Double Pom Earflap Baby Hat

I little hat I made up for Staci the Photographer. PDF version



Materials: Small amount of worsted weight yarn (100-300 yds)
Needles: US 7 circular or DPNs or size needed to obtain gauge. Third needle required for three needle bindoff.
Gauge: 16st to 4" in stockinette

Directions:

Cast on 72 st.
Join in round. Be careful not to twist.
Work in k2, p2 ribbing for 6"
Bind off using 3-needle bind off

Earflaps:
At each side of hat brim, pick up 10 stitches.
Work 6 rows in garter stitch.
Row 7: k1, ssk, k4, k2tog, k1
Row 8: k all st
Row 9: k1, ssk, k2, k2tog, k1
Row 10: k all st
Row 11: k1, ssk, k2tog, k1
Row 12: k all st
With remaining 4 st work 12" of I-cord. Cut yarn with 8" tail. Thread through remaining st to bind off.

Work two poms and attach to corners of hat.

I Made A Written Commitment!!!

I made a written commitment to Lizann--the only confirmed reader of this blog-- that I would update it this week. So here I go. I read a total of 17 books in September and October which, for those of you keeping score, means that I surpassed the 100 book mark. I know, you all stand in awe of my Evelyn Woods-like ability. Here are some highlights:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I think it would be nearly impossible for me to read this book before the Internet. I'm kind of wary about reading translated books because, no matter how good the story is, if the translator sucks it ruins the whole book. Thankfully, whoever translated these books did a wonderful job. The reason I needed the Internet is that I have no frame of reference for the Swedish monetary system. I looked up the exchange rate between the Swedish kroner and the US dollar multiple times.

The book follows two main characters--a discredited financial reporter and an anti-social computer hacker (the title character) as they work to solve a 40 year old mystery. We follow their lives separately until they finally meet in the last section of the book. Larsson slowly builds the action and tension until you do not want to put the book down.

The movie came out in Europe earlier this year. No word on when it will be available in the states or if Hollywood is going to do their own version.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Big thanks to Lynn for giving me this book. It's very hard to explain and it would take a long time because the book is over 800 pages long. Suffice it to say it is an awesome book and you should read it.

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

This is honestly the most thought-provoking book I've read in a while. As with Meyers' other books,, the prose is mediocre. But, this story is phenomenal.

The story begins several years after the earth has been conquered by parasitic aliens. The main character, Wanderer, has just been inserted into her new host Melanie. Usually when a soul (the closest word the aliens could come up with in English to what they are) enters the host body it completely suppresses the host's consciousness, but Melanie will not go away.

Wanderer is supposed to plumb the depths of Melanie's memory in order to find the last hold-out humans. Melanie convinces her to trek through the desert in search of her lost love instead.

They actually find him living with a colony of humans set up by Melanie's uncle. Jared (the lover) and the rest of the colony want to kill her, but are convinced not to by Melanie's brother Jamie. The humans eventually realize that Melanie is still there. They gradually are accepted into the community but it becomes apparent that things cannot continue as they are.

I'll stop here before I spoil the agony for you dear reader(s).

Here's the knitting rundown:

I finished Shane's fornicating deer hat. It's been a big hit and I've received several requests for them--all refused because then it is work.

I finished Loralei's Fern Lace Scarf but still have three Christmas projects to complete--Eclipse socks for Lizann, Sunshine socks for Mary, and a reversible cable brioche stitch scarf for my mom.

Cold mountain is trudging along at a rate of 2 rows a day and the Estonian shawl is at a dead standstill until after the holidays--same with the Falling Water scarf. I need to pull Vivian out of hibernation, but it's been to warm to even think about it and I'm not about to start wishing for cold weather.

That all for now. Knit books, read sweaters, stay classy.

Is It Procrastination If There's No Actual Deadline?

There are times in my life when I develop an aversion to a book or project that I've been really looking forward to getting started on. I'm not talking about books that I was never going to read--ever (ie anything by Dan Brown or Nicholas Sparks)--but books that I've ordered from the library and have waited a long time for. And when they finally arrive, they're off-putting for some reason.

