Knitting – Page 46 – New England's Narrow Road

So Glad I Knit, What Have You Been Up To?

This post is a bit about my current knitting and the happenings in a life spent at home during a Florida summer.

It’s summer in Florida, and that always means two things for sure: Afternoon thunderstorms, and hurricanes on the horizon. Hurricane season picks up in another month, but the afternoon storms are here. The ditches fill, power goes out, the cable goes out (along with the AC) and I sit and wonder – Maybe getting an automatic generator IS a good way to spend my meager savings.

Yesterday a lightning bolt hit close by and the power was out for a couple hours. So what did I spend my time doing? Knitting, of course! There was just enough light, once the storm clouds passed, to see my brownish yarn on my green needles (not a good combo). I finished knitting my son’s watchcap.

Homemade Granola For Healthy Snacking

Yesterday, before the power went out, I baked up some granola. It’s been a while since I made granola, but it’s been on my mind. All this sitting around makes me munch, so it may as well be healthy munching.

If you are interested, here is how I made mine: Mix the oats (2-3 cups), nuts, coconut, sunflower seeds, etc., with oil (coconut) and sweetener (honey and / or real maple syrup), then bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees, stirring halfway through. After it bakes to a crispy brownness, mix in dried apricots, cranberries, and raisins, or any dried fruit. Store tightly covered and eat within a few weeks.

It is yummy. I eat it on my Greek yogurt too.

Mixing fruit into my homemade granola — Basics of making granola with fruit

Knitting Little Quick Baby Hats

Also, in the knitting department, I have been having fun knitting little baby hats for my BBF’s new granddaughter. She (the new baby) lives in California, but I was told it gets cold there, so why not send hats? I made up these little hats, and didn’t like the first one. Tiny hats use very little yarn, so if the end result is not that great, move on and do another. I knit these with 9 inch circular needles, until the top, where I needed DPNs.

Gardening and Bird Watching

I do have a job, and I spend a lot of time in my bedroom at the computer doing that job, and I can see the bird feeder just outside my window. Birds in Florida don’t need to be fed, but with the green spaces being torn out right and left, maybe they need a little help. Plus, I love watching birds. This is a leftover habit from living in New Hampshire when I fed birds all winter.

As far as vegetable gardening in Florida goes, my fingers are crossed that something will grow well enough to give me fresh veggies. It is unlikely. I let my straggly garden grow because the birds love to hop around in there in search of bugs and worms. I have one little squirrel who eats the seeds as well.

Feeding the birds and a squirrel — Summer green

Fair Isle Graph Book Gift to Myself

I’ve been wanting the Shetlander’s Fair Isle Graph Book for a while, but it’s out of stock in many places. I broke down and ordered from the UK, and spent more than I would have liked, but I now have this book which is full of old (1940’s) colorwork knitter’s graphs.

This book is pretty cool. Some of the graph pages show through behind my yarn photo below. I can’t wait to get started on a new Fair Isle project and try out these old designs.

I do love the Rauma, and Jamieson & Smith wool for knitting fun colorwork patterns. The yarn was bought for mittens, but I never used it for mittens, only for hats. (See Katie’s Kep) Then I found a good place, with good prices, to order the wool, and added to my stash. (If you buy this type of yarn, check out Fairlight Fibers.)

Since I have given up knitting shawls or socks, for the time being, I’m not buying “sock yarn”, except when I come across a beautiful hand-spun. The striped baby hat, in my photo above, was knit with pink and yellow (two different skeins) handspun.

Newly Ordered Yarn

I’m still not a connoisseur of yarns, and sometimes it’s hit or miss. My list of favorite yarns is growing, but that only happens when I take risks and try new yarn.

Yes, I still order yarn, but this yarn has a purpose. I am getting a head start on Christmas gifts, which will mostly be … hats! Big surprise.

Quince & Co. Lark (worsted) – Knitting the Skiff Watchcap and not too sure about this yarn. Review to come. (I already knit the Skiff Beanie)
The Fibre Company “Acadia” – hasn’t arrived yet.

What About You?

I’d love to hear what you are up to while sitting around at home – if you are. Are you controlling your yarn purchases better than I am? Have you begun Christmas knitting projects? Would you share your own favorite yarns list here? What have you knit lately? Have you spent some time organizing that stash?

Thanks for reading.

Florida standing water lawn palm tree — Florida

Pink and White Triple-Patterned Watchcap

The Triple-patterned Watchcap pattern comes from the “Hat’s On” book. I love the look of this little colorwork hat, but “little” is the key word here.

