Hats off to kids

I knit this hat to go with the scarf that DD Kimmi knit. It is for Stand Up For Kids, which helps homeless teens living on the streets.

I saw a hat similar to this somewhere, but don't remember where. I liked it, so I just came up with my own pattern.

Since the yarn was from a huge stash that I acquired at a garage sale, I don't know what yarn it is. But it is worsted weight.

I cast on(provisional cast-on) enough stitches to make the 'cuff' four inches wide, using single strand of yarn. I guess that you could say that this cuff is knit sideways. Slipping the first st on each row, knit it in garter st until it was long enough to go around my head(about 20 to 21 inches). I grafted the ends together, then joined the scarf yarn(held 2 strands together) and picked up 80 sts all around on circular needle. Place marker at beginning of round and slip it to right needle as you go around. I knit every round until the stockinette part was about 4 and a half to 5 inches from the 'pick-up' round. I just used my own head to test how much stockinette to do, your mileage may vary.

To decrease, knit 8 sts, knit 2 sts. together all the way around. On subsequent rounds knit 1 less st before the knit 2 tog. Contiue in this manner until there are just 8 sts left on needle. You may switch to dpns if that is easier for the decreasing. Cut yarn and run thru last 8 sts, fasten off. Work in the other yarn ends and fold up the 'cuff'. You now have one warm hat for you, or someone you care about. Please consider donating a hat to charity. There are many worthy causes out there, if you need help finding one or would like to send one or more to Stand Up For Kids, please just ask and I will help you out, if I can.

You can adjust this hat simply by knitting a shorter or longer cuff and then adjust the number of 'picked up' stitches to suit the size of y our cuff. I have not given needle size or gauge because I just used my own head and unknown yarn for mine. The reason that I double stranded the crown was because that yarn was not as heavy as the cuff yarn. Using the same size yarn would be easier, but I was trying to match and co-ordinate with a scarf that Kimmi had alaready made. In future, I will be likely to use the same yarn on both sections. Although, it really wasn't a problem to do it this way and I would feel comfortable about doing it again if need-be.

If you try this and have any questions, feel free to ask, I'll be happy to try to help and would welcome the chance to fix any mistakes that I might have made in typing the pattern up.

Please do not sell this hat or this pattern, the copyright belongs to me and I freely allow you to use it and the resulting hats for your own personal use, for gifts and for charity purposes. Please be kind. DJ

Surf's Up

These sunset pictures were taken about four hours after the following pictures of the waves. That white speck just to the right of center is actually a lighthouse. The lighthouse pic is facing more northwest than the other, thus the darker looking sky. I wish I could do better piccies, but my camera is a very inexpensive one that I am very please to have at this point.


The wind was blowing off Lake Michgan in full force, yesterday. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the 10 to 15 foot waves. I was pretty high above the water and it's still possible to see how big the waves were. I love to see them and hear them crashing on the shore. The wind was so strong that if you stayed long down near the water you would have your glasses and camera lens sand-blasted. I always wear wrap-around sunglasses when I go down to the water on really windy days, the last thing I need is sand-blasted eyeballs. LOL


I have more piccies and some knitting pics, but blogger is being a poop and I'll be happy if this even uploads, as it is.
More later. DJ

And......We have yarn!

