More Knitting Stuff . . .

Yup, there's more.  I don't think I shared any of the finished Batman hats (although I did write about the pattern and intarsia here back in October) .  Essentially I followed the instructions as written with no mods.

Two Batman hats for two brothers

I was initially leery of the pointy ears on the hat (and truthfully I was a little unsure about how to proceed), but I carefully followed the instructions.  And they look fine (although  I thought that maybe next time I would use the intarsia design on a regular stocking hat).

Batman pixie hat with earflaps

In fact, I did just that for the baby hat.  This baby Batman hat uses a cute pixie earflap pattern from Yarnspirations (written by Vicky Howell).  Since intarsia needs to be worked flat, I started the hat in the round, but worked it flat when doing the colourwork. Once completed, I returned to working in the round and added a couple of extra rounds in plain gray before starting the decreases (approx 4” total from edge of garter brim).

And my nephews were pleased with their gifts.  Guess how I can tell?  Somebody didn't wanna take off his hat . . .  ;)

My nephew being goofy for the camera

More to share later . . .

About All the Knitting . . .

There is much to share!

First off, all gifts were sent off and/or dropped off in time for the holidays.  That was a bit of a challenge.  You'd think a few hats would be easy to whip up, but I got distracted by work, school and family life in general--and of course I had to re-do one set of mittens and hat (remember this post ?).  And honestly, I wish I could have made more . . .  

Of course, when you knit for someone else, you never know if the recipient will appreciate the effort or even the item, especially if the recipient is a child.  It can be hit or miss (but I needn't have worried).

First Berry Hat with matching mittens

My sister and her kids loved their hats--and everything fit which is a double bonus, especially when the recipients are so far away.  Distance can make measuring next to impossible (although I suppose I could have asked my sister to measure the kids' heads, but that would have spoiled the surprise).

Second Berry Hat with matching mittens

Remember the  Pixie Earflap Hat with matching mittens?  As you may recall, the hat was the Iceland Earflap Hat  from Crystal Palace Yarns.  I made a few mods because the original was adult-sized and written for super-bulky yarn (I was working with bulky and needed toddler size).
Modifications included:
1) bulky yarn on 6.0 mm needles
2) brim worked in garter stitch instead of ribbing so it would blend into garter flaps
3) stitch count adjusted to accommodate toddler size:  when connecting flaps & joining in round, knit across 1st flap (15 st), cast on 9 st (instead of 12), knit across 2nd flap (15 st) and then cast on 15 stitches (instead of 18)--54 stitches total.
4) second hat had no I-cord ties, but was otherwise constructed in the same way

Last Minute Mittens

The mittens were an amalgam of two patterns:  mostly used Last Minute Mittens  from Valley Yarns, but used measurements from  Bernat's Family Mittens to help achieve appropriate size (and it helped to be working with toddlers who willingly tried on the mitts as I worked on them).

Modifications included:
1) used 5.0 mm needles instead of 6.5 mm
2) using women's size small, worked cuff in K2P1 for 1 1/2" (instead of 2").  Then worked 1 plain row in knit before working thumb gusset as written
3) after round 9 of thumb gusset,, worked 1 plain knit round before putting aside 6 thumb stitches on holder
4) worked body as written, but only until length was 5" (instead of 6-7").  Decreases worked as written
5) For thumb only worked 5 rows on 9 st (approx 1") before decreasing/casting off


I'm so pleased with the final results that I'd like to make more mittens.  Hard to find toddler-sized mittens that fit easily and stay on.  I tested these on toddlers in my classroom, so the pattern works.  I think I'll start by finishing the rust mitts I couldn't use for my niece.


More to come later  . . .

Makin' Christmas . . .

Remember the movie Nightmare Before Christmas?  Remember Jack Skellington taking over Christmas and making presents for all the kiddies?  During the movie, Jack and his scary pals sing a song with the verse "makin' Christmas . . "  Yup, that's me!

I hope I'm not makin' scary presents (that remains to be seen, haha!), but the tune keeps playin' in my head as I busily finish off some hats for my nieces.  Yup, it's gonna be a homemade Christmas this year for all my nieces and nephews. (Apologies to the adults 'cuz they're being cut out this year).

Using the free pattern Iceland Earflap Hat, I made some modifications.  Since the original adult-sized pattern called for super-bulky yarn, I took a chance that my less bulky yarn worked with smaller needles would produce a child-sized hat (FYI: using Lion Brand Homespun).

Berry Pixie Earflap Hat for Niece #1

I worked flaps as indicated, but added 2 extra row increases so that flap had 17 stitches (instead of the 15 stitches as suggested in pattern).  To keep the total stitch count at 60, I adjusted the count when connecting the flaps: knit across first flap and cast on 10 stitches (instead of 12), knit across second flap and then cast on 16 stitches (instead of 18). 