I should have known better. I knit tightly and this is colorwork – which tends to be tighter and smaller in the end than regular knitting. I decided to knit the size “small”. It ended up being about 15 inches around, which is a child’s size.

Triple patterned watchcap small — Unfolded, finished hat

Originally I had wanted to make this for my grown daughter, who does have a smallish head, but not that small. I realized, not too far into the knit, that this hat would be too small for an adult head. I kept knitting anyway to see if I liked the pattern after all. And I did.

Reminder: Stranded knitting does not stretch much!

This small size ended up measuring 16 inches around, just as the pattern noted for the Small size. If I use the same type of yarn, same needle size (I used size 6 as the pattern suggested) then each of the other sizes should give me the correct measurements. This is good to know because I do plan to knit this one again.

Some previous knitters of this pattern had swapped out the turn edging for a braid. I almost did that too, but I’m glad I didn’t. The turn rows for the edge, which end up at the bottom of the brim, work very nicely.

The brim of the hat is very pretty with the braid which ended up at the top and row of turning stitches along the bottom. The pattern is begun with the braid, worked to the end of the brim, then the work is turned (see notes below for turning) to begin the rest of the hat. This way the brim is made to fold up.

I made the second pattern section a little taller than called for and I honestly don’t know why. I was thinking the hat would be too short since it was turning out small. A short hat is not good, but I overcompensated.

I think another row of smaller snowflakes before the top section would be nice.

The yarn I used is Arbor, by Brooklyn Tweed, and it’s become a favorite type of yarn for me (The link goes to Wool & Company). It is very soft, and creates a beautiful, squishy end product. The colors here are Azalea and Thaw.

Doing the “Turn”

The pattern says to work the cuff pattern for so many rounds, then “turn”. There is nothing else about doing the turn, but I have notes from doing a pair of mittens which are made in this manner where the cuff turns to begin knitting the rest of the mitten.

Simply turning the project and knitting in the opposite direction is what’s called for, but if it seems daunting, here are my notes:

Turn work inside out, with needles at top.
Slip the last worked stitch from the Left needle to the Right. This stitch will be the last stitch of the round.
Cut the unused color.
Begin knitting with the main color as pattern calls for.

Three Hats in Three Different Sizes

I’ve now knit three of these hats, and the green one is a Large – which will be gifted to my daughter. The XL size fits me perfectly, and was knit in another type of wool.

Triple Patterned Watchcap hats in three colors — Knit in sizes, XL (red), L (green) and S (pink)

More Hats I’ve Knit

Turkish patterned cap stranded knitting — Turkish Patterned Cap, Hand-spun Knitting ProjectFinished the cap

Katie's keep crown star — Knitting Katie’s Kep Number Two in Earthy ColorsCrown star

Skiff Hat knitting pattern — Knitting The “Skiff” Cable Beanie Pattern

Vibrant Key West Karibbean Kotton for Knitting Dishcloths

Dishcloths are something I always knit for myself, and sometimes for others. My best friend and my daughter always appreciate these little gifts. Since I have to order all my yarn online these days, I have kept an eye out for good yarn to use for cotton knitting. It’s always nice to give a pretty gift.

One day while browsing the Four Purls site, I saw The Sassy Skein cakes of colorful cotton – Key West Karibbean Kotton. I bought a few skeins of their bright tropical colors, and ended up loving this yarn!

The Sassy Skein Key West Karibbean Kotton — Karibbean Kotton yarn skeins from Four Purls

This cotton is softer than the Lily’s yarn, and the end product is more springy, and the vibrant colors seem to last through washes. The cost is nearly double because the skeins are only 74 yards, but that way I can combine colors more often to make a bigger variety of cloths.

I do put this yarn in the washer and dryer – it will SHRINK. Make the dishcloths larger than you’d like because they will end up smaller.

Sassy Skein Key West cotton dishcloth in navy and lime — Colors: Navy Pier and Key Lime

How I Knit My Cloths on A Circular Needle

Right now my favorite way of knitting a cloth, either small or larger towel size, is to make “ribs” so the cloth does not lay flat. This is easy to do with a circular needle – larger than a 16 inch. I usually use a size 6 US but I am a tight knitter. Another size may work better for you.

Using two colors (two-color cast-on), I cast on around 30 stitches and knit across. (Or cast-on one color and add the other.) Slide the stitches back so you are knitting on the same side with the new color. Continue knitting with the next color, whether it means turning the work or sliding it.

