A Christmas Hat

Finally I can show off this last Christmas knit. I was waiting until it found its recipient before I went flashing its photos around on the interwebs. My sister's best friend Shannon has been in my life for quite a while now. Shannon and I get along very well, and when I used to go to my sister for aid in times of (mostly) relationship trouble, Shannon was often there too to help me find my way.

When I got married in June, Shannon's the one who did my hair and makeup and generally took care of my bridely appearance for the duration of the day (and it was not a short day), so when I found out she liked the Go Bro Michigan beanies I made for the men in my immediate family last year, I knew she had to have one for Christmas.

Thus, I set out to create the Girly Michigan beanie. I started by forgoing the white spectrum and instead using only the brighter colors (we females like color and a lot of it). I also made the base of the hat in one solid color, pushing the strips up to encompass only the crown of the hat.

Then, on the solid base, I added not only the required Michigan M in duplicate stitch, but also a partially crocheted and partially knitted flower that I attached to a pin backing to make it moveable. That way, the flower can be an the brim to the side or it could be placed at the top of the crown like a propellor or it could be taken off the hat entirely and wore as an outfit accessory on a lapel.

I wanted to personalize the hat a bit, to give it that bit of special embellishment that girls love, so I called my sister to find out Shannon's favorite flower. I have on my bookshelf a copy of 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet. I figured whatever flower it was would be in there and it was. Shannon really likes Gerber Daisies, in case you hadn't pieced that together yet from the photo below. Of course, the gerber daisy pattern in 100 Flowers didn't really look the best, in my opinion. Instead, I created my own version that I think looks a lot more like a Gerber Daisy.

As an added note: those petals were a pain in the rear to knit and then attach to the crocheted flower base. In all honesty, I was planning on doing two layers of petals, but I finished the first row and just stopped to retain my sanity.

I made an additional discovery while knitting this hat in particular. I have a hard time using markers when I knit in the round, as they always seem a little too big and don't let the yarn pull in tight enough, creating ladders. I took to just getting really good at remembering where I'm at in a pattern, so I don't need to use them. This method can get hectic and drive you up a wall. As of this hat, though, I no longer have to go that route. Now, I use jewelry jump rings instead of markers. They are so small that they just manage to glide along the needles and don't create any ladders at all. Best of all, they are incredibly cheap and come with like a zillion in the bag, which means you can lose them to your heart's content. Trust me, I've already lost about a dozen in the recesses of my boss's car during a business trip last month.

Return of the Hat

In my universe, there are essentially two ways to comfort someone who is going through a rough time: wool or baked goods. That's why when my coworker's father passed away earlier last week, my first inclination was to knit her something. Admittedly, I might have thought of baking cookies first, but she's gluten free and I've been out of rice flour since late 2010 I do believe.

When those around a knitter suffer sorrow, it is a common practice for said knitter (or knitters) to create a prayer shawl. This shawl could then be used to drape the exposed shoulders for the grieved or serve as a lap blanket as the depressed rest on the couch, just not ready to move yet. In addition, as the shawl becomes knit into existence, the knitter encloses a prayer of well-being into each stitch.

I'm not big into prayer for prayer's sake. I don't think of myself as a prayer. Though I do wish for things for myself and others (happiness, health, good fortune, strength, life), I never ask a deity to bestow these things and when I have at any point in the past, I have felt like a fraud doing it. For this reason, I'm not sure the prayer shawl is the way for me to go, now or in the future. However, there is one thing I do know about this particular co-worker. She is a fan of the hat in all its forms.

The solution seemed obvious. She needed a hat. I had a single skein of caron paints in the Oceana colorway and a near-memorized and decidedly familiar beanie pattern at my disposal, as well as the gift of time in the form of two lengthy car rides to and from a business trip on thursday afternoon and friday evening.

By friday night, I had finished the bind off, and the hat was finished.

I adapted the pattern to make the decreases look "prettier" than in the original. This worked, though it also created a slightly more squarish shape in the hat itself. This boxiness does not show up when the hat is on a head.

I completed a second hat too in the last week, but this second one you'll have to wait to see. It's a gift that I'll post as soon as it reaches its owner. In other Christmas knitting news, I may have a plan of attack for that Michigan stained glass afghan that adapts the Mason Dixon Knitting Moderne Log Cabin Blanket. I'll keep you posted.

The Christmas Knitgiving.

All the presents are delivered and it's safe to share my knitting. Of course, you already saw the boy's teacher's apple sock. But that was only a taste of all the yarny goodness I gave out this year.

I made the nephew a bunch of knitted veggies for his birthday over the summer. He loved them but was a bit sad when there was no banana. The kid loves bananas. Like any good aunt, I made sure to correct the situation at Christmas-time. In with his Cars road-rug, one crocheted banana:

So the niece wouldn't feel left out, I gave her a little something with her acoustic-guitar-toting LIV doll. Barbie's riding broom:

My brother made a specific request for a Michigan beanie months ago. In fact, he'd been whining that he still didn't have one at Thanksgiving. Boy, was he surprised. A Michgian beanie for him and one each for the other men in the immediate family, my dad and my bro-in-law.

While Borders was going out of business, I was grabbing up clearanced knitting magazines like candy. In the one I brought with me to my parents' place, my mom saw a cowl. She loved the idea of a scarf that couldn't fall off your shoulders, but the one pictured in the magazine wasn't her style exactly. I searched though book after book until I found the perfect one, a simple lace-patterned snood. Mom picked out the yarn color (I grabbed enough wool-ease to do the job when Jo-Ann's had a sale.) She seemed happy with the result.

Now that the holiday's are over, I've been making steady progress on the woven Scottish plaid blanket. I've been having some extensive writer's block and thinking through it while my hands work with yarn. I'm only 12 rows away from completion of the base grid. Pictures to come when it's all finished.