Bichons In Berry Sauce

Esther Williams is the quickest thing I've knit in a long, long time. Besides the flowers, they don't count. The pattern is very well written, and was relatively easy to modify for yarn of a different gauge. And, it fits my head perfectly.

Pattern: Esther Williams hat by Laura
Yarn: Steadfast Fibers Wonderful Wool (85% wool 15% mohair) in Blueberry Ice, less than one skein
Needles: Inox 16" circular, size 6 and Boye dpns, size 6
Modifications: To accomodate for a smaller gauge, I added a few more pattern repeats to my initial cast-on, and one twelve row pattern repeat before beginning the decreases. I opted not to attach the crochet border because 1) I don't know how to crochet, and 2) seeing as how I already added length to the hat with my extra twelve rows, it's long enough.

I'm thinking about knitting this hat again in the future, maybe from some leftover Cashmerino Aran. It was fun to knit, and my modifications didn't end up messing up the pattern, even at the decrease stage. The pattern is clear and easy to follow! Abby absolutely *loves* to model my new knitwear for the camera. Wait. No she doesn't. But she said she'd be willing to if I gave her something to eat.

Posted by Nancy at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Remember the yarn stashing trip Andra and I took? I decided to turn my yarn into an Esther Williams hat and possibly some sort of coordinating scarf. The yarn is this pretty ice blue color, it really shows off the stitch definition. It's made by Steadfast Fibers, and is 85% wool 15% mohair, so it sheds just a little. I was really set on using this yarn for this hat, and even though I didn't get gauge with it, I decided I was brave enough to fiddle with the pattern a bit. I needed to cast on a few more repeats, as my gauge was a bit smaller than it should have been. I've also added one more 12 row repeat, which I hope doesn't make the hat too long.

I'm still fairly unsure which pattern I should include in a scarf. I need to go through some of my books and maybe make something up.

A few days ago, Cary and I went to PetCo to get Abby more food (she's a greedy little pig) and treats. I like to get the "bin treats" for her, and tried these new little ones that look like little marrow bones. You'd think she'd love them, being the greedy little pig she is. About a half-hour after I gave her the treat (she sits!) I caught her walking around the house with her mouth half open like she was laughing at me. Turns out, she had been holding the treat in her mouth with no intention of eating it. Silly girl!

Posted by Nancy at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My friend Andra and I went to one of our LYS a few days ago.. not the really nice one which is a 30 minute drive away, but the close one with the 30% off coupon which carries just about every single novelty yarn you could imagine. Double what you're imagining, it's a lot. We scoured the store to come up with acceptable knitting yarns, and Andra came up with these to make her sister a scarf. I brought them back to my house under the guise that I'd be winding them into balls for her. I really just wanted to pet them some more. They're really more purple than they look in the picture.

I found these beautiful wool/mohair blends in a pretty color named 'blueberry ice'. I was torn between this color, a deep pink, and a deep reddish orangey pink color. Andra reminded me I have a lot of pink things (like the scarf I was wearing at the time) and I needed to branch out. These will become a scarf and hat set I'm thinking. I like the Esther Williams Hat pattern, but need to figure out a way to match up the patterning for the scarf.

Posted by Nancy at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)