Tuesday, December 05, 2006

A relief to be back!

Ah, it's a relief to be back in the blogosphere, and to normal life in general. We spent a truly enjoyable 9 days with the ILs over TG, and then we sprinted to Fl for my grandfather's funeral. These things are never expected, never welcome, and never fun, but it was good to see friends and family that I haven't seen in close to 5 years or so.

I didn't get any knitting done during the Fl trip, but I did finish the modified Sharkif over TG. I CO for the second jaywalker (a companion to the first, and a gift for my mom). The jaywalker is slow going as we're settling back in at home, getting back into work, and resuming normalcy. It all takes time to get the big machine of the daily grind up and running.

We're also in our first real cold snap of the season, and DD has NO HAT! I'm So frustrated that I can't find a simple hat pattern for a 2 year old. I tried to design a hat for her - a simple knit hat in the round with stockinette. Not rocket science, I'm telling you. No fancy stitches, no patterning. Just a simple, every day, WARM knit hat.

My gauge is 6 st/in on 4mm using Cascade 220 superwash, and DD's head measures about 18". Simple math, right? That works out to about 108 st. So, I did a simple picot CO to 108 st and started knitting in St st in the round. I didn't like the CO, and when I took the first 3 rows or so off the needles, the thing was HUGE! I don't know if it's because a) my gauge is off, b) the hat didn't have enough rows to make it draw in, or c) I'm an idiot. (PS - or maybe the picot CO makes the hat less stretchy and bigger.) I'm thinking about trying it again with a regular CO, simple rib for the brim, and then straight St st for the head and crown. Using YH's hat decrease method (from a post months ago that I traced back recently), I'll finish it.

The girl needs those ears covered and head warm, so I gotta jump on this one fast. I hope to have it finished by Friday, just in time for weekend fun. We shall see!

In the meantime, if anyone has suggestions, bring 'em on! I could use all the help I can get.

2 comments:

Amy Lane said...

Leisure ARts and Log Cabin knits have a very nice book out w/everything from the simple to the sublime... but I'd suggest a rib--100 stitches, 2x2 rib... or 96 w/a 4x4-- there's not many noggins a 4x4 won't fit... and a stripe looks very charming on it. I've also seen some adorable hats that are just a tube with a four-fold top and pom-poms at the corners.

Amy Lane said...

*oy!* And of course I'm glad to have you back!!!