I wasn't too keen on the look of garter stitch flaps and ribbing next to each other, so I "borrowed" from Teo Hat which uses garter for the rim.  I think it looks nicer--more unified.

Rusty Pixie Earflap Hat for niece #2

Worried that the hat might not fit right (the brim of the berry version "looked" huge), I made the second hat with smaller flaps (15 stitches as originally written in pattern).  My big mod was to adjust the overall stitch count to 54 stitches (decreases happen in multiples of 6): knit across first flap (15 sts), cast on 9 stitches, knit across second flap (15 sts) and then cast on 15 stitches.  

I then realized that first version had a shorter brim (quite by accident I knit 3" before decreases instead of the required 4").  I think I need to take both hats to work where a few toddlers can try them on.  If they fit, I won't have to re-do any of them (oh please let them fit . . . !!). 
 

Funky hat for niece #3

I hope to make matching mittens to go along with the cute pixie hats, but right now I'm ready to start another hat for my older niece: a funky  Snow Bunny Hat

Lotta colours :)

Hoping to use a mix of different colours--although I'm conflicted about using the dark orange (not sure it works with the variegated novelty yarn).  Guess I'll just have to experiment with it.

This week I start my online course.  Hope it won't put too many demands on my time.  I've three more hats to make along with at least 2 pairs of mittens.  Just keep knittin', right?  LOL!

Christmas Wrap-Up 2010

So there wasn't too much Christmas knitting in 2010.  This year I knitted mainly for my niece and nephews: two hats and a vest (that's a total of three items compared to last year when I made about 7-8 items). And I made no scrapbook gift albums either (the last couple of years I've made at least a few for family).

Now for the details:
One item was a cute vest (you can read about it over at Blog Bernat or you can check out my Rav project page (Ravelry link) for more details).  It was my first experience with intarsia.

Monster Vest for Nephew

The other two projects were skull earflap hats from Bernat's new Roving e-book (pattern here at this link).  Intarsia was also required.  Needless to say, I'm done with intarsia for a while.  If skulls aren't your "thang", you could easily modify the pattern by replacing it with another motif or just leaving it plain (more details on my project page (Ravelry link).  This was also a Bernat project so you can read more over at the latest Blog Bernat post).

Earflap Skull Hat for Nephew

There's something about an decent earflap hat that speaks to me--maybe its the warmth factor?  In any case, I liked hat so much, I made another one for my niece. However, a plain old skull didn't seem girlish enough.  So I modified the motif.  In Bernat's e-book for Roving, I found a poncho pattern using a skull with bow--perfect for a girl! (see my project page (Ravelry link) for more details). 

Girlie Skull Hat for Niece

It would have been nice to make more gifts.  Doesn't a handcrafted gift seem more personal?  Of course not everyone enjoys or appreciates a knitted/crocheted item (although the scrapbooks have been well received).   If I planned for my gifts (knit, crochet or scrapbook) in January, would it all be completed in time for Christmas 2011?  Ha!  Now that would a great plan!   ;)

Knitting Trials and Tribulations

After I finished Baby Sophisticate, I thought I should make a matching hat.  I settled for Earflap Hats from Knitscene (that's a Rav link).  I've had the pattern in my 3-ring binder for ages (I downloaded it a while ago when I first discovered free knitting patterns online--I lurve the internets).

The pattern is meant to be top-down in the round.  Do ya think I could do it?  Even if my life depended on it, I could not get the hat started in the round.  I kept twisting the stitches or messing up the needle order.  Ugh!!  Soooo frustrating!!  It's not as if I've never worked in the round: I've made plenty of socks on tiny fiddly needles; I've made gloves and mittens and even a sweater in the round.

Determined not to give up, I modified the pattern to knit flat (I know, I know . . . I'm still hanging my head in shame).  I just added an extra stitch to each end for a seam allowance.  So you'd think I was all set, but no.  The knitting gods threw another wrench my way (and really I've only myself to blame because (a) I didn't swatch, (b) I didn't research the pattern yarn for a proper substitution and (c) I didn't research baby hats).
    

Initially I used size 5mm and the hat looked too small.  Even my kids wondered if I was making a hat for one of their teddy bears.  So, I frogged and switched to 6.5mm.  Unfortunately the thing now looks too big--more of a toddler or child hat rather than a baby hat.  **sigh**

On the plus side, I did finally learn to make I-cords.  I have never used I-cord before and quite frankly, I was a little intimated by it.  Sure I'd read the directions in my how-to books, but it just seemed "wrong" (No turning?  Really?  How does that work?).   Lo and behold, the whole process was really quite easy--super-duper easy.  Go figure!

Happy knitting! :)