Oh, it's overspun, thick and thin, lumpy and bumpy, but durned if it isn't yarn! LOL The picture turned out awful, and I only took one pic this time, so that will have to do for documentation of my very first spinning effort on my new wheel, who still remains nameless, poor little thing. This is yarn that only a mother could love. And by golly, I do love it. I found a pattern on the Yarn Harlot that I liked for a scarf, but it just didn't seem to work, .....well actually I loved the way it looked, but I just don't have enought yarn. So I have cast on 12 sts with my size 15 straights and I'm just doing it in garter stitch. Sometimes the simplest thing is the best, and I think that is giong to be true with this yarn and this scarf. I just want something that I can use a few times and then keep for posterity. I have found myself wanting to get a brush and see what it looks like with a little halo brushed out of it. I have no idea what the fiber is. Got it last year at MI Fiber Festival and the vendor didn't mark it as to content. I wish that I had kept a record of who I purchased it from. The outside of the ball of roving was clean and nice, Ha! it was full of VM after the first few layers. That wasn't nice! Oh, well. I'm still in love with the yarn. Aren't we always in love with our firstborn anything!
I am now spinning some fiber that my friend JT gave me. It is a little coarse(which she told me when she donated it) and I plan to use it for my orphan knitting. I think that after it is spun and plied and washed several times and has plenty of hair conditioner used on it, that it will be just fine and will make a nice warm little vest for a toddler over in Russia or Kazahkstan who is living in an orphanage that is only heated to about 45 deg. F in the winter. Thank you JT, one more little one warmed!
Gotta go knit on DH's hunting socks. Apologies to the vegetarian reader and animal lover. But, we do live in the midwest and farm country and we were both raised on this way of life. DH never kills anything that we aren't willing to eat. And truth be told, I think he spends more time 'watching' the wildlife than anything. At least, there is never much meat in the freezer that he harvested. Last year was 'venison free'. LOL Anyway, I am knitting him some socks. I started them for the dgs, but they were too wide in the ankle and I wasn't willing to frog them, and they are perfect for DH. DGS will get the next pair. I am just using some Wool-Ease that I got in that big yarn haul that I found this past summer. I actually have some Encore set aside for DH some hunting socks, but that will have to wait.
I knit a Mason Dixon Baby Kimono sweater of the weekend. What an easy knit, and very fast, I really didn't have a lot of time to devote to it this weekend. But it went to fast that it got finished in 2 days, anyway. I will post a pic after I get it sewn up. That, by the way, is my only complaint about this pattern, I hate sewing up knits. But his one is worth it. I was feeling sort of crumby about spending the money on that book, but now that I've knit something from it, I'm glad that I have it and I'm sure that I will enjoy using some of the other patterns in it.
Going to click my neeedles now,
DJ

Fun with my new wheel

I spent the day at the Weekend Weavers shop taking an all day class with Peggy Coffey,yesterday. She writes a column for the Interweave mag Spin-Off. Oh, Wow!! I had such a great time and Peg is a wonderful teacher and very kind and generous. Some of the wheels in the class were not working right and she just took it in her stride and basically gave them all a tune-up right there during the class, without neglecting any of the students. It was a small class of 5, so there was a lot of one on one time. And the fiber that she gave us was so nice. We spun something called "Cloud" from Quail Hill. It is wool, mohair, alpaca and silk noil. It was soft as a cloud and didn't require any real drafting at all. Wonderful stuff. I will be getting some of that. She gave us 'spin-able' samples of merino, leichester, shetland, and several others that I have forgotten. I know so much more about fiber, the wheel and spinning now than I would have thought possible in just one day. I definitely recommend Peg's classes. And she is just such a down to earth person, a pleasure to deal with. I hope to take another class from her sometime.
I wish I had taken my camera. I met such nice people there and I think all of them will be buying wheels and be real spinners. 3 of them already have sheep and the other one wants them. Me, at this point, I have no hope of having any fiber animals. I do so miss the ones that I used to have, but preparing for retirement meant selling our little mini-farm and moving to a retirement mobile home community. It will be better in many ways, but I don't think I'll ever stop missing my little angora rabbits. I have given thought to getting just one and having it as a house pet, but I know from experience that would mean fur everywhere! And I don't think DH would approve. LOL At least I get to see them at the Michigan Fiber Festival and at the county fairs. That will have to do for now and at least the near future.
I'm at the grand-teens house for the next few days, so I won't be doing any spinning till I get home. I could have brought the drop spindle, but I have several knitting projects that I really need to devote some time to and this gives me time to really concentrate on them.
Gotta run,
DJ