pictures! whee!

My super-fun Intarsia-Plaid Beanie-Bill for my friend Day:
It's hard to see the pattern in the bright sunlight.. it's kinda subtle in places.
From this: +
(manos Brick and Lava)

to this:
(knitting on the plane home, a million little balls!)

to THIS!:



modelled by my lovely new blue glass head, Shirley, and on me (it's too big, I have a really small head).

Hiatus and Intarsia-plaid!

Sorry about long break, I've been in transit. I moved from Japan back to the states on July 10th.. well, I took a week break in Seattle then came back to my parents house in NY, now I'm packing even MORE stuff to move in with my boyfriend in Maryland and hopefully get a job at this kickass yarn store down there! I've already talked to the owner, who is looking for someone, and provided we get along well hopefully she'll hire me! How often do you find people who are completely flexible with hours AND are obsessive knitter/fiberfiend/teachers?

While I was in Seattle I went to this great yarn store called The Weaving Works. They had a nice selection of knitting yarn, weaving yarn, AND lots of spinning/dyeing supplies! I went there with two friends, one is an ex-knitter and the other is a non-knitter. They had a blast squeezing every ball of yarn in the place :) My ex-knitter friend who I promised to knit a hat for even picked out his own yarn (with some help). We decided on some GORGEOUS Manos del Uruguey (which I had actually never beheld in person). We got a hank of mottled deep red, and a hank of this varigated black-gold-red that knits up a bit like a tweed. Both are absolutely stunning, I think it's my new favorite yarn!

While still in Seattle I was brainstorming in 3D (on the needles), and Dayvd said he wanted the hat to be a beanie-bill, and a work of art, so I should go nuts.
And nuts I went!
I knit the hat flat. It's my first flat hat. It's also done in an interpretive INTARSIA-PLAID based on the Magknits plaid vest. It's a combination of intarsia and slip stitch techniques, and I knit the thing completely patternless. I had about 5 hours on the plane from Seattle to Atlanta, then another 3 hours in the airport to work on it, and have been picking at it here and there since. Yesterday I finlly got the brim done (it's not really a brim, so much as an embellishment), and wove in all my ends! Whoo hoo! And lo and behold, it fits! (my dad, couldn't try it on Day, but they both have bigger heads than me). I really like it :)

Unfortunately, my camera is being retarded and my USB port on it is broken and I don't have a card reader, so I wont have the pictures till tonight because I have to take it to the photo store and burn a picture cd.
But pictures of the amazing hat soon!

Also I got to go to the new Adirondack Yarns Knitting cafe here in Lake Placid! They just expanded and the new store is really cute, and was packed with people! They had some really really lovely handpainted specialty yarns along with all the old favorites. I managed to walk out with NO NEW YARN, but did pick up Stitch and Bitch Nation, Nicky Epstein's (sp) Knitting Embellishments (chotto takai$$$), and the summer Vogue Knitting with the great summer scarves in it :)

Next project I think will be matching armwarmers with the rest of the manos!
And I will have roughly 28 hours in the car (to MD, and back up, then to MD again) to knit! yay! I love how knitting makes sitting around while going places sooo much more enjoyable :)
I haven't knit in the car in a long time though, hope I don't get motionsick...

Monk Hat with Pattern!

All these hats I made for the family I'd been living with in Japan, and here's the last one! I made this hat for their Dad, the Zen Buddhist Priest, hence, it's The Monk Hat :)


Supplies: 8mm 16"(40cm) circular needle
(MC)1 50gram ball of worsted weight 100% wool
(CC)1 50 gram ball of worsted weight (or slightly thicker) fluffy boucle-style yarn (I used a wool/acrylic almost eyelash blend from Filatura di Crosa, but it may be discontinued, i don't know the name) This stuff has the texture of Lionbrand Homespun, actually, but it's part wool. You could really use any other interesting, accent yarn for this part.

gauge: 10st/10cm (or 4 in). this is an estimate, actually, i have no ruler right now. Try on your hat after making the brim to test the size.

Holding together one strand each of mc and cc, cast on 48 st. Join.
Knit in garter st (RS knit, WS purl) for 7 or 8 rows, ending on a purl row.
Switch to two strands of the worsted wool (I pull one strand from the center and one from the outside) and continue in stockinette st (plain knitting) until the hat measures 8 inches from the bottom (add a few more rounds for someone with a larger head). The hat should cover your ears when you try it on at this point. If it does not, add a few more rounds.

Decrease rows and finishing:
Row 1: k6, k2tog
Row 2: k5, k2tog
Row 3: k4, k2tog
Row 4: k3, k2tog
Row 5: k2, k2tog
Row 6: k1, k2tog
Break the yarn and thread a yarn needle; run through all the stitches and pull tight.
Pull the yarn on the needle through the center hole and weave in tightly and you're done!

I love garter st brim hats :) they give the look of a folded-over brim without actually having one, but are still warm because of how the fabric pulls together and traps air.
More variations!


The Blue/Orange hat and the Green/rainbow hat are done using one strand of Super Bulky wool.

Hats are so satisfying

I could make hats all year I think :) Wish I had space in my suitcase, my lys here still has tons of awesome super bulky sale yarn perfect for cute hats, but I dont have the money or the room. I finished off the hat yarn I had with this beauty :)