Whatever I Did, I'm Sorry

I'm back! Christmas was good this year. I got lots of nice things and it was really nice to hang out with my family. New York was cool too. I like to visit but I was glad that we only went for one day. We saw so much and went to a fab play (go see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee...hilarious). There were a few drawbacks...which seem to have spilled over into today. First off the Hat From Hell was, well, hellish. I put the thing on for 1 hour while we toured Chinatown. The brim was too big so it didn't sit tight on my head. Then, the scarf part was too heavy and as I walked around the thing began to slip off my head. I put it in my backpack after awhile and accepted defeat.

When I got back I tried to start working on The Boyfriend Hat. I cast on to a pair of circulars. The cast on was way too tight. I like a tight cast on because it makes the edge look clean. However, this was almost unbearable. But I pressed on and kept working. I knit 3 rows and then I looked at what I'd done. Then I started thinking...the circulars were 29" and the hat was only supposed to be 22". Would that not stretch out the final project making it too big? Is this the reason the scarf/hat didn't work? The circulars were too long and therefore the stitches too loose making the brim too big? Is that why the instructions for my current hat called for 40cm long circulars and not 73.5cm ones? So, I decided to try again and use my DPNs. I messed up on the first row and had to re-cast on so this is what I've done so far on The Boyfriend Hat:
Um, yeah. It may still be cold when I finally finish it. Maybe...

In the meantime I started this:

This is the Bernat chunky yarn that I got on sale. I love the color and how it makes a cool pattern. I'm calling it the Zig Zag Scarf. I'm using a double stockinette stitch. I don't know if Oma Englund is the person who came up with this or if she just contributed it but...I'm loving it. In fact I like all her dense stitches that she submitted and plan on using them soon.

And the Autumn scarf is totally finished. I added some fringe to the ends and that totally completes it.
And here it is modeled by the office chair and the cat's head (sorry it's sideways, don't know why Blogspot does that).

Note: I worked some more on The Boyfriend Hat after a glass of wine and some leftovers from Chow Baby (by the way...go there...it is awesome) and got 2 rows done. It's been a little hard to keep all the stitches on the 2nd DPN (which had 40 stitches on it) but it seems to be working out.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

As you may recall from my last post, I was trying to finish the Hat from Hell (HFH). I was working to finish it quickly so that I could use the circular needles to make The Boyfriend a hat (that was the "secret present" I'm using the navy and grey Bernat yarn for). I worked like a fiend for about 3 nights to finish the HFH (and believe me, it wasn't easy). When I finished I checked the size of the needles the Boyfriend Hat called for and the size needles I had (you know, just to be sure). Lo and behold, the HFH needles are 3 sizes larger than the Boyfriend Hat calls for. The moral of the story? Check needle sizes twice, cast on once.

So, no big deal, I'll pick up the right sized needles later. For now I give you

The Hat From Hell in all it's glory (posed here on the Christmas tree to display it's size and bulk).

It's not a bad hat really. Very thick and warm. Here is yours truly trying to model the HFH while not messing up my super styled hair or looking like an idiot (neither really working out for me).

At least I have a hat for New York now. However, there was over 1/2 a pound of both the yarns I used for the HFH left over. And I never want to see them again. I'm thinking about shoving them in the back of the closet and forgetting about them. If you want the pattern go here (Just a side note: When you get down to 30 stitches I would switch to DPNs to finish. Using circulars the whole time is rather difficult but do-able. I used circulars throughout but found the last rows hard to manage.) The Autumn Scarf is almost done.

A newly shaved Persian cat covered in the scarf and the yarn I have left to finish it. I'm like a demon with the needles. I have the energy of 12 knitters. I can see the end of the project and it beacons me. I'm knitting with a new fury. I'm a knitter who isn't going to have time to bake mac and cheese and an appetizer for Christmas Eve dinner tonight if she doesn't get off her bum and go to the store, pronto. Oops.

My next post may be a few days in coming. I received a new digital camera for Christmas (The Boyfriend is in so much trouble) so I need to set that up. Plus the holiday dinners and presents. And then I'll be in New York. Look for me by the end of the weekend.

I wish you all safe travels and a very Merry Christmas!

Free at Last! Free at Last!

Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!

This evening is the first night if the sacred Winter Break. It was all I could do to make it to 4:30 this afternoon. I'll cut out the part of the story where I actually didn't leave until 5:00, got locked out of my room by my co-teacher and then slogged across the parking lot with 3 bags of presents, an overloaded laptop bag, my regular teaching "purse," and a clarinet in leaking shoes. I'm home now and that's all that matters.

Since my regular at-home laptop is on the outs (after the new year there is talk of a Mac book) I brought my work computer home. Thus, the blogging station is born.
I have to get pics from the digital camera onto the old laptop and then transfer them to the work laptop. It's a process but it works. Please note the large bin of yarn on the right. Not pictured is the lovely cup of hot tea that I made as soon as I got home.

I've finally picked back up an old project. I've dubbed it the Hat From Hell. The hat itself is not the issue here. It's actually a quite nice, extra long, scarf/hat thing with these cool, very severe, S-cables.

Sorry the picture is sideways. You still get the idea.

The reason this is the Hat From Hell is this:

This is supposed to be the yarn for the hat. Notice the 2 blobs of boucle. The one on the left is an utterly tangled mess. Notice also that the yellow yarn is also coming unraveled from the middle out. What you can't see is that the string from the middle is so tangled on itself (who knows how that happened) you can't get it pulled out any further.

This is a good time to mention that I absolutely hate tangled yarn. It infuriates me and frustrates me to no end. I had actually abandoned the Hat From Hell because of this stupid yarn. Maybe it should be called the Yarn From Hell.

The other night I fixed the problem. I found the string that went around the outside of the yellow yarn (I don't like to use the outside string. The skein flops all over the place as I unwind it.) and then I cut the horrid mess of orange/red/yellow boucle off the part that was still intact. Thus, the work on the scarf/hat began again. Things are going well. Only about 50 more (decreasing rows) to go!

And I leave you tonight with a picture of my friend Jenn's Christmas gift:

She is, unfortunately, a huge florida gator fan. However, I think this kerchief is about the cutest thing I've made so far. The yarn is Red Heart sport weight is Skipper Blue and then I added some orange 1/4 inch (or there abouts) orange ribbon through the increase holes around the edge. Get the pattern here.