If you do this with three colors it’s also pretty, but the ridges are less pronounced. It’s fun to experiment. With the navy blue cloth, I began by knitting seed stitch for a few rows then added a few stripes of lime green. The rest of the cloth mirrors the pattern.

Dishcloths knit with Key West Karibbean Kotton — Ribbed dishcloths using two and three colors.

Knitting this way will create ridges in the work. It gives the cloth, or towel, some texture. I hand-wash all my dishes, and having a towel to set wet dishes on, that is ribbed in this way, helps with drying.

Ribs made by knitting back and forth — Ribs make the cloth thicker

If you are just getting started, I have written a page about free patterns and easy knitting projects, such as kitchen cloths, which you can find here.

Purl Soho For Free Stitch Patterns

The Purl Soho yarn website offers many free knitting patterns which are great ways to try out new stitches. I rarely jump in and knit the entire project pattern, but it’s simple to try out the stitch pattern on a smaller scale – say, a dishcloth. And, if I loved the pattern, go ahead and make something larger.

Pinterest and other knitting blogs often have free dishcloth patterns as well. It’s not hard to find little repeats to try for a small item.

The first cotton I used to knit dishcloths was Lily Sugar n Cream. It comes in lots of colors, including variegated, and it’s easy to find in Walmart, Target and on Amazon – my link goes to Amazon. It’s cheaper, and also a good option for kitchen knits.

Turkish Patterned Cap, Hand-spun Knitting Project

Hats, hats and more hats please! I don’t know why, but I love to knit hats. I’m pretty good at it, and I’ve knit enough of them to be fairly sure of size. The Turkish-Patterned Cap is my latest accomplishment. The pattern can be found in the Hat’s On book by Charlene Schurch.

The image here goes to Amazon, where the book costs around $10 for the Kindle version, or get a used book for around $13 (and up). For that price you will have 31 hat patterns to try out!

Although this particular hat is not a favorite of mine from the book, I’ve knit many others (nine, I think) that I would knit again. I really can’t say enough good about this hat knitting book.

The Turkish-Patterned Cap Review

Beginning the cap with a “Twined Herringbone” edge, or braid, was a first. I’ve done braids on mittens a couple times, but never a hat. I knew it wouldn’t stretch much, so I knit the size Large and hoped it would be large enough – it is. This hat will be a gift, and my daughter has a small head, so it should fit perfectly.

I used the suggested needle size, but my yarn was not worsted weight. The circumference of the hat is spot on at 20″ around as the pattern says for a size large.

The hat was fun to make – until I reached the top decreases. I am not new to decreasing for a crown, nor am I new to colorwork at the crown. I knit two Katie’s Keps, and the Tettegouche hat without a problem. For some reason this pattern did not work for me at the crown. I did something wrong, and couldn’t figure out what. I had stitch markers for each section, but suddenly the colors were not matching up.

Please read the post about knitting my second hat like this one where I discovered the mistake in the pattern decrease area! I explain how to fix it- or how I fixed then problem.

All I could do was keep going and hope for the best. You can see that the “star” is not perfect, but oh well… . Because of this, and the fact that I am not crazy about the braided brim (for my own hat wearing), I won’t make this hat again. I think my daughter will love it! She does a lot of snowboarding and needs hats like this to wear beneath her helmet.

About the Yarn

I’ve been eyeing my hand-spun yarn stash and wishing I could knit something wonderful using those lovely skeins. They are labeled as “sock yarn” but I dislike knitting socks. Projects like this hat are perfect for this yarn. Stranded colorwork knitting is fun with this type of yarn.

Wound Up Fiber Arts sock yarn hand-spun — Beautiful hand-spun yarn

For the Turkish hat, I used my blue-green skein (fingering?) from Wound Up Fiber Arts (see the ball in my yarn photo). For my neutral color, I used off-white “Naked” Kunlun yarn from Miss Babs (DK) which I had bought on sale a while ago (it contains cashmere and silk). By the way, Wound Up Fiber Arts has limited amounts of yarn like this because it is hand-spun. I’ve considered myself fortunate to actually find yarn to buy on her site.

The Turkish cap pattern calls for two colors, and I thought this variegated yarn would make an interesting color gradient. While knitting, it’s fun to see the various shades emerge. Aren’t they pretty?

Turkish patterned cap knitting design — Gradient coloring due to the hand-spun yarn

Ever since I began knitting stranded colorwork mittens back in February, I can’t stop knitting items that require two yarn colors! It is such fun, and the end result is so nice. Those mittens could be knitted with this same yarn, which would make a pretty set.