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After I made hats and hats and more hats for people for Christmas, in my unceasing egocentricity I said to myself, “Hey, I didn’t get a new hat!” So I decided to knit myself one.
I didn’t really want a hat, I wanted a cowl/hood — something that would keep my chest warm both outdoors and in my cold office in the morning, and that I could pull up over my head when the wind was blowing or the thermometer was well below freezing. I went to the Alfred Knitting Studio to return the extra baby lama yarn from Amanda’s hat and bought some wool-angora blend yarn that was on sale. Yum – that would be cozy!
Then I went on an online quest for the perfect pattern. It hadn’t been hard to find free patterns for the seven hats I made for others, so I thought I would have similar success for mine.
Hah! Let’s start with the fact that I didn’t know what to call my desired accessory. Searching for a cowl/hood/warm head/neck thing doesn’t cut it in google. I spent time at my favorite sites, and many more, and saw lots of interesting patterns. The ones I liked visually were only cowls, sometimes called smoke rings, and weren’t large enough to pull up over the head. The ones that pulled up over the head weren’t my cup of tea aesthetically.
So I’d have to modify a pattern. I don’t knit enough to have a good handle on that. But hey, what the heck, it’s only yarn. And time. I deserved it, didn’t I?
I printed off some patterns with feather and fan type stitches and did something I almost never do…I actually knitted up a few swatches to see if that was what I wanted. I figured out how to read a knitting graph (vs. a pattern), and was pretty proud of that, but realized that although the pattern was attractive, it was designed for looks, not warmth. Scratch that one.
How about a cable? I liked doing cables I tried a few modified cables with some interesting stitches in between them, and ultimately nixed them, too.
Then I stumbled on a terrific video of a woman demonstrating the honeycomb brioche stitch. That seemed easy enough, and I loved the way it looked. I tried it out, and I was hooked.
I started out with several rows of ribbing near the face, then went into the honeycomb brioche. It wasn’t difficult translating the flat demo to knitting in the round. All was going well till I realized I need to do some increasing in order to make the cowl drape nicely around my neck. How to increase in this pattern? I went back online to see if I could find directions to do that.
Hmmm. I could find a pattern that told me how to decrease (for a hat), but not one that told me how to increase. And the hat pattern made it so complex to do the stitch that the video had made so easy that I couldn’t make any sense of it that might help me increase. So I simply gave it my best shot. After all, this was for me, not a gift or anything I’d sell, and I sure didn’t care if it wasn’t perfect. The increases went fine enough for me, and I finished the piece with a few rows of garter stitch.
I do like the way it pools around my neck.
I’m less thrilled with how it works when I pull it up. It’s simultaneously too loose around my face and too big on the sides of my head.
If I’d started knitting at the bottom, I’d unravel the last several inches and do some decreases. But I started at the top.
So I thought about it, and decided that I’d wear it this winter and see what I thought. I’d consider making or buying just the right stick/pin to tighten it around my neck if I needed to. Then, if it wasn’t meeting my needs, I could always unravel it and re-knit next winter.
Here’s how big the whole thing is laying flat, with a ruler for scale.
After the cowl-hood-head/neckwear, I decided it was time to finish the socks I’d started last winter. I had a sock and a half knitted – it wouldn’t take long to finish.
I did finish, and ended up giving them to Margaret. They were a tad short for me, and I knew that as a result I’d wear out either toes or heels too quickly. They weren’t so short I couldn’t put them on for a photo shoot.
I started knitting another pair for me. Maybe I’ll get them finished next winter. 
Your turn: what should I call that thing that keeps my neck & head warm?
This is not the way I wanted to start a new year – by having 10 days between blog posts. Writing a blog post has been on my list of things to do for over a week, and somehow, other things kept taking precedence. There’s nothing I can do about that now; I can only try to do better as we move forward.
In my last post I showed you some cashmere silk eggshell lace scarves on my counterbalance loom, and promised more info about them. Here it is, finally.
At one of my December shows a customer ordered two custom cashmere silk lace scarves. I’m always happy to comply with these requests, although I had to tell this woman that she couldn’t have exactly what she wanted. She wanted a scarf just like the one I was wearing. Should have been simple, shouldn’t it? But it wasn’t.
