Koolhaas Hat, Finally…
It’s finally done. Not exactly what I hoped for, but I still like it. The girls both told me how much they liked it and that they think it looks just like it should. They also commented that it went nicely with my hair…. Not exactly unbiased critics, but I will still enjoy props from my daughters. One day they will be teenagers and they will think I am the dumbest person in the universe!
There will likely be lots of knitting this week, while I sit around soaking my infected toe. Grrrrrr! Of all the things to go see the Doc for. Kind of embarrassing…..but I knew it wouldn’t get better without help! So I will grit my teeth and knit through it! 
Finished Objects = Happy Husband= Pictures for My Blog
It’s been awhile since I’ve had a finished object. I finally had two last week.
First, I finished the Clapotis. It’s huge! But I love it. I wore it to a dinner with my husband over the weekend. The building this event is in is always drafty and cold. I was so glad to have it to wrap up in! I wasn’t cold at all.
Special thanks to DD#1 and my DH for modeling and taking pictures!
It was a fun evening. The guest speakers were Apa Sherpa and Lakpa Sherpa. They both took a few minutes to speak. What do men who have climbed Everest on numerous occasions talk about? They spoke in broken English about the importance of getting an education. A man who has summitted Everest 17 times and another man who is the world record holder for the fastest climb of Everest talked about education. I was surprised and touched as I listened to both of them talk about how growing up in Nepal, they didn’t have a choice, but we do. They now live here, in Utah, so that they can provide better opportunities for their families. A good reminder of how fortunate I am to have the things I do.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the Clapotis.
Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Paton’s Wool Merino in Dark Natural Mix, 3 skeins
Needles: Size 8
That’s DD #1 modeling. She says her she wants to knit one for herself for her next knitting project!
Thanks to DD#1 for modeling and to the DH for taking the pictures! Happy Monday!
Did You See Persuasion on Sunday Night?
I did and really enjoyed it. If you missed it, here’s the beginning.
What???!!!!
That’s what I said to my husband last night when I was knitting the Clapotis and he said he wanted me to finish it. His explanation? So he can take pictures of an FO for me.
How about a communal “AWWWWWW that’s so sweet!” for my DH!
A New Illustrator
A relative of mine just started a blog. She is an illustrator of children’s books. Her work is fantastic! Go take a look here!
Mr. Greenjeans Update
Mr. Greenjeans is now coming slowly. Thanks to my very long arms.
I’m ready to knit the cuff on the first sleeve. I’m sure the next sleeve will take forever, just like the first one! Argh!
Malabrigo Shawl
I’ve been working on Lonnie’s Malabrigo Shawl of Many Colors over the last few weeks. I just love the colors that my mom sent me for this shawl!
Makes me think of autumn leaves. But I need some advice. The pattern calls for edging this shawl with a ruffle. I don’t really like ruffles. Any ideas of some other ways I could edge this?
Ribbit, Ribbit
Well, I did it. I frogged one project that wasn’t going well and ripped back a second project about ten rows to fix a mistake that was really bugging me.
The Koolhaas Hat has not been going well. I think I’ve knitted and ripped back at least ten times. I even tried a different yarn to make it a little more crisp. I got better stitch definition, but I also ended up with holes I could put my finger through where the stitches twist and cross! I don’t think this pattern likes DK weight. So over the weekend I frogged it. I wanted to cry. Such beautiful yarn! But I know these two skeins of Simply Shetland Lambswool and Cashmere in Velvet will become something else lovely! They just don’t want to be a Koolhaas Hat. I was however, rewarded for biting the bullet and frogging my hat. As I was sitting there, knitting Mr. Greenjeans, I was marvelling over how much I love the yarn I chose for it- Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Garnet. I was sitting there thinking about how it’s so pretty and looks so great in this sweater. It’s got a little bit of sheen to it. The stitches are really well-defined….Wait! Go back! Well-defined? Hmmmm…. this might be what I’ve been looking for! How many skeins do I have left? Four? Could I spare one for the hat. Well, let’s see..half of the first sleeve knitted… One whole sleeve to go…. Pick ups and ribbed trim to knit … If this takes more than 2 two or three skeins, I will be surprised. YES!!!!! (insert Hallelujah Chorus) We’ll see how it turns out.
I have needed to rip back the Breeze Socks for several weeks. I crossed a couple of cables the wrong direction and I haven’t wanted to knit them and I haven’t wanted to rip them back either. It was liberating to finally rip it back. I really couldn’t progress with them without taking a few steps back.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Koolhaas Hat before I frogged it.
Long Arm of the Law
That’s a nickname we had for my dad when we were growing up. He has really long arms. Apparently I inherited this trait from him. When I was knitting the first sleeve for Mr. Greenjeans and I got to the point after the decreaseswhere it says to knit another 8.75 inches of length I thought I should measure my sleevelength. 20 inches from armpit to cuff!
The things you learn about yourself while knitting….I guess I’m not the only “Long Arm of the Law” in my family.
A Tale of Two Scarves
This is a story of two scarves, one of them will never be.
My “little gray cells” were clearly not working for me yesterday. I woke up and remembered that we are celebrating my MIL’s birthday this Sunday and thought, ” I know, I’ll knit her a scarf!”
So off to the yarn shop I went. I had a few other things to pick up, anyway. Anyway, I bought some Ella Rae Classic Print. It was a combination of hot pink, purple and red.
Not my favorite colors, but she loves pink, so I thought she might like it.
Fast forward to last night…..
After two hours of trying different stitch patterns, I put it away for the night. The color changes are very short and everything I knitted up looked ugly, except for the tweed mock rib, but that curled! The longer I knitted, the uglier it looked.
This morning I tried one more pattern, decided it looked like a really ugly granny square, put the yarn away and decided to cast on for another scarflet in Berrocco Chinchilla. I seem to be able to make those without any trouble. Now why didn’t I think of that yesterday? I could have it done by now.
