Hat-a-week: Hat #6

This hat is warm and fuzzy, perfect for walking in newly fallen snow. I woke up this morning and saw we had gotten a couple inches overnight. I'm one of those rare adults who still gets excited over snow, so it was a great way to start my weekend. Especially since Chicago has been awfully light on snow the whole winter so far.

I had a busy week this week, so this hat is a quickie. The pattern is from a knitting Page-A-Day calendar I had several years ago designed by Pine Tree Yarns (the link will take you to the Ravelry page for the design but the actual pattern is no longer available). I used the bulky weight instructions, along with Knit One, Crochet Too Fleece yarn. The bottom was done in garter stitch with a solid yarn and the rest was done with a variegated yarn (which appears to be a discontinued color). This was a yarn I'd had sitting around for a while and I had been waiting for a chance to use it. I love polar fleece, and the resulting hat definitely feels like the fabric.

Warm, fuzzy, and slightly oversized. I have enough yarn left for another project. I may make some mittens to go with the hat (although I do think wool is the best mitten fiber).

The first month of hats have all been ski caps. The next batch is going to be hats with earflaps!

Hat-a-week, day 19

My third hat is complete! Mario's actual hat is more of a baseball cap, but my brother requested a ski cap with the Mario "M," so that's what I made. I rather like it.

I sewed up the back and worked in the loose ends last night. I went with a fairly tight gauge--about 5 stitches per inch--so it would be extra-thick and warm.

What is gauge?
I'm glad you asked! The gauge of any knit or crocheted item can be measured by counted the number of stitches in one inch across. Seriously, you can calculate the gauge on that sweater you bought at the Gap. You probably have no need to, unless you want to make one just like it, but you could.

The type of gauge needed for a project depends on two things: thickness of the yarn and how loose or tight you want the finished item to be. This hat is made from worsted-weight yarn, which is the most versatile yarn weight. You can really use almost any needle size, depending on the look and feel you want for your project. For something you want to be very tight, like mittens, the needles will be very thin (size 2 or 3) and the resulting mitten will be sturdy enough to keep your hands warm in the coldest weather. Hats and sweaters are worked on medium-sized needles (size 6-8) for an item that is sturdy but still has enough stretch to fit over your head. Items like afghans can be worked on needles that are even larger (size 10-11), although those patterns will probably incorporate something like slipped stitches to keep the gauge from getting too loose.

For this hat, I used size 6 needles. This meant that I needed more stitches in each row, so the hat took a little longer to make. It also means that the logo in the middle is smaller than it would have been with a looser gauge. Incidentally, if you want to figure out how big a design will be, it is a simple matter of dividing the number of stitches in your design by the number of stitches per inch.

For example, my Mario design is 14 stitches across at the widest point. 14/5=almost 3 inches. Most hats are worked on slightly larger needles for the yarn I used (size 7 or 8) for a gauge of about 4 stitches per inch. 14/4=3.5 inches.

As your reward for slogging through all the knitter's lingo and math talk, here is a Styrofoam head wearing the Mario hat!

Yes, I just happened to have a Styrofoam head in my apartment. It belongs to my hubby, who got it with his Emperor Palpatine mask. Incidentally, those white streaks you see on the hat came from the baby powder that he puts on the mask to keep it from cracking. Whoops. Good thing my hat is washable.

Hat-a-week, day 15

I have not had much time for knitting, and even less time for blogging, so here is a quick update on my latest project. I spent Saturday afternoon sorting through my stash; after only two hats I realized I could make a hat every week for a decade and still have too much yarn. So I went through my various sources of yarn and filled a bag of remnants and yarn I know I'll never use (lightweight yarn for baby sweaters, anyone?) to donate. I found an unholy snarl of yarn at the bottom of the chest that I ended up just tossing, along with a couple half-started projects full of dropped stitches because I pulled out the needles to use on another project. The chest of yarn now looks like this:

Some of the yarns I sorted into bags, like wool for felting and red, orange, and yellow yarn that I want set aside for a hat I have in mind...stay tuned!

I also started work on my brother's birthday gift. He requested a ski cap with the Mario logo. I decided the easiest way to knit it onto a hat was to start with a picture of the logo and transfer it to knitter's graph paper (which is different from regular square graph paper, since knit stitches are wider than they are tall). Here's the  logo pattern:

The main yarn I'm using is KnitPicks Swish Worsted, which is a superwash merino wool. I had a couple balls left over from a sweater I made my mom a couple Christmases ago. The white is the Hobby Lobby brand acrylic, which is also nice and soft. I worked the white circle using the intarsia method, which can only be done by going back and forth, so this is another hat I'll need to sew up the back when I'm done. For those interested, the M in the middle was done with Fair Isle. It could also be done in duplicate stitch after the hat is finished.

And here are some progress shots of the hat! 

Close-up of the logo:

I have until early next month to finish it up, so this hat will definitely be done on time!

Hat-A-Week: Day 1

I got a head start on my New Year's resolution yesterday and began my first hat for the 2013 Hat-A-Week challenge!

The yarn: I lost the label for this skein, so I don't know the brand. I do know it's black, worsted weight, and most likely acrylic. Unlike some knitters, I have nothing against acrylic yarn. I probably wouldn't use it for a sweater, but it works great for crafts and larger projects like afghans. I also like it for hats and scarves.

The pattern: Basic Cable from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, designed by Christine Quirion. My hat is slightly different from the picture below. This version, by Ravelry user starshaped, was worked up using a self-striping yarn, which I also love, but I wanted something in solid black to wear with my black Sunday coat.

via Flickr

The progress: The other change I made to the pattern was to work it back and forth, instead of in the round. For non-knitters, this means that when I am done knitting, the hat will be a long, mostly flat piece (except for the top) that I will sew down the back to create the finished hat. Knitting "in the round" means what you would think: the stitches connect to each other in a circle, forming a tube that you decrease at the top to create the top of the hat. Here is how the hat looks so far:

I'm glad the cables showed up in the photo.

I am using a circular needle, which is normally used for knitting in the round. Unfortunately, the cable (the part between the pointed ends) is too long for me to be able to work this hat in the round. I discovered, early on in my knitting adventures, that the length of the cable is just as important as the needle size. The cable needs to be slightly smaller than the circumference of the round project, or the stitches get too stretched out to join in a circle. For a hat, this usually means a 16" cable. This cable is 24 inches, which would be great if I were making a hat for Big Bird. However, circular needles can also be used for knitting back and forth.

Yarn: A Non-Snob's Guide (Part 1)

As I type this, the first snow of the winter is falling in Chicago. This means that, without a doubt, knitting season has begun. (Avid yarn crafters will point out that knitting season never really ends, but those who don't like to knit or crochet when it's 95 will agree that it's time to start up again.)

I was talking with a fellow knitter over the weekend and the conversation turned to elitism. We agreed that the presence of "yarn snobs" can make a knitting group less welcoming. Yes, knitters can be elitist. I have noticed that many of my knitting books were written by yarn snobs. It is not hard to tell from reading the "Guide To Fiber" section, or something similarly titled. What follows is a non-snob's guide to different yarn fibers.

Acrylic
Basic info: Acrylic yarn is synthetic, as opposed to coming from an animal or plant. It has a (somewhat unfounded) reputation for being cheap and uncomfortable for that reason, but technology has advanced enough that today's acrylic yarn can actually be quite nice. Lion Brand has two that I really like: Wool-Ease is 80% acrylic and 20% wool; Vanna's Choice is nice and soft and comes in a wide variety of colors.
Pros: Acrylic yarn is inexpensive and very easy to come by; most of the yarn at craft and fabric stores is either acrylic or an acrylic blend. It is also machine-washable.
Cons: The really cheap stuff can be scratchy. Before you buy a skein, pick it up and feel it. Try and get your fingers inside. If the yarn feels uncomfortable in the skein, it will not be fun to work with, and the finished product will not feel much better. Walking around with a big skein of acrylic yarn is also the easiest way to draw the wrath of yarn snobs.
I use it for: Afghans; craft projects like stuffed animals; Christmas stockings.

Wool
Basic info: Wool is the most common of the animal-based fibers (and Captain Obvious would like to remind you that it comes from sheep). There are two basic flavors of wool yarn. The original will shrink when washed in the washing machine, which is exactly what you want for a felting project but not so good for a sweater that you have been working on for two months. Superwash wool has been treated to prevent shrinking; if you have a felting project this is the kind you do NOT want.
Pros: After acrylic, wool is the easiest fiber to find. It is soft and warm and will keep you dry even when it gets wet. It is wonderful to work with. Price-wise, it is less expensive than the other animal fibers.
Cons: Just be careful when you buy it and when you wash it. If it says "Superwash" on the label, it can be washed in the washer (though you might want to do it with your delicates). If it does not, wash it by hand and let it air-dry unless you want it to shrink. Super-soft wools, like merino, tend to "pill" (those little tiny balls of yarn that appear after it has been worn for a while).
I use it for: Mittens and hats. Wool is the only thing I will use for mittens, because of its near-miraculous waterproofing abilities. Seriously, if you have kids who like to play in the snow, they need wool mittens. I only wish I had known that growing up. Superwash wool is also excellent for winter socks and sweaters.

Cotton
Basic info: Cotton is the most common of the plant-based fibers. It can be hard to dye, so it usually comes in lighter colors than wool or acrylic.
Pros: Cotton is also easy to come by. It is pretty soft, especially if you think wool is itchy. It will not pill or shed like acrylic or any of the animal fibers. It is usually machine-washable, although the colors will fade after a while. It is the least expensive of the plant fibers. If you are worried about how "green" your yarn is, organic cotton is easy to come by.
Cons: Cotton gets heavy when wet. It can also be difficult to work with, because it does not have any stretch. If you make a mistake and need to rip out a few rows, the yarn will be more kinked than wool or acrylic would be. It is not very warm.
I use it for: Dishcloths and dish towels (one application where wool would be disastrous; you'd end up with fiber all over your dishes). It is also good for lightweight tops or a knitted swimsuit (no, I'm not kidding. There are patterns for it).

This post is becoming much longer than I thought it would be, so I shall finish there for today. Stay tuned for more; next time we will get into more exotic (and expensive) fibers. For the non-crafters, stay tuned for a post coming soon about the Chicago TARDIS convention.