I didn’t mean to be gone so long! The last time I wrote, I tried to convey that I had a strange sense of foreboding. Well, strange things did, in fact, happen around here. Then, I got sick. I’ve had a head cold/cough for the better part of a month. I just started to feel like it was going away…aaaaaaaannd then it was back. Now, finally, I think I have the upper hand! I’m feeling my energy return, and just in the nick of time. I have to scramble, because I’m a bit behind in Christmas preparations! Luckily, my knitting mojo didn’t desert me. I knit and read a lot, in between the coughing fits. Okay, whining over.

So, how have you all been? I hope you’re all looking forward to the holidays. I’m looking forward to having my family all together this Christmas. My sister will be traveling from Ottawa, and I can’t wait ’til she gets here. Both of my kids had school Christmas concerts, which were so enjoyable. I was amazed that my 4 year old son didn’t get stage fright. He actually sang, until he saw the movie projection behind him. That was evidently far more interesting than singing. So, he spent the rest of the concert facing backwards. My husband and I had a good laugh, and we have a nice videotape of the back of my son’s head.

So, I’ll show you a couple of the things I knit. Due to my cold, I felt the need for some warm woollies. I have been wanting to knit this scarf for a long time, and I finally got around to it. It was a fun, quick knit.

My So Called Scarf

My So Called Scarf

My So Called Scarf

Yes, that’s me, sick as all get out, standing in the snow without a hat on! Well, I knit a hat too.

Turn a Brim

  • Materials: Belfast Mini-Mills Ltd. Chunky Merino Wool, 1 skein.
  • Needles: 4mm for the ribbing, & 4.5mm.

    • Sometime I’ll knit a fancy schmancy hat, to go with the scarf. However, right now, my aim was warmth, so I chose the thickest yarn I had in the stash, and it happened to be winter white. This hat is a cross between the Turn A Square hat, by Jared Flood, and the Brangelina hat, by Crazy Aunt Purl. I had a problem with stretchy cast-ons. I started with Eunny’s tubular cast on, which wasn’t nearly stretchy enough. I ripped that out and started again with Ysolda’s version of the tubular cast on, which was much more stretchy but very bulky looking. I carried on and knit the hat anyway. When I was finished the whole hat, I ripped out the cast on, picked up the stitches, and did a sewn loose cast off instead. The hat was knit with 96 stitches. I used the smaller needles for the 3×1 ribbing. After the ribbed portion, I purled the last stitch on the round, then I wrapped a stitch (bring yarn to the back of the work, slip one stitch from the left needle to the right one, bring yarn to the front of the work, slip the stitch back to the left needle). Then I pushed the knitting through the middle of the needles, and began knitting on the other side of the work. What was once the inside of the hat, became the outside. This makes the right side of the brim show, when it is folded back. I switched to the larger needles, continued in knitting, and did the decreases according to the Turn A Square pattern.

    For another fancy schmancy hat to go with the scarf,  I have some dark green Malabrigo, or rust Malabrigo. Which should it be?

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