Lunch Break Hat (and rambles)

I made a hat today.

I like it.

Lunch Break Hat

Yarn: Superbulky wool - I'm going to say about 120 yards. I'm not really sure. This was wool I frogged from a thrift store sweater, and I used about 3/4 of a sleeve.
Needles: US 10 (UK 4 - because that's what I happened to have in my bag)
Gauge: 10 stitches/4 inches in stockinette stitch knitted flat (but as long as the k2p2 ribbing pulls in to your liking, anything goes)

CO 44 stitches; work in k2p2 rib until you have as much as you want.
*K1, k1f&b* to end - 66 stitches.
Work in stockinette stitch until piece measures about 8 inches long from cast-on edge.
K2tog across - 33 stitches.
P1, then p2tog across - 17 stitches.
Cut about a yard of yarn, thread through the remaining stitches, and sew seam. This could easily be modified to knit in the round (and thus avoid seaming, which I would have done, had I brought appropriately-sized circular or double-pointed needles to work today!).

I wore my Cable-Down Raglan to work today. It's nice and warm without being scratchy. The verdict's still out on the sleeve length, though - when my arms are at my sides, they're about two inches above my wrist, but if I raise my arms, they retreat to about 3/4 length. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I definitely should have divided for the sleeves earlier, as the shoulder-to-clavicle region is rather baggy. When I raise my arms, my upper torso looks like a hexagon, and while teaching geometry is important, that's not what I'm attempting here.

The Tangled Yoke Cardigan is, sadly, still buttonless. I've made several attempts at finding buttons, but the right ones just haven't been discovered yet. If the roads weren't a skating rink tonight, I'd try a few more places - maybe tomorrow? It needs 9 ~5/8" buttons, and I'm thinking either a pewter or a light shell button would be pretty. We'll see.

A few things

1. The Tangled Yoke Cardigan is finished. Sort of. It's buttonless at the moment. I'll have more details and photos when I sew on the buttons (hopefully Friday - my weeknights have suddenly gone nuts on me).

2. I have NO WIP's at the moment. This is a first for me. It's kind of weird. There are loads of things I want to do next, but I just haven't cast on for any yet. Admittedly, I do have two socks that need their mates, but...I just can't seem to get motivated to finish those.

3. My goal this year is to knit six sweaters. We'll see how that goes. I think I'll count the Tangled Yoke Cardi as one - or is that cheating?

4. I got Season 3 of Doctor Who on DVD. What does this have to do with knitting? Absolutely nothing. (Although there's a character who's shown knitting for a split second in one episode.) Great show, though.

Have I mentioned that I love knitting?

I've been working on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan almost nonstop since Christmas. I finally figured out how to do two sleeves at once on one circular needle - yay! - and I joined the sleeves to the body of the cardigan last Friday. Yes, that's about 17 days on the sleeves, and here's how I did it:

1. There was very little to do over Christmas Break besides eat, drink tea, and knitting. Which one doesn't make you gain weight or give you caffeine jitters? Yup.
2. The Thursday after I went back to work, I had to take my car in to the shop, because when they replaced the timing belt ($$), it had gotten off a notch/cog/doohickey, making the car shake. Thankfully, I'd grabbed my knitting bag on my way out the door, because three hours later, the mechanic told me that the repair would probably take all day. But at least I had been knitting through those three hours! I got a good six inches of the sleeves done that day. (Plus, they gave me free spark plugs, and I wasn't charged for the repair!) That day was "I knit so I do not kill people" day.
3. Knit-In at the Gourmet Yarn Company - four hours of knitting time! Stockinette is great for Knit-Ins.

I messed up a bit on the sleeve shaping, so the sleeves are a bit longer and narrower than the pattern says, but several people on Ravelry said the sleeves tend to run a bit large in this pattern.

Oh, and FYI to Oklahoma residents and visitors: admission to the OKC Zoo is free on Mondays and Tuesdays in January and February! It's recently undergone some renovations, so if you haven't been to the Zoo lately, this is a great time to go. There's a new Oklahoma Trails exhibit with animals found in the state - including a large room with bats flying around. We went on New Year's Eve Day, and aren't these little foxes the cutest?

A wooly week

I have to say, there are definite perks to my otherwise mind-numbingly boring job - like not having to work from December 21st to January 2nd. Most of that time was spent in Tulsa with my mom's side of the family. But I did take a day to go thrift shopping (my favorite kind, aside from yarn shopping!).

A huge Shetland tweed sweater - I'd call this DK to light worsted. And there is a TON of it. According to the label, it's a size small. Yeah, for a small Hagrid. Notice the iPod* for size reference.

This is my favorite! It's the softest, springiest 100% wool I've ever unraveled. And the manufacturers were kind enough to tell me that this is "worsted wool." Thank you, manufacturers!


This was maybe not so bright of a purchase. I bought it based solely on the colors. When I got home, I did find the fiber content on a tag inside the shoulder seam (how uncomfortable would that be!). It's 50% wool, 50% acrylic, and unfortunately, it has serged seams. I think, though, that the seams aren't actually cut. (At least, I hope so.) The yarn is so pretty in that variegated stripe! I know I can unravel the body from the underarms down.

These, believe it or not, are two different sweaters! They're the same brand and same color, but one's a medium and the other's a small. Both are super-soft one-ply 100% lambswool. I don't care for the color, but can we say overdyeing?



Here's a 100% silk sweater with a twist - it's knitted from ribbon-like strands of torn silk fabric. I started unraveling this one...then I found deodorant on the underarm. GROSS! So this needs a serious wash before I mess with it any more.


This sweater is rust-colored 100% silk. It unraveled beautifully, and it's about a sportweight/DK.


Here's another 100% wool sweater - this is a sportweight/DK lambswool. It's a pretty tan with white, brown, and almost black nubbins. Again, notice how huge it is!


No, this isn't a sweater. This is a velveteen coverlet I found for my bed! I'm determined not to let it become like my other blanket...


...completely covered in dog hair. Nearly everything I own is completely covered in dog hair - that's the price you pay for having a dog that sheds year-round. But Tucker's so cute that it's hard to kick him off the bed.


Last Saturday was the Gourmet Yarn Company's end-of-the-year sale, and I picked up some Cashwool and Jojoland Harmony - both lace yarns I've been wanting for a while. That's almost 2 miles of wool, by the way. Now that I've done a lace shawl, I want to make something bigger! I've been looking through my copy of Victorian Lace Today, and it's both exciting and overwhelming. The knitted-on borders look a bit daunting, but I think I'll just have to plow through one.

*I love my iPod and librivox.org! So far, I've put the entire New Testament, seven or eight good-sized audio books, thirty or so hours of podcasts, and my entire music collection on it, and it's only about 10% full.