Sea Anemone Ear Flap Hat

Just the ear flaps done

After making Charlie's Chullo, I had tons of yarn left over. I bought three skeins of it, knowing that I was going to be cutting out all of the green and I only used 100 grams (equivalent of one skein). I thought of doing another Chullo for myself, but I decided I wanted to look for something different -- and something different I found!!!

I was reading some of the knitting blogs I follow and found this post by Carla Price on her blog Knitting is a Romantic Drama. BINGO! This was something different. I contacted Carla and she generously added her notes on how she created her self-designed hat. She pointed me to where she learned the stitch: a video by one of my favorite sock designers, Cat Bordhi (how did I miss that?!) And away I go. . .

I am still addicted to ear flaps, so I started directly  with the them -- no i-cord on this hat. Since the tendril is created on the knit row; I am doing my increases on the purl row. Although, both Carla and Cat made their tendrils with a set count of twists, I am being a little less rigid and twisting until it looks right as I am making them somewhat different lengths. (Anemones don't measure their little tentacles to make sure they are all exactly the same.)

I am thinking of adding a strap between the ear flaps to keep the hat tight in the Chicago winter wind. I don't want to loose this puppy! That is one nice thing that I found about the i-cord on the other hats (here and here) I made myself. If I tuck them into my coat, it helps the hat stay on in 50+ mph wind gusts. I walk across the Chicago River and the wind is always strongest there. I don't want any of my work to take a dive -- I won't go in after it.

This is a really fun project. I am taking detailed notes, so that if the hat works out, I will have a pattern to share. Who knows, maybe I will even go back and make a child size hat, too!

Happy Knitting!



How to make an tendril: 

Fig. 1

With right needle, pull yarn from back to front between 1st and 2nd stitch on left needle (Fig. 1), until you have a folded over piece of yarn about 3 to 4 inches long from fold back to knitting (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Place your finger in the fold and twirl the yarn a few times as if you are plying it (Fig. 3).

Fig. 4

Fold it back on itself and place the loop from your finger to the left knitting needle (Fig. 4).

Fig. 5

Knit it along with the 1st stitch on the left needle (Fig. 5). One tendril made.

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Be careful when knitting the tendril, that you keep the tendril under the needle as in Fig. 5. If you knit with the needle underneath the tendril (Fig.6), the tendril will end up on the wrong side of the fabric or the inside of the hat (Fig. 7).

Making the tendril the "wrong way" as in Fig. 6 is a little easier as the stitch is not stretched as tightly and I made several wrong and had to correct them.

Obsessive Compulsive Chullo Knitting

Introducing: Charlie's Chullo -- that would be Chullo number four. Alright, I know I have a problem. I just love making these things.

I used Noro Hitsuji again -- this time in a brown, black, orange and green colorway. However, Charlie wanted the colors to be more like the San Francisco Giant's uniform colors, so I removed the green and limited the grey. It is amazing how different two skeins of the same Noro yarn can look! Don't worry, there will not be any waste -- with the left over yarn, I will make myself a hat with more green in it!

When I completed the body of the hat, I attached the decorative spirals which Charlie said he would prefer over "fru-fru" pom-poms.I made four spirals, each in a different color cut out of a different part of the yarn. And each spiral is made a slightly different length.

Also known as "curlicues", spirals are really easy to do:

Leaving a long tail, start by crocheting a chain of any length --my shortest one is 14 chains. Make 3 Single Crochet stitches in each chain beginning with the 2nd chain from the hook. You will begin to see the spirals curl in just a couple of chains. When you reach the end of the chain, clip the yarn -- again leaving a long tail. Draw both long tails through the top of the last loop left on the hook.

Attaching them to the hat is just as easy:
Using a yarn needle, pull each one of the long tails on one of the spirals from the outside to the inside of the hat. Put one on each side of the circle left at the bind off of the hat's crest.







Continue to do this until all spiral tails are pulled through to the inside.

Next tie the pairs together in a knot.

Trim ends of yarn. You don't want to trim them really short, where the knot can work loose. If you use a square knot as opposed to a granny knot it will be less likely to slip.

How good looking is that!

Happy Knitting!

As a Knitter, You Can Fly, But You Can't Deliberate.

I found out something yesterday. You can still fly with knitting needles, but don't try to enter a court room with knitting needles. Hmmmm, I should have known considering last year I blogged about this. I was so excited about the possibility of a day of uninterrupted knitting. I had my knitting bag packed with all of my projects and the first thing I see was a sign listing all the prohibited items; guns, knives, knitting needles, etc. Back out to the car with all of my fun.

At least I was selected as an alternate juror and was too busy to knit. I did get a little reading done in my new used book during breaks. It is back to work tomorrow and back to the regular knitting schedule.

Happy Knitting!