I was wearing one of the eggshell lace scarves I’d made on my Macomber when I was trying a new pattern. Those scarves were not stable enough, and can’t be sold. I often wear one at a show because they go with everything, and when I’m wearing the scarf the problems are not obvious. So I explained why I would have to modify the pattern in her scarf. She understood, but was clear that she wanted me to get as close as possible. I assured her I’d try.
I knew that I couldn’t really know what would work by using another fiber; I had to do my testing with cashmere silk yarn. I also knew I had a limited quantity of the eggshell, a popular color, and I didn’t really want to use any of it up in samples/tests that may or may not be successful. So I decided to use my least-requested color, a bright Christmas red.
I also decided that I would only use a lace pattern I could weave on my counterbalance loom. The cashmere silk scarves I’ve woven on the counterbalance loom have been almost completely successful; the ones I’ve woven on my Mac not so much. I think it’s a combination of the loom and the weave structures I’ve chosen, but I almost always make the tension too tight and distort the scarves.
So I spent some time with my Fiberworks software, and using block design strategies, created a Swedish lace draft. I measured out enough warp for two red scarves, and threaded up the loom. I set off weaving, and was pleased with the results. Although it’s clear that while a piece is still on the loom you can’t tell for certain what it will look like after wet finishing, with practice you can get a good idea.
As I was weaving the first scarf, I decided that I could get even closer to my customer’s wishes. So I cut off that scarf, wet finished it to be sure I was right, and re-threaded the loom. I was also happy with the second scarf. Here are both of them.
After wet finishing the second scarf, I decided I could make even more changes to get even closer to my customer’s wishes. I also figured that I ought to warp for four scarves instead of my usual three, since I have had lots of customer interest in eggshell scarves. So I was off and running.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite as smoothly with the eggshell scarves. It had nothing to do with the modifications to the draft. For reasons that I never could quite identify, I had all sorts of problems with the threads near the selvedges. They broke often, they fuzzed up, the refused to produce straight selvedges. I tried all the tricks I knew — weighting the selvedge threads, doubling those threads, using a temple — nothing made any difference. Ultimately, I did get four saleable scarves woven, but I’m embarrassed by the selvedges on all of them to one degree or another. I’m not showing you a closeup of them with good reason. But here are two of the scarves. (You can tell at a glance I haven’t pressed them yet.)
Actually, I did have one idea about the selvedge problem with the eggshell scarves. The reed I use on my counterbalance loom is the one that came with it when I bought the loom, after it had sat in a damp garage for more than a year. The reed was very rusty, and I was poor, so I cleaned it with naval jelly, a stiff brush, and lots of elbow grease. Although it didn’t hassle the red yarn, I guessed that the eggshell yarn was just a bit more delicate, and that there were possibly tiny burs on the red that frayed the yarn. So I bit the bullet and ordered a brand new stainless steel reed. I figured that my little loom got enough use that it (and I) deserved a new tool. The reed was out of stock, so I’ll have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive.
Of course, I’m weaving in the interim (tempus fugit, ya know), but I had to work on another order before I went back to the cashmere & silk. The eggshell was pretty frustrating, and the other special order is for black. The only other black cashmere silk scarves I made had a similar selvedge problem, and I didn’t think my brain could handle it. I’m hoping (probably without much chance of success) that the reed will come in quickly and I can use it for the black scarves.
I promise, I’ll try to post more frequently. I want to show you what I have on that little rigid heddle loom (and I want to get back to that!), the order that’s on my counterbalance now, and my plans for the towel exchange I joined this year.
Your turn: what have you been doing since the year changed its number?
Meg, over at Unraveling, has a tradition I just found out about, and I love it so am joining. She encourages people around the world to show what’s on their looms on New Year’s Day. I decided to go from my largest loom to the smallest.
First is my naked 8H Macomber, a jack loom. Its first project for this year will probably be my towels for the towel exchange. I’m looking forward to it, and plan to get to it when I’ve completed the custom weaving orders I have.
