House Hats

Do you know a Harry Potter fan? It's been a while since I've done any knitting, what with houseguests and all. But I've settled in to knitting again starting with these hats. Actually two berets and a beanie, and one more started. They were quick and easy knits, the pattern, yarn and color suggestion is from the Charmed Knits book. The silver stripe in the green beret (Slytherin) is from my stash and the bronze stripe in the blue beret (Ravenclaw - book) is Glitterspun from Lion Brand. I'll be seeing the movie on Tuesday, July 10! Yes, at a preview one whole day before the public release. Will I wear one of my hats? I don't think so.

Finally Finished!

At last, it's done. Just in time for summer! Maybe it's meant for someone in a more northerly climate. Overall, I very pleased with how it turned out. The sleeves are rather long, more like mittens. If I were to knit this again, I would knit it in the round, with no seams. From someone who has a lot of unfinished projects around the house, I glad this one is finally completed.

Pattern: Central Park Knitscene Fall 2006
Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed (from stash) approx. 1100 yds.
Size: 40

Out of the OC

California Condor

This was taken at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. What? You can't see the Condor? It took me a while to find it, too. When I started to take the picture he was on that dead tree. He just didn't stay there.
I didn't do much knitting while I was on vacation.

Hemp Market Bag

Paper, Plastic or Hemp?

I'll bet you didn't think that I had hemp in my stash! Actually, I bought a bag full of it at the swap meet a couple of years ago. It's more like string, but not very smooth. I doubled it to knit this bag. I used one pattern for the top, the body is the purse stitch (yarn over, purl 2 together), and the bottom I just knitted and decreased every other round. It came out ok, after all, it's only a bag. I have a lot of hemp left over, so I may make another one. It's strong and stretches a lot, very useful for going to the farmer's market!

Kitty Bed for ARF

Before

After

Knitted for ARF - Animal Rescue Friends in Idyllwild. Norma suggested I knit a kitty bed for them and I was happy to do so. It came out really well. I hope it goes to a good home - with a cat included.

Tiffany Hat

Instead of working on the basketweave afghan (which, by the way, I'm thinking of ripping out and starting over), I cast on and knit this hat. The yarn is Tiffany from Lion Brand yarns, 100% nylon. The color is charcoal. It was extremely difficult to work with. After almost finishing it, I dropped a stitch and had to rip out many, many rows until I could fix it! Why bother? Because it is as soft as butter and will be donated to someone who has lost their hair due to chemotherapy.

TV Knitting

Instead of finishing my CPH, I cast on this Basketweave/Checkerboard afghan. It's an easy pattern to do while watching TV. Knit on large needles, so it will go quickly. This yarn was taking up a whole drawer and it was time to knit it up. Brown again, I really must get some color into my knitting.

CPH Progress

I'm getting close to finishing the CPH. For a while, I thought that I might not have enough yarn for the hood and I would just have a CP, but so far it looks OK. I will end up using every inch of yarn. Next I'll finish the sleeves & hope they fit in the armhole. Then comes the hard part, the front border. It's not something I can do while watching TV. Overall, I'm pleased on how it's turning out.

Does this yarn look familiar?

It used to be the Donegal Irish tweed sweater that I finished last November. Yep, I ripped out the whole thing, or frogged it (rip-it, rip-it) in knitter's terminology. In it's previous life it was not very attractive on me. In fact, it had kind of a potato effect. So I started again with this cabled cardigan pattern called Central Park Hoodie - CPH - as it's known around knit blogdom. Vertical lines are much more slimming.

Blog Catch-Up

Where did February go? I knitted the time away, of course. A lot of knitting and ripping out. A couple of completed projects, though. This is the "Fetching" handwarmer pattern again. Just as nice as the ones that went to Megan. I had to make them a few rows shorter because I ran out of yarn. Not sure if I'm keeping these for myself or giving them away.

This is what I call TV knitting, an easy project that can be knit while watching TV. It's an afghan or lap blanket, on the small side about 30" by 40" in navy blue acrylic. I'll probably give this away.