Last week I wrote a little bit about how Lizann convinced me to read The Twilight Saga (even though up to that point I was not really interested). What's strange to me is that I can sit down and read four books that I'm completely ambivalent about without a second thought, but something I'm really interested in can sit around for weeks without even being cracked.

Case in point--Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's been sitting in the To Be Read pile for five weeks and I've been putting off reading it. Well, I finally did and I feel completely irrational.

It is a great book. Great characters, great setting--the circus--what's not to love? Although there was one positive outcome from my procrastination. The day I finished the book was the day Ringling pulled in to town. How fortuitous was that?

Twilight, Sleepovers, Alpacas and More!

Over Labor day weekend I had the good fortune to have 5 days in a row off. Five full days of knitting and reading and boy did I put them to good use.

I want to start out by saying that I've never really had any desire to read the Twilight novels. At all. But, Lizann recently got them off of paperback swap and she encouraged me to read them. I want to give her some credit. Eventhough she feels strongly that her sisters and I should read these books, she really went to a lot of effort not to put undue pressure on us.

Unlike Lizann, I already read quite a bit of vampire fiction (Charlaine Harris, JR Ward, Lara Adrian, Maryjanice Davidson, etc...), so what stopped me from reading Twilight all these years was really the moody teenager aspect of it. That and the fact that Robert Patinson (sp?) is weird.

So, did I like it? The answer is yes. While I don't think that Stephanie Meyer is a great writer, she is a pretty good storyteller and that goes a long way with me. I know I've ranted about this before, but writers that overemphasize setting or characterization at the expense of plot make me crazy. It doesn't do me any good to be "transported to 1940s Hong Kong" if all there is to do when I get there is hang out with boring, self-absorbed people (The Piano Teacher by Janice YK Lee).

I read the whole series that weekend and it truly wasn't a waste of time.

This weekend we trekked to scenic Manhattan, KS for an Alpaca fair. Many thanks to Lisa for hosting a sleepover. And for the Chocolate Fondue, which was truly delicious. The fair itself was kind of a bust. It was really small and didn't have a huge variety of yarn to choose from. We bailed after about 15 minutes.

After that we headed over to Wildflower knits and browsed. I didn't find anything I truly loved but part of that is that I'm really into laceweight right now and I'm finding that a lot of LYSs just don't carry a huge selection. Let us all give thanks for the interwebz.

Then we headed over to Wamego and stopped at the yarn store there. I can't remember it's new name (it used to be called Settler's Farm), but it's right down the street from the OZ Museum. I found some lovely Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock. Its a single ply sock yarn with really long subtle color changes. It hasn't decided what it wants to be yet, but I'm guessing it will be something out of Cookie A's Sock Innovations book.

And now for a project update:

I've reached the halfway point on Cold Mountain, and it's measuring 28in unblocked. I don't think that I'll have any trouble blocking it to 6 ft when it's done. Width is another matter, the pattern calls for blocking to 26" and I think the best I'm going to do is 24". Oh well, not the end of the world and I'm not exactly long in the torso.

The Fern Lace Scarf is coming along nicely. I'm just over 60% done. The hard part here is going to be finding a stopping place. I think I have enough yarn in this skein to make a 7 or 8 ft unblocked scarf, but that might be a little excessive even for people who like long scarves. This is going to be a Christmas present for Loralei, so I might just have to ask her what she prefers.

I'm in the home stretch on the Whisper Cardigan. Unfortunately, this is the most boring part: eight inches of stockinette that increases two stitches every other row. I'm having to bribe myself to work on it. I will get it done though, I promise.

The Third X is Kicking my Ass

Last weekend I started on the Cold Mountain Stole. I love this pattern and I particularly love how easy it is to knit. However, it also seems really easy to make mistakes and not realize them for 20 rows. The first time I made a mistake, I seriously thought about laddering down and fixing it, but as this is lace, I decided to make it a design feature. Now I've found the second mistake. Luckily, it's only 5 rows down. This one I'll have to fix. Oh well, it'll be a good way to break in the new crochet hook set I got from Knitpicks.

I haven't been reading a lot lately. I've only finished three books since my last post and, with the exception of The Year of Living Biblically, none are really worth reviewing. TYOLB is definately worth a read though. I'd be really interested in what a truly conservative christian would think about it. Do I know any fundies? I'll have to think about that.

