2.12.2006

Knits. knits. etc...

Interesting week coming up! Monday night we'll be taking our collaborative Monday art night back to the Argonaut, and Thursday night will be a gocco play date with a friend! Its really amazing how much artwork you can get done when you set time aside and make it your only priority. Sean and I are thinking of making Thursdays a second 'art night' at our place to work on personal artwork.

Now, on to some recent cast-offs... The hat on the left was knit with Manos and was a Christmas present for my brother. He says its his best hat ever, so I'll be starting a second one for him pretty soon.


The purple swirly hat is not the same one I posted before. Notice in the detail how the thick/thin parts of the yarn happened to knit up together instead of randomly and how it created a spiral design all the way up. very fun. Its the same yarn from Asheville, NC (I've included details below in case you want to buy your own).

Speaking of Asheville, this coming weekend the Washington Glass School will be going on their annual glassblowing trip to the Penland School of Crafts. Have fun everyone! Maybe I'll join you again next year...


Back to knitting... Here we have another one of my umbilical cord hats paired with some booties. I bought the booties in Beirut (from Sarah's Bag) and wanted to make a hat to match using the blue sky cotton I already had. So, I knit some rowan kidsilk spray into the first few rounds, then again into the i-cord part of the hat. It gave it a fun and fuzzy feel, and made them a set! So much fun that I've already knit another hat, same color, but with some fuzzy green yarn instead. Here is some more eye candy: beads (mostly vintage, mostly glass) for my friend, the new mom:


Work in progress: Sean's first hat was a great hit, so I've started a 'lighter' version of it in black cashcotton knit on size 6 dpns, and I'm making up the pattern! Hey, I've made about 8 hats in the past 2 months, all based in some way on other patterns, so its about time I made my own one up, right?

I started a clapotis but have stopped work on it because I'm not entirely happy with the yarn, and I've heard the pattern takes way more yarn than it calls for. My decision to end seemed an even better idea when kitty#2 attacked one of the balls, split it into 7, and took it for a romp all over the house! Clapotis, twas fun while it lasted, dropping the stitches and all, but I'm gonna cast you aside and find a new scarf to work on. I'm thinking maybe the 'Daisy' scarf from the winter Rowan magazine. Hmmm...

Details promised above:
The purple/green yarn (similar to point 5 colinette but softer) 85% wool, 15% silk, from Mackey's Acres, mackeyacres@charter.com
The store where I bought it from was: Asheville NC Home Crafts in the Historic Grove Arcade, Tel: 828.350.7556.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

sooo cute and lovely!!

Mandy said...

I love what the thick and thin yarn did for that hat! That does it, I am definitely bringing my knitting on my next trip. I want to go through my current stash of yarn and finish any outstanding projects before I let myself invest in more. But we'll have to talk knitting one day!

Anonymous said...

best, best, best hat ever! and that picture doesn't do it justice either...

the next one will have to be the second best hat ever. the one i have now is so good, that i'm wearing it in Orlando today!

thanx!!

Anonymous said...

the hats are beautiful girl!!! you are a darn good knitter, for sure!!!!! and your color choices are to drool over!!!! you make some dandy hats, girl!!!! best wishes on your own pattern ;D

and OH MY GOODNESS... those beads?! beautiful beautiful beautiful (i use that too much, huh?!)... what are you gonna do with them?!

the second art date sounds wonderful too! we used to have studio mondays but they became a movie/game night (did i tell you that already?!)... but it DOES feel good to set aside time and make it priority... especially when the creativity is fully charged... not to mention, its a way of relaxing with your hubby and feeding off each others creativity... isn't it lovely to be with another artist?! (most times, at least)

Selena Kang said...

Those are the cutest hats ever, girl! I wish I could knit like you, but I've kicked the needles to the curb and decided I'm a hooker (crochet) all the way!

rania said...

thanks, alina!

mandy, sounds great! with all your travelling you'll have plenty of time to knit!

ram.z, you're right, your hat is a lot more brown that it looks in the picture. glad that you're getting to wear it in Orlando! will get started on your 'second best hat ever' hat soon!

ellia, thanks for all the good wishes! The beads were actually a present for a friend who does great beadwork, but I'm very tempted to go back and buy some for me! As for the Thursday night thing...should be fun! We'll see how long we can keep it going...

thanks, skang! what? no more harry potter scarf?

Anonymous said...

Every time I see one of those umbilical cord hats (yours is particularly cute) I want to upsize it and make one for myself. (Yes, even if I'd look like a dork in it.)

rania said...

I'm very tempted to knit an umbilical cord detail into Sean's black hat, but I don't think he'd like that. I've already asked him!

The umbilical cord ending is the best part of the hat by far! I do have dreams of one day making a hat with more than one curly cord coming out of the top of it. But then I'd have to come up with another name for it.