Hats Hats Hats

I've been on a slight hat kick lately.

My Coach Yeti's hat

Gray & Green Scrap Hat --- made with left over green & grey yarn from a variety of projects. Apparently, I've been buying more apple / acid green yarns

An EZ Tam (based on the Elizabeth Zimmerman tam instructions)

A Noro Stocking Cap (although, I did finish this at the tail end of 2011)

Hawaiian Tartan

When I started weaving the Hawaiian tartan, I knew I wanted something to wear for the Highland games. So, I went looking for the Hawaiian tartan pattern, and found this webpage that not only had the colors, but also a thread count (albeit on thinner cotton thread) (so I extrapolated and created a spreadsheet with the thread count.)

The colors represent Hawaii and are as follows:

the Blue represents the ocean and the sky

the Green represents the islands' plant life and foliage

the Brown stripe shows the distinctive red-brown earth in Hawaii

the Red & Yellow represent the fire and lava that formed the Hawaiian Islands, as well as honoring the Hawaiian Ali'i (Royalty)

Here's the warp:

And the finished piece. It measures about 6" long and 12.5" wide. It'll serve as a sash for the Highland games.

I used all Cascade 220 yarns, including a Cascade 220 blue tweed as it had all of the other colors in it. (Here's my Ravelry project page).

More information about the Hawaiian tartan is here.

My pattern version of this tartan is on Google Docs as a spreadsheet.

I've also found the California state tartan on Wikipedia, along with the thread count. I might have to make this in the future as well.

Yeti Hat

Last week, my Coach Yeti asked to commission a beanie hat from me in a steel-grey, after seeing many of the FO photos I've posted in my social networking sites.

As this is my COACH...the man I've had the longest relationship with (over 15 years), there was no way he was commissioning me to knit a hat for him. This was going to be an out-right GIFT to him. He told me his head size (a whopping 7 3/4 hat size = 2XX = 24" circumference)

Luckily for him, I had just recently finished another hat (a tam) and wanted another simple project to work on (in between the sweater). Luckily, I had a ball of yarn the color he wanted that would knit up into a soft squishy hat.

During knitting group this past Saturday, I cast on about 116 stitches (for his large head) -- fully intending to make the the Koolhaas hat by Jared Flood, but after I got 2" into the ribbing, I realized that the ONLY ball of yarn that I had was ONLY 98 yards (50g ball). DOH!

So, I dug around in my Stash and found an even darker grey Cascade 220 in the same weight that was left over from a variety of projects. I changed the Koolhaas idea into Turn a Square (also by Jared Flood)

I would stripe the two different greys together. And to make sure it would fit him, I tried it on DH's head, who only has a 23" circumference head, so if it fit him (a teeny bit loose), it'd fit Coach Yeti.

I finished the hat on the bus to work today and wove in all the ends.

Finished Objects Wrap-up For 2011

Okay, I realize that I'm a bit late on the subject, but here's some of the crafts I completed in 2011

Weaving Bug -- I don't think so!

Well, I don't think I've caught the weaving bug 100% --- I'm not going gangbusters --- but I officially picked up the Ashford 24" rigid heddle loom December 30, 2011, and I've gotten 4 weaving projects done.

My first project was the simple tabby scarf in red/black marl yarn.

The second project was an experiment in colors and width. This is 22" wide and 3 feet long.

The 3rd project was an experiment in plaid (which got sewn up to make a carry-bag for the different rigid heddles. And yes, I cut my woven fabric with scissors down the middle....). This was 18" wide and 1.5 yards long.

The 4th project was a houndstooth scarf in acid green & black tweed (not that the tweedy parts showed up in the finished scarf

And the most current project is a Hawaiian tartan plaid that's a wider scarf / sash that I can wear to the Scottish Highland games.

Here's the warp

And lest you think I'm ONLY weaving, I've finished a pair of socks for myself. And actively on the needles, I've got a cabled tam, a cashmere sweater, AND I've spun up & plied the last of Frank so I can finish up the sleeves on a yet another sweater (that I haven't posted about yet).

So, no, if I had the weaving bug, I'd ONLY be doing weaving projects.

Right?

New Year of Crafting

Work's been keeping me super busy as of late, and while I've had time to craft, I haven't had time to blog as much. If you're keeping up with the Geek Girl Crafts Podcast, you'll hear most of what I've been doing there.

The latest piece of news is that my sweet DH decided to get me a loom for the holidays. Yes, a loom. After I said that I wasn't planning on weaving anytime soon. Apparently, he'd been listening to the Purlescence Girls too much.

It's an Ashford 24" Rigid Heddle Loom. The Purl Girls helped me do my first warp, and here's the finished product, which is a 9" scarf, which uses the same Cascade 220 red & black marled yarn as the warp & the weft.

It's really pretty, but after a while, I got very bored weaving it, as it was the same pattern repeatedly.

In addition to the loom, he got me the book, The Handweaver's Pattern Directory. So after I finished the scarf, I flipped through it, found a 2-color tabby pattern I liked, and started warping.

The warping was relatively easy, although I had a slight problem when running the top yarn through the middle bit of the heddle (I missed one) that I didn't realize until I started weaving...ah well....

It's actually working out relatively well, and I will take the mistake as a learning topic.

I figure that I can use some of my extra stash that's been sitting there unused for a while (esp. the Cascade 220) and play with the loom.

So far, so good.

I will make an attempt to get the last of 2011's projects up onto the blog.