The Crabs Have a New Home

The Red Crab and the Blue Crab are in their new home. Last night I had the pleasure of gifting them to Katelynn Corinne (age 1 week). She stuck out her tongue, but I think she liked them. Her mom and dad sure did. I'm glad, because knitting crab legs is the most tedious job in the world and I'd hate to think it was in vain.

Also Norberta the Dragon moved in with Katelynn Last night. She's been with me for months, and I kind of miss her, but she's already found a good spot in Katelynn's room.


So that leaves me with only 4 WIPs: Angee Socks, Fern Lace Scarf, Ballet Camisole and Whisper Cardigan. Next up on the list is the Cold Mountian Stole. I have to wait until I get to a certain point on the Whisper Cardigan before starting because they share the same needle. I know I could just buy another needle, but I'm trying to resist the temptation.

In book news, I passed the 75 book mark at the end of July so everything else is gravy from this point out. I've only gotten through four books so far in August, but they've all been really good.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates: Intense, incredibly well written story of what happens to a couple when they realize that they are not destined for greater things. Not recommended for anyone with relationship problems.

Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham: Third Albert Campion mystery. I'm reading these in order and Albert, as a character, is really growing on me. These were written in the thirties and they always remind me of Cary Grant for some reason.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe: Fun book by a first time author. Connie is a Ph.D candidate at Harvard researching early American History. She has two tasks for the summer: clean out her grandmother's house and get it ready to sell and select a topic for her dissertation. She finds out a lot about her family and herself while completing both tasks. The book is set in 1991 when cell phones were scarce and there wasn't anything on the internet so she has to spend a lot of time doing research the old fashioned way.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: This is supposedly the most popular children's book in the world right now. I thought it was cute, but it wasn't Harry Potter. The book is a series of vignettes about the life of Nobody Owens a kid who grows up in a graveyard (because a psycho killer is after him). The illustrations are great and the book is well-written. It just wasn't for me. I would recommend it for kids age 10+.

There. Are you happy Lizann?

Whipping the WIPS!

I'm very proud of myself. I finished two WIPs in the last two weeks.

First: Aran Weight Victorian Lace Shawl

I started knitting this in the winter of 2007. It knit up fairly easily and I finished the knitting part of it in early 2008. I don't know if I was sick of it or if I was too intimidated by the idea of blocking it, but I just put it away and haven't thought about it since.

Well, over 4th of July weekend I finally decided to block it. I knew it was going to be too big for my blocking board, so I brought home some load center door boxes from work to extend the area. I commandeered the living room and set to work.

The yarn I used for this project was Peruvian Uros Aran by Elann. 50% Wool. 50% Llama. I was out of Soak, so I washed in in the sink with a little bit of off brand woolite. It reacted fine but the yarn made that part of the house stink like wet Llama.

It took over an hour to block, but it wasn't nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be.

Second: February Lady Sweater

So, according to Ravelry, I'm the 3316th person to finish this sweater. Go me! This version of the FLS is made from Knitpicks Crayon 100% cotton yarn. Special thanks to lynknits for the yarn inspiration on this one. The yarn is incredibly soft and washable.

Because I'm an incredibly loose knitter, I had to go down a needle size from the original to a size 7 even though this yarn is DK weight instead of the recommended worsted weight. The great thing about this pattern is that it can be adapted to almost any weight of yarn. My only frustration is that the pattern instructs you to continue knitting in garter stitch after the increases until the piece almost meets at the underarm. What the heck is ALMOST!?!?!?! I finally decided that ALMOST = 1 inch and it worked out really well. I didn't have any bunching in the underarm (unlike many folks on ravelry).

The buttons I picked out have a great coppery, southwestern look--even though they're plastic. I had two on a card that I bought years ago for a project that has since gone to project heaven--or hell--and, in a stroke of good fortune, I found a matching card at Joann's last Friday. The price had only gone up 54%.

The only thing that remains to be done is to stabilize the collar with a row of reverse single crochet (crab stitch). But since I'm not a hooker, I'll have to leave that to either Lizann or yarndork.