Tight vs. Loose

I've always been a tight knitter.  Always.  So recently when I was making a friend a hat, I swatched it, saw the count was off a little, and immediately went to larger needles without giving it any thought.  I started knitting the easy rolled brim hat, just whistling away while I worked.  OK, that would be true if I actually knew how to whistle.  I whistled in my head -  how's that?  The point is, I was enjoying a very easy pattern (Holly Hat on Ravelry) and I love seeing how quickly the hats progress.

After I was weaving in the ends, I noticed that the hat was big.  I have a big head and it was loose on me.  Now normally I wouldn't probably send such a big hat, but the yarn is super soft and I actually think it will work quite nicely for someone going through chemo.  I'll take a pic and add it after I block it.  If worse comes to worse, I'll keep it for my own big head since I don't know what hap

Somewhere along the line I've started knitting more loosely.  I have no idea when, but I like that I have because now I might actually use needles that patterns call for, rather than 2-3 sizes bigger... which means less swatching.  A win-win any way you look at it.

Old Posts And Gauge

I hate gauge.  I always seem to screw it up somehow or another.  So when I read my last post about from FOUR YEARS AGO about how I was going to be knitting a skull hat for my hubby I had to wipe a tear away...from laughter.

I remember this hat.  Gauge is the reason I remember this hat.  At that point I had mostly been making scarves, so when I tried doing a swatch or two of gauge for the hat and it wasn't right, I guessed as to the size of the needles that would be needed to obtain the gauge and I went for it.  I threw caution to the wind and just started knitting away.  I impressed myself with the ability to do color work.  I loved working with the soft yarn and seeing the skulls grow row after row.  When I was done it looked awesome.  Except for one small detail - it was really freakin' huge.  The gauge.  The damn gauge.

So now what was I supposed to do?  I had to search for someone with a big head.  I thought and thought about it and decided I needed to give it to my friend with the afro; surely it would fit her head.  I gave it to her on her birthday and it looked like she was wearing a shower cap.  In fact, I think I suggested to her to wear it in the shower.

Oh, Hey, Uh... Hi

Hi haven't had this blog going in over four years.  Matter of fact, I forgot I even had this blog.  Now that I've discovered it and have started getting more into knitting again, I'm going to start posting about my knitting projects and maybe just life in general.

Here is a hat I recently finished.  I absolutely loved making it.  The cable was fun and easy, and who doesn't love owls.  The pattern is called Owl Hat, and I got it for free through Ravelry.  I encourage you to make it :)  I'm sending this to a friend in the UK that has been going through chemo.  She loves Dr. Who, and I'm going to tell her it's a Dr. Hoot hat.  The yarn is soft and machine washable - I hope she likes it!