Preparing for Jury Duty

I remember the last time I was called for jury duty. It was several years ago when I still lived in Florida. I got a lot of knitting done on what turned out to be the ugliest sweaters I ever made. But several hours with nothing to do but knit sound wonderful! So, I am planning to take a three different projects with me. That way if I get tired of knitting on one project I can switch to something else.

 Project one is my Haruni, Grandmother's Wrap. As long as the lighting is good where potential jurors wait, I should get some lace work done. I worked on it for awhile on the train on Friday, but I will have to tink back to get rid of two extra yarn overs that I put in the wrong place. I would try to just slip them off, but they are 2 stitches apart and I know that they will leave the knitting in that area a little too loose. I know lace is supposed to have hole in it, but not big enough to drive a truck through! The blue headed pin marks where the extra yarn overs are.

Project two is Jacklyn's Ginkgo which I started just a couple of nights ago. I am still in the early part of the pattern which is basically just stocking stitch. This will be a great project to work on when my eyes tire or my patience wears thin on the intricate lace of the Haruni.

Project three is yet another Southern Lights Chullo this time for my husband. Charlie's Chullo is in a brown, black and orange color combination of Noro Hitsuji. The colorway also has a lime green in it, but I am cutting that out so that it will be closer to the Black and Orange of his favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants. Don't worry, the lime green won't go to waste -- I will have enough yarn left over to make me another hat with lots of green in it! My plans are to make similar modifications to the pattern as I did to my daughters: more coverage on the back of the neck as well as a swap of crochet spirals (on right) instead of pom poms.

A little light reading may be in order -- especially since Saturday saw the arrival of my latest used book: In Sheep's Clothing, A handspinner's Guide to Wool by Nola Fournier and Jane Fournier. This book looks at a hundred breeds of sheep and the characteristics of their wool. I am looking forward to digging into this classic.

I would like to take my spindle and some roving with me too. That will get me through a few more grams, but I am not sure what kind of room in us captive jurors will be kept. I guess I could take some with me anyway, maybe I will meet a fellow spinner and make a new friend!

Happy deliberating!

Another Ginkgo -- Custom Ordered

As you may remember, my beautiful daughter came home for Thanksgiving and while she was here we made a trip to my LYS. She picked out yarn for the Chullo that I made for her as well as some yarn for a shawlette. She had seen my Fall Colored Ginkgo that I did knit last year and wanted me to do one for her.

The yarn that she chose is a beautiful, variegated sock weight yarn by Plymouth Yarns: Sakkie. This yarn is a soft, slightly fuzzy and tightly twisted two ply yarn made of 40% Merino, 40% Mohair and 20% Nylon. This yarn is machine washable. The color that Jacklyn selected is the Fiji colorway; it is mostly a medium grey with splashes of magenta, lime and tangerine.

I started knitting yesterday evening and I already like the yarn. Lots of definition in the stitches and the fabric is knitting up very evenly on size US 6 needles. Maggie Magali's design starts out with a very simple stocking stitch triangle. So, for the moment, I am just blasting through the knitting.

Looks like I have lots of knitting left to do, so Happy Knitting!

The 3 R's: Re-Purpose, Re-Use, Re-Cycle

In this economy, one has to think about saving money. I have been doing a lot of trying to do more with less and utilizing the 3 R's: Re-Use, Re-Purpose, and Re-Cycle. If I don't knit or sew something for myself, most of my clothes shopping is done at re-sale shops and Goodwill. It is now the cold months of the year and I have been thinking about some of the ways I could use second hand sweaters as opposed to just wearing them. I found a great blog post at Kayla K's Thrifty Ways.

Kayla K's article on re-purposing sweaters was written about 2 years ago, but is still very relevant with gas sky high and unemployment still an issue. Enjoy! and Happy Knitting!

Berry Pretty Star Hat

I finished the hat using my over-dyed yarn.  This is the Norwegian Star Earflap Hat by Tiennie Knits. It is a really cute design. I like it, but not a lot; and that is not the fault of the design, I like the over-dyed yarn, but this was not the right project for it. The difference between the star and the background is not crisp enough.

I made some modifications to the pattern. I started with a 4 stitch i-cord and worked up into the ear flap same as the three previous Chullos (here, here and here). The pattern is bigger than I expected. I started out with a size 8 circular needle, ripped the hat back to the earflaps, restarted with a size 7 circular and ended up changing to a 6 right after doing the purl rows. I do however, like the length of the hat. It comes down the back of my neck better than the other Chullo. It is loose enough that it does not mat down my hair when wearing it for a long time. I also put a pom pom on the top of the hat. Even though I liked the way the decreases formed a star -- the hat called for a pom pom.

I think I may end up doing another one of these in a crisper color way. I suppose a self striping yarn with a long, slow color change for the star would work better if I did not want to use a solid. I just need to make sure that all the colors pop off the back ground.

Happy knitting!