Category Archives: hats

February 14, 2009 · 10:35 pm

This is either really ugly or really cool…

When I met the Skeptic way back in college, he had long hair. And I men really long, curly, down to the waist kind of long. Gorgeous, gorgeous hair. As the years went on he cut it shorter, and shorter and one day it was gone. He had a regular guy haircut which has pretty much stuck around the last decade or so.

However, he seems to have developed some sort of haircut phobia lately and has been letting it get longer in between trims. Longer in a sort of “I’m planning on auditioning for the next Jane Austen movie” sort of way. And I like it. A LOT. He knows this, so despite the fact that he keeps complaining it’s in his face he’s been keeping it long, partly for me and partly for his salonaphobia*.

He’s dealt with the hair-in-the-face thing by wearing his cowl up around his head like a headband when he’s in the house. This does this trick, but then it gets too stretched out and bunches up at the back of his head. So I though of the perfect Valentines’ Day gift for him. A guy Calorimetry! Something to keep those nice curls out of his eyes so he doesn’t give in and go get a haircut.

Here’s the result:

(I like how it’s smiling)

with flash:

without:

The choice is, and you may be quite honest here….
A) It’s a really nice Calorimetry.
B) It looks like it had the potential to be a nice Calorimetry, but it looks like I ran out of Noro #1, found some more Noro scraps in the closet, ran out of that, and finished it off with a a few rows of tweed.

He’s getting it no matter what, as he wears everything I knit for him whether he likes it or not. He will either love it, or he’ll say, “Hmmm, that’s an interesting mix of colors there, Bec.” And then he’ll wear it all day long because he knows I worked hard on it. He’s very sweet that way. So I can give him ugly knitting if need be. Or maybe it’s not ugly. I can’t decide.

Well, ugly knitting or not, I hope you all had a happy Valentine’s Day today! We’re celebrating tomorrow as the poor Skeptic is currently suffering through some miserable gig at a VFW right now. And I’m off to watch Dr. Who and knit my Ubernatural now that my Valentine’s prep for tomorrow is done.

*A combination of a hatred for making appointments, being too cheap to pay for it, and a string of bad trims.

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Filed under family, finished objects, hats

Tagged as calorimetry, noro

November 13, 2008 · 1:52 pm

Grey…

The Minnesota greyness has settled in for November.

We awoke to snow yesterday. The sun wasn’t even up all the way and the boys were bundled up and outside.

Today we have rain, wet leaves, and more grey. The greyness really doesn’t get to me until late in the winter when I really start craving sunny days and spring flowers. Until then I enjoy it. The grey feels cozy and warm, perfect for tea and sweaters.

It does make it hard to take a good knitting picture.

Blocking. (On an ugly green towel!)

More blocking, with the close up of the area that Knittykid ripped out, I picked up and hoped it would block out evenly. It’s not.

I’ll post more on these projects when I do have a good sunny day and can get some nice finished shots. In the meantime I’m off to make some cornbread and chili for the boys and their uncle and aunt tonight. The Skeptic (and Spinner) and I are out for our anniversary. (Which was two weeks ago and under so much baby brain fog I completely forgot to post about it.)

9 Comments

Filed under family, finished objects, hats, kids, knitting, scarf

Tagged as blocking, Minnesota, weather

November 21, 2007 · 6:53 pm

Sneaking in a post

I’m supposed to be getting the house cleaned up while the Skeptic is out with the boys but thought I’d take a few minutes to post.

I dove right into my Posh Yarn from Mrs. Pao and I wasn’t disappointed. This stuff is a dream to work with and gave me one of the most lovely FO’s in a long time.

The pattern is a blend of the basic tam pattern from Ann Budd’s Handy Book of Patterns. I was just going to knit a plain old tam and let the yarn speak for itself, but at soon as I got to the decrease part realized that I wanted to add something extra. So in came the Aran Tam pattern from One Skein Wonders.

I was short stitches for the aran pattern, so I just cut out one cable repeat, added a few extra stitches for the right number and finished the hat from there. It’s a perfect fit!

I’m thrilled with how this hat turned out and rather proud of myself for taking the time to do it right. I messed up the cables majorly a couple of times and actually made myself drop the stitches down and fix them. But I’m glad I did because I love this hat.

The hat also has a sense of humor and doesn’t mind a good joke.

I love this hat so much that when we were out to eat last night and the owner commented on how lovely it was, I gleefully said, “Yes! I just finished it a few days ago, I made it myself!” I was probably a bit too excited, but after wearing it at bus duty two days in a row with no one saying, “Wow, amazing hat!” I was excited to have someone notice. (I know, first graders do not care about their music teacher’s hat unless it says “High School Musical” or “Spiderman” but I can dream, right?)

So later in the car, I asked the Skeptic, “Did you hear, she liked my hat!”

“Yup, it’s a great hat. You were a little excited about it, though, huh?”

“Okay, maybe I was a bit of a geek, but I’ve been wearing this hat for days wishing I could just say to everyone, “See my hat? I just finished it. Don’t you love it? I made it myself, see those cables?” But that would be weird and socially unacceptable. So I have to just wait for someone to notice and try not to be a bit too excited about it.”

The Skeptic, totally deadpan, replied, “But isn’t knitting weird and socially unacceptable?”*

Maybe you had to be there, but the Skeptic says things in a way that only he can, and both the hat and I nearly fell off the seat from laughter. If there is one thing I love about my husband, it’s his sense of humor.

To all my US friends, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

*We had just been at a dinner where a friend was going on about someone at a meeting who was knitting, and that it was weird and well, a bit unacceptable.

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Filed under family, finished objects, hats

Tagged as , posh yarn, tam

October 15, 2007 · 1:02 am

Playing Catch-up (Again)

I feel like I’ve been finishing things up like crazy lately but not posting much about them. You all think I’m more creative than I really am. It is, alas, just a hat. But a cute hat:

Pattern: Sweet Baby Cap
I also made mittens using Ann Budd’s book of patterns.

Yarn: Mountain Colors Twizzle in Sweet Pea.

Needles: Size three, although the yarn calls for 4-6. I wanted it tight for winter wear. I also didn’t get gauge, so I think I knit the 6mo pattern to get it to fit a toddler. I’ll have to go back and measure. I did have to stretch it a bit as well. I’d knit it larger next time, but it works.

I cannot say enough good things about this yarn… soft, beautiful colors that just shine. I can’t believe I’m giving it to a toddler who will (1) get them muddy (2) lose them (3) refuse to wear them.

Here’s the practical picture so you can actually see in it focus:

Excuse the lame towel in the background. I was in a hurry and it’s all I could find to get it to stand out from the woodwork. I do have more to post about buy Mystery is starting. How I do love Inspector Linley…

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Filed under hats, knitting, mittens/gloves