Sugar Twist Hat

Free pattern time again!! It's going to start getting chilly again soon (although today is no indicator of that. I was the crazy lady walking down the street in a winter coat, hat, and scarf. It's 82 degrees today!), and you'll need something to keep the heat in your noggin. I know I do, plus I wanted to have a hat to match the Cable Twist scarf I made and had just enough Malabrigo left over to do so. I've always thought that Malabrigo looked like cotton candy spun into yarn (and although that would create a huge sticky mess, it would literally be the most delicious yarn ever!), so I name thee:

Sugar Twist Hat

Yarn: Malabrigo Gruesa (100% Wool; 3.5 oz; 65 yds): #100 Rosa Viejo, 2 skeins (I only used a small portion of the second skein, so if you make a smaller version you could get away with 1 skein)

Needles: 1 set US 10 (6.0mm) dpns & one 16 in. circular needle

Other Stuff: Cable needle, stitch markers, tapestry needle

Gauge: 10 sts & 18 rows = 4 in. in reverse stockinette st (that's where the right side of the work is the purl side, just in case ;)

Size: this fits my 21 in. head nice and snug; any adjustments to the stitch count will alter the look of the cable, but if you do need to add or subtract stitches, I would do that evenly throughout the purl sections.

* I edited the pattern a little to make the hat longer. If you have short/thin hair, go with the fewer rows. If you have long/thick hair, definitely add the extra rows. *

Directions

CO 60 sts.

Place marker(pm) and join yarn (and yes, be careful not to twist), then K2, p2 across all sts. Repeat for 4 rows total.

Row 1: P10, pm, K10, pm; repeat to end of row

Row 2: P10, slip marker (sm), K10, sm; repeat to end of row

Repeat Row 2 eight/ten more times.

Cable Row: *P10, slip 5 st to cable needle(cn), hold in front of work, K5 sts, K5 sts from cn; repeat from * to end of row.

Repeat Row 2 for ten rows.

Decrease Rows:

Row 1: P8, P2tog, sm, K8, SSK, sm; repeat to end of row.

Row 2: P9, sm, K9, sm; repeat to end of row.

Row 3: P7, P2tog, sm, K7, SSK, sm; repeat to end of row.

Row 4: P8, sm, K8, sm; repeat to end of row.

Row 5: P2tog, P to 2 st before m, P2tog, sm K2tog, K to 2 st before m, SSK, sm; repeat to end of row.

Row 6: Purl the purls, knit the knits ;)

Row 7: Repeat Row 5

Row 8: Repeat Row 6

Row 9: P2tog twice, K2tog, SSK; repeat to end of row.

Row 10: Repeat Row 6

Row 11: P2tog, K2tog; repeat to end of row.

Break yarn and weave in ends. Wear with love!

For your viewing pleasure I'll give you another shot from my very brief photo session (any longer and I would have fainted from heat exhaustion!). I assure you, this is the one in which I look the LEAST pissed off:

I was looking right into the sun, it was very hot, and there was a squirrel on the power lines that was none too happy about me shooting near his garden and was telling me all about it. I blame the sun mostly. Next time we shall wait another hour when the sun's not so high.

Seven Deadly S(p)ins Shipment #4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I am full of Pride!  Pride in myself for the patience I've shown with this club and with waiting for this shipment ;).  Pride in this club for coming through with a great shipment and copious amounts of yarn, as well as a great pattern.  And pride in my photoshop skills for getting the colors as close as I could to the originals (at least with the very meager amount of experience that I have).

Yes, the theme of this shipment is Pride, and here it is:

The extras were few but, as I'm not in this for the extras, that was quite alright with me.  I thought they were clever and useful (a mirror compact/hairbrush, a translucent vinyl bag for toting around your project, a handful of assorted candy; can't go wrong with candy, a 15% off coupon for WoolGirl, and these adorable stitch markers from Mama Llama in colors which I will explain in sec.).

The pattern is a lace wrap called Syncopated Lace by Merike Saarniit.  In the booklet she explains that she is Estonian and extremely proud of her heritage, and learned to knit while growing up as part of her heritage.  The lace pattern is an adaptation of two different Estonian Lace stitches and has a cabled border from the mind of the designer herself.  The stitch markers included with the kit are in the colors Blue, Black, and White; the colors of the Estonian flag.  The pattern is gorgeous and will be my first TRUE lace project.  I'm very excited to start!

The yarn is The Unique Sheep Luxe (75% Superwash Merino/25% Tussah Silk, 200 yds/skein) in the Pride colorway.  This is another gradient color scheme, starting with oranges and reds, and ending with deep pinks and purples.  It looks like it's going to be great to work with, and I may have to use the coupon to get enough to make Jeannie!

The next contest for this club is a photo contest, in which we're supposed to take a picture that symbolizes one of the Deadly Sins.  I've got a few (okay, way too many, and most require a wardrobe I don't even come close to owning!) ideas and think this will be a fun contest.  Maybe I'll even win this time! ;)

Sheepy, Wooly, Festy

 

What a blast!  Maura, Heather, Betty, and I went to the Jefferson Sheep & Wool Festival yesterday.  It was a great day, the drive up was full of conversation, music, and napping (Heather was tuckered out from the night before, which happened to end a few hours before we left ;).  I knew it was going to be a good day when I looked at the clouds and they were so fluffy and clumpy, they looked like huge batts of un-dyed roving in the sky. 

There were just as many vendors as there were last year, even some new ones, and sooooo much yarn and fiber that it was hard not to buy something at each booth.  We all did very good though and stuck (for the most part...) to our budgets.  I fell in love with a shop out of Geneva, IL called Wool and Company.  Not only did they carry the Mirasol Hacho I recently acquired, but also Shi Bui, Dream in Color, & Colinette Jitterbug.  It was a really, really hard decision to make; but I had to have a plan.  I've been eyeing up the chevron scarf for over a year now, and decided I was going to buy enough of one of these yarns to make it.  After a very rigorous debate over color and yardage (and much help from my co-horts) I decided to go with this:

Try as I might, I just can't get a photograph that shows off the vibrant, rich, impossibly edible colors that appear in this yarn.  Sorry, but this picture does not do it justice.  So this is the Colinette Jitterbug in Lagoon (left), and Salty Dog (right), as well as the Ravelry button we each got from Dianne at Creatively Dyed Yarns.  So begins my chevron scarf, I may even have enough to make a hat to match!

As well as yarny goodness, there were also throngs of adorable animals, I leave you with just a few: