Finished Beret!

Remember when I was making lemonade out of lemons? See Here! Well, instead of using the crochet hook, I picked up with size six double points stitches all around the cast off edge at a ratio of 2 to 3 and then knit in K1P1 ribbing for about 1 1/2 inches. Of course, I was at the hairdressers when it was time to cast off and I was afraid of casting off too tightly, so I scavenged through my purse and used a ball point pen. It was pretty rounded so I had to click it open to have a point. Except for having marked up my fingers in the process, it worked great. So there.... to those airport scanners who confiscate knitting needles...we are very resourceful!

Here is the final flat beret from top and bottom.

bottom:

top:

I needed to grab a couple of the cuties from next door to model the finished product, because it is hard to photograph it on myself........ I had two willing models: first is Sophia:

And Mariel:

Aren't they adorable! And they didn't even mind posing in 95 degree heat!

There is only one more thing I might do and that is to crochet a single line around the seam from the old cast off and the new cast on. I used this technique when I steeked my Kauni sweater more than a year ago. It is similar to the lazy dazy stitch if you embroider.

Now back to spinning for day 5 of the Tour de Fleece.

Knitting Karma

Only a mere two blogposts ago, I tempted the knitting gods by saying how much I had learned from the Yarn Harlot about being aware of your progress and not in denial about needing to frog a less than perfect project before finishing it... WELL.................as you have probably guessed, the knitting gods bit me in the butt. Here is the comparison between my first foliage hat on the right, and my second on the left, which was off to such a good start!

My error was to put one too many pattern repeats into the crown section of the hat which added about 4 inches to the diameter and 2 inches to the height. Major OOOOOPS. Otherwise, it would be perfect.

I claim duress and distraction since I knit the rest of the second hat while in the surgical waiting room and tending to hubby after some needed fixing over the past weekend.. Did I try it on after finishing the knitting....YES. Did I frog it then....NO. Did I wash it in hot water, shock it in cold, and, oh my, even try to shrink it in a hot dryer....YEA. But other than a lovely fulling, it is still huge on my head. Did I trash it...NO. My next step is to get out the crochet hook and turn said Foliage Hat into a Foliage Beret. How about that.....making lemonade out of lemons.

I will never tempt the knitting gods again. I will be humble. I will listen to my own words and mind. Until next time, anyway.

Finished one and Restarted Another

What ended up being knit with the Bright Hibiscus homespun discussed in an earlier post, turned out to be a foliage hat. I should have enough yarn for 3 of these hats, using the bulky weight directions.

I am "training" for the Tour de Fleece which starts on July 4 to coincide with the Tour de France bike race. I have spun up two bobbins of the fiber I will be spinning for the sweater. I am going for medium worsted weight yarn and I am striving for consistancy.

I frogged the Berry Season Socks from the book 2-at-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes because the fabric was just too dense, and it almost felt woven. I began them again, this time using the top as designed in the pattern with Size 2 needles. So much better and more stretchy. The way the yarn shines in the stockinette section of the cuff makes me wonder if I should reconsider again and make a plain sock to show off the fiber. Hmmmmm.

I recall a blogpost by the Yarn Harlot where she knew all along that the socks were coming out too big and she knitted away in denial till the end...when they were indeed too big. It is one of the best lessons she has taught me over the years: Frogging in the early stages of a project is a whole lot less painful than once it is completed.

Today's nature shot:

How nice of him to stay put and pose for me!