Posted in Fiber, Knitting

Urban Aran Hat, Wrap Up

Posted on by Life, Fiber, Trans
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My fully finished & blocked Urban Aran Hat.

I’ve been out of the loop for a while, and that’s for rather good reason. The very next time someone tells me I should use my fiber arts to set up an Etsy shop, I’m going to point them to this blog to show them why it’s a terrible idea. Health issues and home-run businesses do not tend to mix well.

Rowing in the blue
Lost Yarn Chicken!

 

But back to what we’re here for. As you can see, I lost my game of Yarn Chicken and had to go grab another skein that was spun single. It’s a titch thicker than the original yarn, but since it was for the crown I wasn’t too worried about it. If there’s anywhere you want to be warmer and thicker…

Rowed out + stitch marker
Moving to DPNs one stitch at a time

As you can see, the gauge held pretty close. I was chuffed.

Then came the decreases, and with them, the eventual move to double-pointed needles (DPNs). My DPNs are square, aluminum, and generally awesome. The shape makes them less tiring, and they’re nicely pointed with a lace shoulder. I know some people prefer their work on 3 needles, but I’m a 4 needle, knit with the fifth type.

Then wash in Euclan (because it’s a gift and who wants to wear something that has slid through your fingers, really?), and block to show off the cables.

Yes, I bought a head for blocking hats.
So many pins!

This is actually the second stage of blocking, I did the first flat, but I forgot to take pictures. 😦  You can see how I hold the cable in place with the pins, then open up the purl detail with pins on the border…

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All in all, I’m really happy with how the hat came out. I had fun playing with cables combined with short rows in a non-threatening project—seriously, if cables are a thing you’re scared of, this a great pattern, dropping down to fix cables here is easy—and it’s an interesting enough knit to keep you from being bored. There’s not enough moss stitch to get irritating, but you still get the cred for doing it, and it looks amazing.

Now back to the socks that have taken over my life. You should see a post tomorrow!

Urban Aran Hat, My Errata

I’m very careful about reading patterns & charts, because I’m both a process and product knitter and hooker, and I want the final product to look right. I even swatch (although I only wash swatches for sweaters—unwashed swatching is good enough for hats and shawls).

So I just spent a merry half an hour counting stitches on the left needle and consulting the chart of the hat I’m working on, and I could find no way to make it work except by starting with a purl instead of a knit in moss stitch, and this made no sense (as the previous row both started and ended on the correct stitch, and there were the correct number of stitches from the stitch marker).

I decide to start with a purl, pick up my circs, and see I’d already done the first knit stitch. To lock in that stitch marker, as you do.

:facepalm:

 

Posted in Fiber, Knitting, Uncategorized

Urban Aran Hat, Part 2

Posted on by Life, Fiber, Trans
Do you like my stitch marker?
Front view of hat—note how the curve is coming along!

I’ve been working on my Urban Aran Hat between messing around with my exhaust system and running around with my daily life. I’ve made some progress, but not as much as I’d hoped. Still, better than not having picked it up at all!

I knit hats on the smallest circular needles that I can. This cord is 6” long, and the shortest this interchangeable company makes (the needles make the circ bigger, naturally). This makes the knitting easier on me, as the stitches spring around with little effort. It does make the hat seem small, even if I did cast on almost 100 stitches in Aran weight yarn!

Urban Aran Hat—Top View, 29 rows
See how all the stitches are scrunched? When I start decreasing, it will pop open!

I’m getting much more comfortable with the pattern. I don’t need the key right now (although that will change once I pass this section!), and I rarely need to remind myself how to do the stitches.

I’m still not one of those people who can just drop the two stitches and cable, although I know it would be much faster. I grab my little cable holder and keep my sanity. However, there will come a day when I will do that!

Moss stitch continues to be fun, and I’m not understanding how people get lost in it. If the stitch below and behind is a 1 or a 0, do a 0 or a 1. It’s true it’s not explained that way. But maybe it’s more because I knit Continental so the switch is just a finger wave. I’ve heard so many horror stories about moss stitch. Tell me yours?

Thirty more rows to go on this hat! I’m not sure if it will be one or two more posts—we’ll see how fast it works up.

But how did I get that nice, flat picture without dropping stitches? Well…

Urban Aran Hat—Alt View, 29 rows
Front view only looks flat from a carefully chosen angle—camera tricks are your friends.

I didn’t. It’s a very pretty optical illusion based on angle, popping out and popping in until it looked ‘right’, and taking a bunch of pictures and re-doing until I had it just right. I didn’t even have to photoshop. 🙂 Never trust pictures!

Posted in Knitting, Uncategorized

Tri-Fandom Shawl

Posted on by Life, Fiber, Trans
I’m so glad I was able to get some of this yarn, it’s amazing and I’d never be able to dupe it!
Current work done on my travel shawl!

This shawl gets worked on in spurts. I’ll get several segments done in a day, then the bag is left to rest for a few weeks or more with no attention, and that’s okay.

This is my travel shawl, the mostly mindless garter shawl I bring along when I know that I might be waiting a while at some appointment or waiting with one of those infernal tickets at the DMV, especially when someone has given up and left, and they call the number over & over… (I had to make a minor change to my license recently, I was glad to have the knitting!).

It also gets me the oddest looks.

So don’t expect to see this pop up often, but when it does, massive work will probably be done.

Posted in Knitting, Uncategorized

Urban Aran Hat, Variegated

Posted on by Life, Fiber, Trans
Hand holding open a partially finished hat, still on circular needles, knitted in variegated yarn. There is a cable on the right side, ribbing on the majority of the bottom, and moss stitch to the left.

I’ve been working on this for a bit over a month, but in my defense I started in a larger size on bigger needles, and not only did it not match gauge, but halfway through the pattern I could tell I was going to be playing yarn chicken at the end—and losing.

The pattern is the delightful Urban Aran Hat by Robbie Laughlin. It’s half-chart, half-written, and for the most part pretty clear. (If you’re new to charts, or even if you aren’t—this is charted like free lace. It confused me until someone pointed that out, and then it was clear sailing.)

I’m only on row 15 of this go-round, 5 rounds past the ribbing and well into the moss stitch. I just shifted the cable over for the first time. (You may have noticed I bracketed the cable section in very plain stitch markers. I have some brain damage, and it’s easier to block those off so I don’t ever mess up the count. That set will always be the cable stitch row. If you have trouble with this for any reason, feel no shame and mark it off!) That means less moss stitch, not that it’s too wearing knitting continental (although I worry about losing track).

Expect updates!

Posted in Uncategorized

First day…

Posted on by Life, Fiber, Trans

I’m hoping to get more scientific about the way that I prep fiber, spin, knit, and to keep better track of the what’s and how’s, rather than going on instinct. Maybe it will make me better, maybe it won’t, but it’s worth a try to dive into the more technical aspects, isn’t it?

I also have more photographs than I know what to do with, and since my computer is on the fritz, no good way to edit them. You’ll see them in all their raw glory. 🙂

So I’m hoping to track fiber projects, and also just post cool pictures. 🙂 Come for either!

Progression of skill