Category Archive for ‘hats’ at adam knits!

I’ve been meaning to get this post up for a while now, but it seems I just haven’t found the time until now…isn’t that how it goes? It’s not really for lack of time, it’s just that I’ve been doing other fun things that have kept my free hours occupied. Like blitzing through the first 4 Harry Potter books in 4 days! Obsessed much? Yeah, I definitely am. I wanted to read them all again in preparation for the new movie and book in a month, but I just got a bit carried away. And I’m already making headway on Book 5, so I’m pretty much unstoppable at this point. Oh well, at least I’m getting some fun reading in…that doesn’t happen often when you’re in grad school!

In addition to reading my brains out, I’ve done a bit of knitting and yarn purchasing in the last few days. Village Wools is having a big closeout sale on Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Wool (only $4 a skein!), so I picked up a few of those, since they look perfect for stranded knitting. I got some great colors to make a Red Light Special for myself, in Gray, Yellow and 2 shades of Brown. I was inspired by Knitting Philistine’s new Fiberlicious! Flickr Group, and had a late night photo shoot involving bananas, yarn and peanut butter. I think yarn as food is my favorite new art form!

a banana w/ peanut butter and some milk…my favorite snack!

Unfortunately, Dallas went on a bit of a stash rampage when I wasn’t paying attention, and chewed up a gray and a brown skein, plus 4 balls of Felted Tweed I got from Fricknits! I wasn’t too happy, but it was my fault for not closing the office door, so I suppose that’s a lesson learned. (Combined with the previous lesson of not leaving freshly dyed yarn on the table, maybe I’ll be able to prevent future yarn tragedies!) I guess I’ll just have to go pick up more of that Jamieson & Smith yarn…what a shame.

I also picked up some Dale of Norway yarns, in black and white, for a secret gift project. I’m working on it now (and loving it!), but I’m afraid I won’t be able to give too many details until it’s gifted. It’s my first major project with stranded colorwork, and it’s quite interesting so far. It requires a lot of brain power to manipulate my left hand into holding one of the colors continental style, but I seem to be getting better at it. If anyone has any tips or tricks for stranded knitting, I’d love to hear them!

Then I spotted this fun swag at the checkout counter…“where my stitches at?” I’m not sure who got the buttons and dropped them off at Village Wools (Scout?), but I was sure happy to score one. Ravelry is an awesome site, and now I have a cool button to show it off!

You know what’s even cooler? Casey quit his day job so that he could work on Ravelry full time, because he and Jess feel that strongly about building an awesome site for us fiber lovers. That also means that development speed will pick up, so those of you still on the waiting list, don’t despair, because I promise they’re getting close!

Finally, in bike commuting news, my goal is to ride all 5 days this week, and so far I’m meeting that, having ridden today and yesterday. I’m getting lots more confident and really enjoying myself, so I’m determined to keep at it. The shrinking gas bill is definitely good motivation. Wish me luck on the last 3 days!

Well I successfully survived my first day of bike commuting, and I must say, it was an absolute blast! I rode the route on Saturday, to get a feel for the roads, and then yesterday was my first real ride. I packed up everything on Sunday night, got up early on Monday and rode in to work. It only took me about 35 minutes, compared to 15 minutes when I drive. That also doesn’t take into account that most parking at my job is a 10 minute walk from the buildings, so it really takes 25 minutes to actually get into the office. On a bike, I can ride directly up to my building, so that’s a big perk.

The weather was super nice yesterday too, it was nice and cool in the morning, and there was some afternoon rain, so it was overcast and cool when I went home. It sprinkled a bit on the ride back, but it was the perfect amount to cool me off without getting soaked. All in all, I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to making it a daily practice. Especially since I went both Saturday and yesterday, and am hardly sore at all. I thought it might take a few weeks before I would be able to ride continuous days, but I could have totally gone today if I didn’t have to do some errands across town right after work.

Wait, I take that back, I am a bit tender in one place…my butt! (Haha, I said butt! Sorry Mom!) It’s getting a bit better, but after Saturday’s ride, I could barely sit down! I almost went and bought one of those little pillows for people who break their tailbone! I am assured that this is normal, and it will pass, but I’m not so sure it’s completely normal for such a cushy body part to complain so vehemently. I guess a bike seat just has the magical power of being able to transfer shock waves all the way into your skeletal system, despite all the natural padding.

At any rate, the first day went well, and I’m going to make it my goal to ride to work for the rest of the week. I think biking may be the only way to save the yarn budget from rising gas costs, so I’m super determined! :)

I also managed to finish my Zeebee this weekend! I love this hat, and I find myself wishing it would get colder, just so I could wear it! (Haha, just kidding! Don’t listen to me Weather!)

Pattern: Zeebee by Schmeebot
Yarn: Yarn Pirate’s Handspun (thanks again Georgia!) BFL, in the Buccaneer colorway. About 104 yards (3.2 oz)
Needles / Gauge: US #10 → 4 spi and 8 rpi
Knitting Time: One week (June 2 - June 9)
Notes: My head is 22.5 inches around and 18 inches from ear to ear. I wanted to make my hat as close to 19 inches around and 9 inches long as I could, while not running out of yarn.

Planned Dimensions:
→ 19 inches * 8 rpi = 152 rows / 8 sections = 18 rows / section
→ 9 inches * 4 spi = 36 stitches.

My plan was to make sure that each 1/8 of the hat weighed 0.4 oz, which would let me use all 3.2 oz of the handspun. When I knit one section using the dimensions above, it weighed 0.5 oz, so I knew I had to make it smaller. I tried again using 32 stitches and 16 rows of short rows, which was exactly 0.4 oz.

Final Dimensions
→ 32 stitches and 16 rows of short rows for each 1/8 of the hat. You work 16 rows of SR decreases, followed by 16 rows of SR increases, and repeat 4 times, then seam up.

I only had about 5 yards of yarn left, so my careful planning paid off (when does it not? ;))

I really love the Zeebee pattern, and the hand-spun only made it better. I highly recommend this knit, so check it out! I even loved it enough to brave the scorching desert heat at 1 pm, just for blog pictures. Daisy even came outside with me, and watched from her little spot of shade as I fiddled with the camera. I think it’s funny that I’m standing in the sun with a wool beanie, and she’s laying in the shade. Maybe dogs are smarter than people after all. ;)