swirly bereanie pattern

It's a beret, it's a beanie, its fabulous! Actually it probably is mostly like a beret except that the berets I'm obsessed with are big and slouchy and this one is not.  It fits close to the head like a beanie but the opening fits around your head more like a slouchy beret.

2 skeins of Noro Kureyon in different colorways but that share some shades. I used 199 and 165
size 5 needles (dpns or 16” circular)
size 6 needles (16” circular and DPNs)

Gauge: 5 stitches to the inch using size 6 needles in stockinette

CO 80 stitches in color A using smaller needles (size 5), I used tubular cast on method that I learned from Ysolda Teague's Gretel pattern (a really great pattern-I highly recommend it!). She has a great tutorial here.

Join to work in the round being careful not to twist stitches (if using tubular cast on you will work 3 rows first and will need to sew up the join at the end)

Knit 1x1 ribbing for 1.25 inch or until color starts to change dramatically (my brim is 1 inch because the color started to shift from blue/green to purple and I wanted the brim to be all one contrasting color)

Next row:  Using larger needles *K2 M1* all the way around. There should be 120 stitches

Join B and work a row of stockinette.

(when you join the next color you need to decide how you want the colors to shift.  Start with a part of the yarn that is a very different color for more obvious stripes (though there will probably be areas that are more subtle) or start with a part that is similar for a more subtle shift.  For example, if I had started with the other end of the skein for color B the colors would have lined up more closely throughout the entire hat.

Drop B to the back and pick up A, work one row of stockinette
Drop A to the back and pick up B, work one row of stockinette

Repeat these two rows until hat is 5” from beginning (for berenie) for a slouchier or roomier hat add one or two inches. The decreases will create a flat-ish top and will not add any length.

Decreases:

*K18 K2tog pm* repeat all the way around
Decrease in this pattern all the way around, Knitting to 2 stitches before a marker, k2 together, slip marker for 14 rows still alternating colors. On the 15th decrease row break color A and use only color B continuing to decrease as above until 6 stitches remain.

Thread yarn through 5 stitches but keep the 6th stitch live. K into the front, back, front, back, front of this stitch—you should have 5 stitches on the needle. Purl 1 row, Knit 1 row, Purl 1 row, Knit 1 row, Purl 1 row. Knit all five together.

Break yarn and pull through the last stitch. sew this end into the top of the hat to make a small loop on the top of the hat.

Sew up the brim if you used a tubular cast on

long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

banjo + star wars theme song = hilarious

hum the song to yourself first before listening, it makes it easier to hear!

leaving on a jet plane

My bags are packed and ready to go! Well not the clothes and presents and toiletry stuff, just the knitting. Behold the vacation knitting!


I am really obsessed with these pouches. Not only are they great for walking around the city and knitting but I think they will be great for keeping my various vacation projects separate.

What lurks behind door #1?


socks! A pair of socks that needs to be finished and a pair of knee socks that wants to be started.

Behind door #2?


Basket liners! These are for an impending wedding. This is like homework knitting, it has a deadline. Deadlines make me want to do anything but what is required for the deadline.

Something like what is behind door #3....


Afghan! My third attempt at this blanket, I'm hopeful for this iteration. The yarn is so cozy and has a very wool-y smell and for some reason I am obsessed with knitting it on wooden straight needles. It just seems to fit the farm-y feel of the wool and project. Really this project was my answer to "what do I knit on an airplane when the socks and basket liners are both on teeny metal needles that look more dangerous than they are?" This project is so grandmother-y, how can anyone take my needles away from this?

Who knows how much of this I will actually accomplish or what I will feel drawn to once I am in Tennessee....stay tuned for the results (and pictures of the ridiculous amount of christmas knitting I have accomplished but cannot post for fear that people will see it)!

NaNoSweaMo

So, November has been deemed many many things in the bloggy world this year. Most of these things are absolutely ridiculous for me to even contemplate. For example:

1. Write a novel in the month of November--ummm. I have never even thought about wanting to write a novel and the idea of trying to write one in one month makes me want to jump off a cliff. (Not that it isn't an admirable goal for more writer-ly types.)

2. Post to your blog every day in the month of November---ummmm. Clearly that is not happening. November has been what could most loosely be called a "harrowing" month. October wasn't much better. That would be why there was a two month lag in posts.

I was beginning to feel a little left out until I discovered NaNoSweaMo or "National November is Sweater Month". Maybe. Or knit a sweater in the month of November month? Or something else. I just know that it is NaNoSweaMo because I like saying it 10 times each day. When I discovered it I thought, Hey! I AM already knitting a sweater and I could just finish it by the end of November! It was good incentive.

This is Julia, she is not NaNoSweaMo-ing but I wanted to show you her lovely socks she just made. They are the socks that Tipped Her Over The Edge from being interested in knitting to obsessed. Tee-hee. Now I have a New York knitting friend. Maybe she will be ready for NaJaSweaMo. Lovely socks, no?


