FO: Helping Hat for my brother
Name: Birthday Hat for my lil bro (Ravelry Project Page).
Pattern: (name, author, source) Helping Hats (version C) by canKNITian
Size(s): (to fit, finished size) To fit my brother’s gigantic man-head.
Yarn: (name, fibre, weight, colour) OnLine Tondo (super chunky wool), King Cole Magnum Chunky in Beige and Black (chunky wool/acrylic)
Needles: (size, material, style) US10 plastic Denise Interchangeables
Knitting style: (for stitch patterns) English in the round.
Modifications: Knit it from the top down because of the limited amount of yarn to hand.
Worked fewer rows of cable brim
Eliminated ribbed brim due to lack of yarn!
Notes: This was a super-quick pattern which is well written. It would have been done in about 2 days (instead of over a week) if I hadn’t kept changing my mind about how I wanted to use the colours.
Originally I had a fourth colour to hand (a rich red colour, see photo right) but it really clashed with the green, so I discarded it.
The Tondo is a roving-like single ply super chunky and can be tricky to work with, but I found it quite easy to use. Mixing it with the Magnum Chunky (a multiple-ply chunky yarn) will, I hope, make it more resilient and help keep the hat’s shape.
So, to conclude – HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER! 
FO: Widdershins for Mum
Name: Upsized Widdershins for Mum (Ravelry project page)
Pattern: (name, author, source) Widdershins by Brooke Chenoweth Creel from Knitty, Summer 2006
Yarn: (name, fibre, weight, colour) Sock it Too Me Puzzle Collection (wool/nylon) sock/fingering-weight in red/green/blue/black & white fair isle stripes. I used about 80 g (335 m/370 yds) for both socks, with 12g of yarn remaining. My mum picked this yarn from my stash herself.
Needles: (size, material, style) 2.5 mm bamboo double points
Construction: (toe/heel/ribbing/cast off or cast on) Magic Cast On for toe, gusset and heel flap, 2/2 ribbing with stretchy cast off.
Number of stitches: (in foot/in leg) 72 in foot, 72 in leg increasing to 80
Knitting style: (toe, foot/leg, heel, ribbing) English for toe and foot and Combination for heel and leg.
Modifications:
- Increased the number of foot stitches from 54 to 72 and therefore cast on more stitches at the toe (24 to be exact).
- Added more toe increase rows to get up to the required number.
- Worked the leg in 2/2 ribbing and added calf shaping.
Notes: Started on the 4th or 5th of December (I can’t remember) and finished on the 23rd.
Completed in a ridiculously short space of time (for me, anyway) and will therefore be an actual Christmas present gifted on Christmas day!
I’m not very happy with the way the heel came out. This was my fault, not the pattern. I was knitting over more stitches than the pattern stated and I forgot the the heel turn would take a larger number of rows than in the pattern. Therefore, I should have started the gusset increases much sooner than I did. To stop the sock being too long, I abbreviated the heel turn, leaving it quite stubby-looking.
Overall, I’m quite happy with the way the socks turned out, but I’m not sure this is the pattern for me.
In any case, they will keep my mum’s feet warm which is, of course, the whole point!
And another thing ..
I forgot to say “Thank you” to everyone who left a comment (and even to those who didn’t) sending their kind thoughts regarding my grandfather. I hadn’t taken everything as well as I’d thought and ended up spraining my ankle when, going through the “anger” phase, I kicked a couple of plastic boxes quite hard. Yeah – I’m a genius!
And I’m enjoying the game currently being played in the comments to my last post – very entertaining! Feel free to join in.
Running on fumes
Note: this is my draft post, but I’m so tired at the moment, that I’ve decied to leave it as-is! Enjoy!
Ill (again) – relapse – slight recovery – physio (made me hurt, but will make me better)
Widdershins – Christmas – mum
Brother’s birthday pressie (yarn only)
No. of Christmas cards written: 0
No. of Christmas presents wrapped: 4
No of Christmas presents still to wrap: at least 7 (not including those ones I haven’t finished making yet)
No. of brother’s birthday presents wrapped: 0
Average no. of hours of sleep per night: 6
No. of hours needed: 14!
I’ll be back when the socks are done (hopefully before Christmas day, but you never know with me!)
Waiting. Patience.
One of the things that knitting has taught me is the art of patience. Knitting something like my dad’s aran jacket requires this skill in vast amounts.
In order that I don’t get bored of the project too quickly (or never) I’ve switched from knitting the main body of the jacket to the sleeves (you can see the start of it in this photograph).
I’m fairly certain that I’m not going to make it by Christmas, but that’s OK with me and there is a back up present ready.
I also learnt the art of patience last week when, on Monday, my maternal grandfather was admitted to hospital following a routine blood transfusion for his leukaemia.
Unfortunately, he died on Friday.
This came in the same week as the anniversary of my paternal grandfather’s death in 2003.
These events have been stressful for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that I couldn’t, and can’t, be with my grandmother. She’s not the easiest of people to be with anyway, but my physical limitations are frustrating.
I hadn’t seen my grandfather in over two years (for various reasons) and we weren’t terribly close, either emotionally or geographically, but obviously I am grieving.
At the moment I’m focusing on helping my mum in anyway I can, but still being aware of not smothering her (something I’m struggling with because we are a close family).
Unfortunately, my parents are also unable to travel at the moment and it’s all generally not good.
I’m sure we’ll muddle through (we have before) and I’ll keep knitting!
