Tactical hat error

The knitting has been slow or not happening very frequently due to many real life happenings - sister in town, pumpkin patch field trips and pumpkin carving party, the usual soccer and upcoming Halloween, not to mention the obligatory trip to the theater to see HSM3 (dudes, even DH went).

And I still have bad hat knitting karma. So I finally get the hang of the brioche stitch/fisherman's rib pattern for Bounce, but something was still bothering me. Could it be the high variegation of the yarn that's makes DH joke about closing the middle so I can have a potholder? Or is it the fact that I chose a yarn based solely on the pattern gauge and not the weight of the yarn used in the pattern 'causing me to have half a hat that is too heavy? It's taken me a whole skein of Sheep Shop 2 yarn to realize it's probably both. In any case, I will be frogging this and knit the skein into either an Unoriginal Hat or Foliage. But I'll do it later when I'm not so peeved at my hat knitting.


The sock karma is good though. The surprise is that I am neither pooling nor striping so far with my STR lightweight in Rocktober. Same needle size, same stitch count as usual (64), and what I assumed to be the same gauge. I usually end up striping. I am intrigued.


Socks that Rock lightweight in Rocktober
size 2.50 mm KP dpns
pattern: Crows Feet by Linda Welch (Ravelry link)

One of those scatterbrained posts

These stinkin' cute pair of socks for Monkey2 are done. Monkey1 will get a matching pair since I bought an extra kit from Woolgirl.


Woolgirl Sanrio & Friends sock club
White Oak Studio fingering weight yarn
Playtime socks
size 2.5 mm KP dpns
modified 56 st count


I also managed to knit another hat that is still not appropriate for Squid's brother. This time, I made it too small. Doh!
Mission Falls 1824 Wool
size 8 KP circs
A Hat Fit for a Boyfriend
mod: 10 sts less cast on than pattern

I didn't think that when I downsized the pattern, the crown decrease area would've been that much shorter. I wonder if the designer's got a lot longer row gauge 'cause I didn't think I decreased the stitch count that much to make that significant a difference.

In any case, my hat knitting karma continues to suck 'cause I started Bounce this weekend and after figuring out why I had such the brain freeze on this pattern (methinks there's an errant asterisk in one of the set up rows), I cannot for the life of me correctly repeat the 2 stitch pattern at all. So my hat knitting is on time out for a while. Maybe I'll knit gift scarves & fingerless mitts instead.


On the happy side, a small but pretty order from Woolgirl. I am late to the Flat Feet party, but I was hesitant to buy one since the one I saw being knit up at Sock Camp seemed kinda thin. But the colors are fun and it will be interesting knitting this novel yarn. And I just love the Dashing Dachs sportweight skeins I got. Salt Marsh is pretty (though I want to add Harvest Mouse to the name due to hanging out with the biologists at work too much) and Incantante is utterly gorgeous.

I just read the first 2 paperback books from the highly popular Twilight series books by Stephanie Meyer and would love to knit the Incantante in a Twilightish theme. I will admit that once I got over this series being in the Young Adult/Teen category, I actually enjoyed them. I was remiss in not researching the book before I bought it on a whim, aside from the vague knowledge that it was about vampires. JK Rowling or Ann Rice, the author is not. There are portions of these books that need more judicious editing, but I blame that on the whole "new JK Rowling" expectation. Next time I will check the online book reviews first, especially Amazon.com. The first listed reader review for Twilight is so snarkily funny.


On the not-happy side, there's a matching hole on the other side of my Mariilinda sock. Monkey 2 is lucky she is cute. She couldn't explain what she did, other than it got stuck on something.


So what's a knitter mom to do but cast on another pair of of socks (STR Rocktober).

Secret of the Stole iii

I lied. I did finish. Unblocked shot at 10 pm Saturday night:


pattern: Secret of the Stole iii
yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in discontinued colorway Moss, 2.5 skeins
needles: Knit Picks size 5 nickel-plated circs


Taking pics of a natural green stole outside is hard.


I wasn't very good at directing the monkeys on how to hold the stole either.


I forgot the digital camera & DH forgot the rest of the classic camera film, so no pics of the stole at the wedding. Not that I needed it 'til later in the evening. It was an afternoon outdoor wedding and the weather turned out beautifully for our friend.

Since I finished so early, I just used crochet thread and t-pins to block the stole. The welding rods I asked DH to get from work won't get here 'til tomorrow, so I should re-block the straight edges and the one curved side that didn't curve so well.

Okay, off to finish my Monkey2's second sock, work on my MS4, and start all that holiday gift knitting. I feel a hat attack coming on...

Almost there

Hint 8 of my SotS-iii:


Finished hint 8 on Tuesday. Only 58 more rows with 50 more beads for Hint 9 to go. I thought I could make it, but with an eye doctor appointment, wedding rehearsal (the monkeys are flower girls), and other chores, there's no way. I decided I'm not going to kill my knitting self to finish it by Sunday for our friend's wedding. But it's such a nice color that work well for the holidays or any other fall event, it'll definitely get used.


While I waited for Hint 9 during the week, I worked on Monkey2's Playtime socks from Woolgirl's Sanrio & Friends kit. The colorway from White Oaks Studio is just too darn cute!

Blog love

One of our beloved Sockateers, Cockeyed, nominated me for an award. How sweet!


Here are the rules for the award recipients:

1. Please put the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

There are so many that I really love too, but I decided to keep my list down to bloggers that I'm not constantly shilling (but I do love you all!) and that I'm not aware that have been awarded yet:

Kristy

Nell

Opal

Kris

Thank you all for your beautiful FO's and keeping me motivated to stick with our craft.

Progress report

The hat has been officially deemed "girly" when Monkey2 asked if this was her sissy's hat.


pattern: Nottingham hat
yarn: Knit Picks Swish superwash in Darkest Navy
needles: Knit Picks size 9 Harmony circs
pattern: size - child


The hat was a nice little break and got me motivated to finish my Hint 7 early. I finished Monday night, but haven't gotten around to blogging about it.


I also finished hint 3 of my Mystery Stole KAL 4, but it took the rest of the week. For some reason, this just slogs along, even without beads. But I do like it. (Pardon the non-dry-blocked shots, but I am being lazy. :p )


Thank you so much, Cockeyed, for nominating me for an award! I promise I'll get that post up soon.