky weight yarn; it was something I could live with.  The very helpful man at Pacific Wool and Fiber suggested I start out with some Corriedale Cross Wool Top  (which was very affordable at about $9.00 for 8 oz), and after fiddling around and watching YouTube videos for a couple days, I was able to successfully take this:

To a couple 100 yard balls of these singles:

And then ply them together with my spindle into 100 yards of this; my very first handspun!

 

 

I got about 11 wraps per inch, indicating that is most likely a heavy worsted or a light bulky... but what to make out of this precious yarn?  Well, first it needed a bath through the dyepot to turn it into this:

 



and now it screams "HAT" at me... I'm thinking this one (free on Ravelry):



Man Hat Pattern by Haven Leavitt



And now, a couple weeks later, we have, "The Not So Manly Hat" modeled by my lovely recipient :)



Posey Hat

I have really been getting into colorwork, and I wanted to make this hat (13406 Child’s Hat by Dale of Norway / Dale Design);




but I couldn’t locate a copy of the pattern, so I attempted a copy with a loose interpretation of the colorwork portion for my daughter. I found a really good deal on some Alpaca Love (80% wool, 20% alpaca) at Michael's the other day - a worsted weight yarn. I cast on 100 stitches witht the light pink on size 5 circular needles for the p1k1 ribbing (13 rows), did two purl rows with Fern for the accent, and then switched to size 6 circular needles for the colorwork portion/crown.. finishing up with DPN’s. It’s a good fit for both my 9 year old,




and my 3 year old :)



Both of them have been vying for it.. but this picture of my daughter convinced me that is should belong to her :)

Here There Be Dragons

Grant requested a custom made dragon hat... and I was able to find the perfect pattern! This was the first colorwork pattern where I was finally able to learn how to hold a color in each hand.. which made the colorwork section go much, much, much faster!

This was a very cool pattern; I liked that the pattern included color charts, and line by line instructions depending on what you preferred. I also like the checkered pattern, and the crown detail is cool. I used a grey heather acrylic from my statsh for the body of the hat, and a slightly graduated yarn (Cascade Paints) for the dragon pattern.

The only problem I had is that the pattern instructs you to cast on 90 stitches for a child… and then you are instructed to do 2 x 2 ribbing (which doesn’t seem to come out even)… maybe that’s just my inexperience coming through, lol!

And, now for the pictures!

I also ended up making dragon socks to match his hat (at his request, lol!). The colorwork portion is a trifle snug on his calf, but it does help the sock stay up very well… he just needs a little help easing it over his heel, and then he says it is very comfortable!
I used a basic sock pattern, cast on 32 stitches (I should have done 36 stitches, as the dragon is a 18 stitch repeat- so only one of the dragons flames.. the other dragon on the sock is flameless!). I did a k2p2 ribbing, followed by a red/grey checked pattern, then 2 repeats of the dragon and then another repeat of the checked border. I’m very happy with these, and most importantly, Grant is too!