Mustaa villaa: 02/08

2008/02/24

Three reasons to love Garter Stripe Beanies

1. The colours.
I really, really love knitting with colours. I had kinda forgotten this, because what I don't love is wearing colours – maybe I should stop knitting for myself? Socks don't count, of course. But yeah, this was fun!

2. The stash busting.
Maybe even more fun was getting to put all those tiny leftover yarn balls and socks yarn scraps to good use! The garter stitch edging is quite forgiving gaugewise – I used all kinds of different yarn, roughly DK weight, and socks yarns held doubled. There are quite a few ends to be woven in, but I think the effect is worth it.

3. The charity aspect.
Should I be ashamed that this one's only third on my list? I have not knit much for charity (I made one blanket years ago), but it does feel good to knit for others. Highly recommended.

Garter Stripe Beanies
for the Finnish Red Cross
Pattern: my own
Yarn: Novita Wool (white), Debbie Bliss Merino DK (green and turquoise), Tricots Brancal Escocesa (black), handspun (pink and olive green) + various leftover yarns
Needles: 3 mm (for the edging) and 3,5 mm

What I did (please note that this is not a proper pattern, knitting at your own risk only)

Circumference: 46 centimeters / 18 inches, to fit a child
Gauge: 24 sts = 10 centimeters / 4 inches

Using straight needles, CO 112 stitches. Change yarn, and knit garter stitch for 24 rows, change colour every 2 rows.

Join to begin working in the round, and knit stocking stitch for about 8 centimeters (3 inches), or as long as you like.

Place markers: [K28, place marker] 4 times.

Decrease Round: [K2tog, k to 2 sts before next marker, ssk] 4 times. Repeat this round every other round until 16 stitches remain. Repeat decrease round only until 8 stitches remain.

Break yarn, draw through remaining sts and pull tight. Weave in ends.

2008/02/11

The hat knitting continues

Onni is very disappointed with this winter. Where is the snow, promised for him for months? And the ice? All the skis and skates and sledges sit unused. And all mum's doing is knitting those stupid, scratchy hats, which he is SO not going to model anymore.

Poor Onni. He's right - I've been quite absorbed in hat knitting lately. I'm having so much fun!

Red Cross Beanies
Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Limbo, Novita Wool, Tricots Brancal Escocesa
Needles: 3 and 3,5 mm

I'm also not that sad about this rainy weather we've been having. I get to wear my lovely pink wellies! Happiness all around!

2008/02/03

Knitting for others

Red Cross Beanies
Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Limbo
Needles: 3 and 3,5 mm

The Finnish Red Cross*, together with Tekstiiliteollisuus and The Moda Magazine, are collecting knitted socks and hats for people living in cold-climate regions in Asia and South America. I found out about this campaign from Neja's blog (she has made lots of hats already), and for some unknown reason I felt a sudden urge to knit hats. This was strange – I am a selfish knitter who knits mostly for herself (even when I'm knitting for others I trick myself by thinking that I'm knitting for me instead), and I very rarely knit hats. Hats kinda accentuate my nose (as you can see).

But yay! the hat's not for me, so I don't care. This was a fun little project. I dug out the leftovers from these projects, cast on 112 stitches, and knit some random stripes. I think it will look cute on someone with more hair and less nose.

And then I knit another one with just a few stripes, which made the knitting much more boring, but the end result is quite stylish I think. Onni hated it though (he's extremely sensitive for anything even slightly scratchy), so it's a good thing it's not for him either.

I'm thinking about sending the We Call Them Pirates -hat to this campaign too. Although I love the hat, it's too scratchy for Onni even with its cotton lining, so it's useless here. But I'm having second thoughts: is it odd to send a skull-patterned hat to charity? I think the hat is cute and lovely, but could it be offending to some people? What do you think?

I'm off to knit more hats. Knitting for the Red Cross fits nicely with this month's Project Spectrum colours too. :-)

* You can find the campaign page (in Finnish) here.

2008/02/02

The secrets of the Stash

I had this post all written up in my head. How I like the elements theme of this year's Project Spectrum, and how I'm going to participate – but how problematic the first two months would be for me, because I have absolutely no red, pink, or orange yarn. But, as it turned out, my stash is full of surprises. Just look at this: