AuburnChick's Adventures

What a crazy week I’ve had!  What, with Soccer Chick’s crisis and my new adventure in the world of subbing, it’s a wonder that I’ve been able to knit.

But I have!  And boy, have I been busy!

A long time ago, I fell in love with the Koolhaas Hat. You can purchase the pattern here.

Then, I received a gift certificate for Kaleidoscope Yarns and went in search of something nice to buy.

I bought two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca Silk. The color is “Peapod,” #141. You can read about the yarn here. Oh man, is it soft! Here’s a picture of the pre-knit up yarn:

I went hunting for patterns on Ravelry before I bought the yarn and saw that someone had used it to make the Koolhaas Hat.

Bingo! The perfect match!

So, like the other person, I doubled the yarn (hence my purchase of two skeins) and cast on this project on 9/13…finishing tonight (9/19). I used up 85g of my yarn (each skein is 50g).

Getting started was a challenge because I didn’t have DPNs that were the right size, nor the 16″ cable. However, I decided to use Magic Loop. The pattern works absolutely fine done this way. Whew!

The pattern is not hard, if you are comfortable doing cable work. However, the slickness of the yarn made it impossible to do the cables without cable needles. What a chore!

I persevered and am really glad I did. The top of the hat, IMHO, is gorgeous! This pattern is smartly written, despite my aggravation with the cables.

I’m pleased because although I didn’t do a gauge swatch, the hat came out the perfect size for me, proving there’s a first time for everything.

On to the pictures!

The yarn is actually a darker color. Maybe a sage color? The next picture was taken with the flash on. I tried to fix it, but oh well.

And a view of the top…

Now, knitters typically move along from one project to the next.  Y’all know that I am coordinating the West Coast Oddball Baby Blanket Project.  Our blog is located here, if you want to take a peek.

Last week, Shandeh, of KH fame, sent me a HUGE box of goodies…yarn, needles, and a few things for little ole me.

Here are close-ups of what’s on the table…

The Baby Bee yarn is incredibly soft, so I couldn’t wait to cast on!  I wound up casting on four blankets this week and will mail them off this weekend.

For Lemonade Stand, I used the Checkerboard pattern from the book knit & purl. The yarn is Baby Bee Sweet Delight, and the color is “Sunny.”

I only knit about an inch so we can fit in six other knitters, giving more people a chance to work on it.  Actually, this is what I did for all of the blankets I cast on this week.

For Little Boy Blue, I used Yarn Bee Sweet Delight, and the color is Blueboy. I used the pattern Stocking Stitch Triangles from the knit & purl book.

Here’s Carousel. I used Yarn Bee Sweet Delight, and the color is “Carousel.” I cast on 85 stitches and used the Check Pattern from my knit & purl book.

Here’s Puppy Love. I used the same brand of yarn, and the color is “Puppy.” The pattern is Twisted Moss I from the same book mentioned above. I cast on 85 stitches for this blanket.

The picture doesn’t show the flecks of color in this yarn. It’s not completely cream colored.

Now that the blankets are started, I can resume work on a beanie for Soccer Chick’s “guy friend.”  He asked me to make him one out of the school colors.  I found a pattern and have begun work on it.  It’s going to be a bit challenging, though, because he has asked me to put his soccer number on it, so I’ll be learning how to do a duplicate stitch.

My friend, Shandeh (mentioned above) interestingly enough just posted on her blog about her latest duplicate stitching adventure.  It’s worth a look-see.

Ok…I hope this makes up for all of the recent “Poor Me” posts lately.  I’m off to work on “Guy Friend’s” beanie.  I’ll post updates…

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: baby, beanie, blanket, blue sky alpaca silk, Charity, hat, kaleidoscope yarns, Knitting, koolhas, oddball, yarn bee |