OK. Back to my original point. The next thing that happened in November was that I discovered that suddenly everyone I know is procreating. This made me think, HEY! BABY sweaters are sweaters too and they are a lot faster. I can be a multiple NaNoSweaMo-er! (Not that I'm being competitive, I just like acheivement). So last weekend I cranked out this, aka NaNoSweaMo #1


Then I got obsessed (how unlike me). I thought, if I can crank out a sweater while roaming around town with my family maybe I could knit Yet Another Baby Sweater before the end of the month. Well, it turns out that for sweaters to get knit, you have to knit them instead of doing things like working. This is all I could accomplish:


It is a NNSwM or half of a NaNoSweaMo.

But, I can hear you asking, what of the original sweater? The one you were already knitting and trying to finish? The one that is questionably a NaNoSweaMo since you started it in August? Ahh, that sweater was finished Wednesday. Behold the buttons:


This sweater is, despite it's Not Entirely Knit In November status, a NaNaNoNoSweaSweaMoMo. I get double points because it is so amazing. I can't believe I made it. I want to wear it every day for the rest of my life. See? Isn't it ravishingly beautiful?


The first day I wore it (ummm I've been wearing it since Wednesday so it is actually possible that I might wear it every day for the rest of my life) I got 7 compliments on it. 3 of those people didn't know I made it and asked where I got it. They were stunned and shocked to learn I had made it. "What!?" they said, "How can you MAKE something like that?"



Happy NaNoSweaMo! (I wonder what obsession December will take on?)

i heart arlo

So last Saturday my grown-ups, husband, and I went to see Arlo Guthrie. He plays a concert at Carnegie Hall every Thanksgiving-ish and we like to go. I think Arlo is very funny and I enjoy when he tells seemingly pointless stories that end in hilarity. This concert was with the UK orchestra (who he just released an album with). Apparently he has scored many of his songs for an orchestra and wanted to play them for us. At the beginning of the concert he told us some of his songs didn't go so well with an orchestra, like "I wanna pickle." Lots of people laughed. James and I didn't because I think we aren't old enough to know about this particular song. The mystery is revealed (thanks in joint part to my mom and You Tube)



I agree. Not so much an orchestra song. But funny.

I also happen to think that Arlo Guthrie has gotten funnier as an age-ed hippie than he was as a youngster. See.....



practice makes perfect....

sweater on the loose

So, I have many talents. But really one of my strongest one is losing things. I loose keys, staplers, pens, wallets, metrocards, clothes, hats, gloves, and on and on. Really, if you would like something lost you should hand it to me and I will lose it within 15 seconds.

Lately I have been knitting a beautiful baby sweater. It has been very satisfying. I cast on after we ate on Thanksgiving and by this evening I had the back, both arms, and part of the front knit. I was in the middle of explaining how satisfying this was when I went in my bag to find these peices to show-and-tell. Or to brag. Who knows.

But in my bag was only the sweater back, the sleeve I had just finished, and the front that I was knitting. Since I am talented in this area and thus have a lot of experience with What To Do When You Suspect Something Has Been Lost I began carefully and calmly taking everything out of my bag. "It has to be here," I insisted. It wasn't.

So I put everything back into my bag and tried once more. I carefully took everything out one by one checking it closely for signs of a missing sleeve. No sleeve. "Oh well, it must be at home. I probably threw it out of my bag when I was looking for my hat earlier." (Is it becoming clearer why I am so good at losing things?)

Once we got home, no sleeve. So I called everywhere I sat knitting today (1 restaurant, 1 bar) and asked if perhaps I had left it there. Now, usually when you call about a missing object it is easy to describe what you are missing in a generaly fashion, a coat, a headband, a sweater, a wallet. (Again, I know this through much personal experience) But a sleeve to a baby sweater is not so easy. First of all it isn't a sleeve yet, it actually looks more like a washcloth. But it isn't square so a really funny kind of washcloth. "Umm, this might sound strange but I think I left and oddly shaped piece of knitted fabric there earlier today?" "What?" "An oddly shaped piece of knitted orange fabric. It looks like a washcloth but not sqare." "Ummm, is it like a piece of clothing or art?" (Can you tell that I was in Chelsea by all the art galleries?)

Everyone I talked to was very kind, searched the restaurant or bar and got back on the phone, "well, I don't really see anything and I think if we had what you are talking about we would know it. So sorry, we really hope you find it!" (This is the best customer service I've had all day)

So. No knitted sleeve = I have to knit yet another sleeve. Luckily this clearly does not take all that much time. Here is what I am down to in terms of the sweater:


What do you think the other sleeve is out doing? If you happen to see it cavorting around town will you let it know I miss it? That I would really like it to come back now?

I think the fact that I am only mildly irritated by the whole escapade speaks to how totally accustomed I am to losing really important and devastating things. How does one divest themself of a talent?

blast from the past

youtube is so wonderful. I had completely forgotten about this until today. The theme song is so jaunty.