Next is my beloved little 4H counterbalance. It’s starting the year weaving eggshell cashmere-silk yarn in a pattern of graduated Swedish lace blocks as one of those custom orders. (More on this in the next post.)
Last is my little LeClerc rigid heddle. I warped it before my last show to try out some small pickup designs. (More on this in the future.)
Thanks for the inspiration, Meg!
Your turn: if you’re a weaver, join the fun. If you’re not, start a meme of your own.
I know that the old saying is really warm hands, warm hearts, but for my Christmas giving this year, I modified it to hats. Starting with Rusty’s three hats, I was in the hat-making zone. And enjoying it.
Amanda saw a pattern she loved for a 16-cable hat. While international issues made getting the pattern an interesting challenge, I was ultimately successful in doing so. I bought some really lovely baby lama yarn for the hat. Since my yarn was finer than the pattern called for, I had to use smaller needles. I thought I had the gauge all worked out, but when the hat was completely finished, I wasn’t happy with the shape. I completely took it apart and added another set of 26 stitches (1 cable pattern) to make it be right. Amanda & I were both quite pleased with the results.
Her sweet hubby rarely wears a hat, but I decided he needed one anyway. After much deliberation (and Amanda’s input), I selected a reversible hat in dark colors for him.
I used Patons Kroy sock yarn for the multi-colored side, and was pleased with how the variegation worked up. I also really liked the pattern‘s method for decreasing for the top – a very clean look. I didn’t get a picture of Ryan in the hat.
I sure didn’t want to leave Michael out of the hat gift, but had to think about fiber. He’s had plenty of opportunities to wear a hat made of a wool blend, and has always declined – too scratchy for his sensitive pate. I settled on a microfiber (what is that, really? Just a nice-sounding way of saying completely man-made stuff?) Deborah Norville variegation in colors that I thought he’d like.
This is also a sock yarn. It worked just great for this hat, giving me just the look I was going for, although I can’t imagine making socks out of it — way to slouchy & shapeless. I got another free pattern online for it. I had taken a picture of Michael in the hat, but the lighting was all wrong.
I was really thrilled when Amanda told me a few days later that she’d received compliments on her hat when she was running errands, and that both Ryan & Michael were wearing their hats without any encouragement. It made my little heart sing!
Your turn: did you give gifts this Christmas that pleased both you and the recipient?
Now that the gifts have been given, I can do the Christmas gift reveals.
Back in June, before Rusty was even born, Amanda told me that he needed hats for Christmas. She even sent me a link to an Etsy seller who would sell me patterns that she liked. I went ahead and purchased the patterns, even though they were all crochet and I prefer knitted garments. Being busy weaving, I sat on the patterns for months, finally getting the yarn I needed in October.
The first hat I made was a monkey. I don’t have a model of a baby’s head at home, finally settling on a roll of paper towels to approximate the size of Rusty’s head.
It’s nowhere near as cute on the paper towels as it is on Rusty!
I’m really happy with the way this hat fits, if not its crocheted stiffness. And the earflaps will keep him nice and warm.
I didn’t want to crochet 3 hats, so I did some online searches for knitted baby hats. There were so many to choose from I had a hard time making a decision. I settled on a white duck hat with a pattern from P2Designs.
This one is definitely something Rusty will have to grow in to. I’m guessing by the time it fits him it will be the totally wrong season to wear it.
Santa was also bringing Rusty a little sled for Christmas, so I wanted to make him a knitted cap with earflaps for when he went sledding. I liked the concept of the top-down hat,so when I was buying the yarn for the duck’s bill, I bought a coordinating variegated yarn. I added the earflaps, making them from the variegated yarn.
This one fits Rusty perfectly right now, so will barely last the winter, I’m sure.
As you can see, Rusty is a very willing model. This little boy has many hats, and surely didn’t need three more for Christmas, but I enjoyed making them, nonetheless. I also enjoyed learning new knitting techniques – German twisted cast on, Magic Loop knitting, and knitting an I cord.
That’s enough of my knitting for now – stay tuned for more Christmas creativity in a few days.
Your turn: did you give any gifts you made this Christmas?
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