A Hat of Her Own

Since Kittycat had such fun wearing my beret, I made her one of her own. I used pretty much the same pattern, but did it on 3mm needles in Lanett instead of 4.5mm and Freedom Spirit. I also added the stripe pattern so it would match her mousie pants, and finished the centre with a short length of i-cord to make it look more like a traditional beret. Then I blocked it on a dessert plate and voila!

By the way, in my last post I carefully positioned my gorgeous new Lantern Moon ebony needles (Valentine's gift from Chi) in the photo of the dishcloth, then forgot to blog about them. I'm a little ashamed that my first project on them was just a dishcloth - but now I'm using them to make an entrelac scarf for Chi in Filatura di Crosa Zara, which is a yummy yarn and quite worthy of the needles. I don't think my entrelac technique is entirely worthy though - it is not as even as I'd like and I have bumps showing through of the contrast colours when I work the p2togs. Still, it doesn't look bad.

Speaking of Zara I bought more of it online, to make Kittycat's next autumn sweaters. I have a pattern book for Sirdar Snuggly DK which I love, but that yarn is 100% acrylic, and lovely though it is to knit, after a few washes you can really tell it's acrylic. I realised that Zara will knit to the same gauge, is machine washable and it's 100% merino wool so it will be nice and warm and breathable and should wear better too.

You may be wondering why I bought yarn now for her fall sweaters. Well... I'm on a yarn diet. It started at the beginning of the month. So I had to get in a few frantic last-minute purchases in at the end of February. As well as the Zara (some in navy and some in green) I bought some ecoknit organic cotton to make the ginkgo leaf top (on sale, and it's lovely, lovely soft yummy stuff, although the colour is not me at all - I'm looking into natural dyes for it) and also treated myself to Zephyr wool-silk from Fiddlesticks Knitting to make the Caress lacy top. My yarn diet ends in September - hopefully it will help me cut a swathe through my stash so that by the time it's up I'll actually have room (and good reason) to buy more. To be honest, though, it would probably take me several years of yarn dieting to actually deplete the stash. To find out more about why I'm yarn dieting check out Chi's blog.

Garterlac dishcloth and a little hat thief

This is the garterlac dishcloth from Criminy Jickets. I found the pattern and thought I'd give it a go, because Chi (this is my husband's online pseudo) liked the Danica scarf at Knitty, and I'd never tried entrelac before. Well, if entrelac is as easy as its garter stitch variant, I like it! I'm especially pleased with this dishcloth because I like the colours - with the changing directions of the knitting, it reminds me of waves on the sea. Also, we needed a new dishcloth, so that worked out well.
Kittycat found my beret and was practising putting it on. After a few tries she managed it, and looked far too adorable in it. I especially liked this picture of her looking très française. I think she actually has an imaginary glass of vin rouge in that right hand. Mind you, I think most French people have better fashion sense than she is exhibiting here!

Using my head

Made this beret out of Twilley's Freedom Spirit - took me 5 days, and this was the week I returned to work after mat leave! Very quick knit. I love this yarn too - the second photo shows the colours quite well.
And here are some photos of my foray into Fair Isle design. I ordered yarn a few weeks back from Jamieson and Smith. After looking at the yarns in real life, I chose these colours and made a design on paper (It's for a vest/waistcoat for Betsy, by the way. I bought her a t-shirt that is dark grey with a turquoisy stripe, and I wanted to girly it up a bit by putting those colours together with some pinks in a little matching vest).

It needs some reworking, because although I like my pattern, it doesn't "pop" out against the background greys as much as I'd like. I read the article in the Winter 2006 Knitty by Julie Theaker, which recommends looking at one's colour designs in black and white to see whether the values of the colours look pleasing together; when I scanned my sample in black and white (bottom picture) it became really obvious why the design wasn't looking good. I had put colours together that were way too close in value.

The upshot is that I'm going to order a couple more of the undyed wool shades, so that I can have a little more variation in the backgrounds; I'm also going to switch around the backgrounds I already have so I get a little more contrast. I do think the design has potential though - watch this space for developments.

Seven years, no itch!

This is the Tychus toque from Knitty. I made it from Lett-Lopi leftovers for my husband for our 7th anniversary - traditionally the woollen anniversary. Which I think is a little ironic given the idea of the seven year itch. Thankfully wool does not make my husband itch too badly.

The hat knit up very quickly. I shortened it by two stitches because I didn't want him to have to turn up the brim, but as you can see I didn't shorten it quite enough. It fits me really nicely too - perhaps I'll have to have one.

It looks like Kittycat is trying to sign "hat" in the first photo. She's wearing an outfit she was given for her birthday. Excuse the unfixed red eyes and the piles of laundry in that photo!
And here is my progress on Kittycat's dress. I've finished the skirt part and am on to the bodice. I'm now working back and forth on a circular needle, which means I have to purl on the circ - one of my most hated things to do. Oh well. I just can't pick-purl. I don't think I'll have it done for Christmas, but it might be done for the inlaws' family gathering on the 30th.