Monday, January 7, 2019

Knitty Gifts 2018

Once again, it's time for show and tell with the knitted items I made for Christmas gifts.  As always, I'm inspired by beautiful, hand-dyed yarn and that leads the way in choosing designs that will highlight the yarn.  First up, Dad hats.

I try to give my projects fun names; hence, I present to you Don't Be a Square, Daddio:
Official pattern name is Turn a Square, but I like mine better.  I've knitted this pattern a couple times already - I really like how the decreases at the top form such a nice neat square.  Dark blue yarn is Malabrigo Rios, colorway Azul Prodfundo; light blue yarn is Madelinetosh DK twist, colorway Patagonia.  I like how it came out except for how I sometimes twisted/carried the yarn as I changed colors - I wasn't always consistent with how I did it, and that's something I need to work on in the future.
Jeff kept making me laugh as he was taking the pictures.  I made this hat a little deeper than the original pattern because I wanted my dad to be able to fully cover his ears if he needed to.  He can also fold up the brim if he wants to wear it shorter.

My second Dad hat is named Seahawkish:
The colors loosely reminded me of the Seattle Seahawks football team, and I know my dad follows them as he lives in that neck of the country.  Main yarn is Madelinetosh DK twist, colorway Heart of Darkness, blue stripe is Malabrigo Rios, colorway Azul Profundo.
This hat is a mix of patterns - I used the folded technique from the Wurm pattern for the brim, making it double layered.  I really love how this comes out and will probably incorporate it into more hats in the future - it sort of looks like you've done 1x1 ribbing, but it's all stockinette (and I know that is all Greek to you non-knitters, LOL).  The stripe came from seeing it on the Game Day Beanie pattern.  The rest of the hat came from the Beanie Recipe pattern, which gives all the math you need for decreases based on the number of stitches you cast on to begin with.

Now onto Mom gifts - she got socks as well as hats!

These will look familiar to you - Mini Jelly Belly socks:
After I knitted myself a pair of socks using this yarn, I realized that I had enough leftover to make my Mom a pair, as long as I used a different yarn for the toes, heels, and cuffs.  Voila - Mini Jelly Belly!  Now that I know that I can get two pairs of socks from one skein of this yarn, I'll make sure to do both pairs with contrasting yarn for the toes, heels, and cuffs - that way the second pair should be as tall as the first (these are about 1.5 inches shorter than the first pair).  Yarn is Must Stash, colorway is Jelly Belly, pattern is my own tried-and-true toe-up sock, using the Fish Lips Kiss heel.

Next, it's Taste the Rainbow - Hat:
I was intrigued by this yarn because it's called Mindless Knits, meaning you can just cast on and knit away without having to count rows or change colors, as the yarn was dyed specifically for either a hat or a cowl.  I've seen self-striping yarn like this many times in sock yarn, but not in a heavier weight.  The pattern is Mindless Hat & Cowl, yarn is Mindless Knits DK, colorway is Jillian.  This was a fun hat to knit, super easy, and I loved the bright rainbow stripes.
I finished this hat in three evenings of knitting - it's rare that I complete a project so quickly.

To go with the hat, I also bought the matching sock yarn - here's Taste the Rainbow - Socks:
Yarn is Mindless Knit Sock, colorway Jillian, with a basic cuff-down pattern that incorporated the Fish Lips Kiss heel.

The socks, on the other hand, took forever for me to knit.  Well, it felt like forever.  This yarn is dyed to be knit from the cuff down, which is something I don't normally do.  So I had issues with getting it cast on loose enough (I do a loose bind-off on the cuff when I knit toe-up socks, but a loose cast-on flummoxed me).  Once I finally got them going, it was simple enough to knit the purple in 2x2 ribbing and then change to stockinette for the legs, knowing that when I reached the next batch of purple, it would be time to knit the heel.  But as you can see, these stripes are much wider than the stripes on the coordinating hat, and I got antsy waiting for the next color to appear.  I think they should have been narrower - like the hat - and in looking at all of the self-striping yarn I've made socks with, none have stripes this wide.  Still, they came out cute, even though I was kind of bored while knitting them. 
These made for a bright, happy gift - and of course I had to wrap up a bag of Skittles with this Taste the Rainbow set!

Last up is Painted Patagonia:
Pattern is Painted Ridges, yarn is Madelinetosh DK twist, colorway is Patagonia.  I loved this pattern and would absolutely make it again - it was well-written, the eyelets made it feminine, and turned out really pretty. 
This is the same yarn that I used for the stripes in my Don't Be a Square, Daddio hat.  It's got a bit of a Harry Potter scar vibe happening on one side thanks to how it knitted up.  Hand-dyed yarn can do some interesting pooling of colors depending on how many stitches are cast on. 
I really liked how the decreases formed soft folds - almost a pleated look.  Dang, in looking at these pictures, I'm itching to dig through my yarn stash and make another one!

That's a wrap on Christmas gifts for 2018 - next week I'll have a wrap up of all my knitted projects for last year.  As you might guess, it's mostly socks and hats!

18 comments:

  1. It's funny to me how you decided a few years ago to try knitting - if I remember correctly it was when you hurt your ankle or had some other running injury - and now you're turning out world-class items. The people who receive your beautiful knitting work are very lucky!

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    1. I'm so glad Debby was able to teach me how to knit - I really enjoy it plus there are so many different techniques and items that I haven't even tried that this hobby can go on indefinitely for me!

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  2. Such beautiful items! I love the fun names of the yarn ( and the projects)!

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  3. Everytime I see your knitting, it makes me want to knit! Then I come back to reality and realize that will never happen. Beautiful work as always.

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    1. LOL, but I get it...I feel that way about painting.

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  4. That last hat with the eyelets is so pretty! I also like the square finish on the first hat, and love your name for it. All of the projects are so pretty, but those two are my favorites! Can hardly wait to see your review of all your 2018 projects!!

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    1. Thanks! I agree, the eyelet hat is very pretty. :)

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  5. Your knitting is so pretty. Love those rainbow socks!

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  6. You have such an amazing talent! One day, I'm going to learn to do this. All items are beautiful, but I like Seahawkish the best. Such pretty colors.

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  7. LOVE love love love your hats...and socks! I'm still on the same hat (almost finished - it is lined so double) and still only have one sock done in the pair. I want to learn toe down and to have different color for heels and toe.

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    1. Ooh, a double-lined hat! I've only done a double brim because an entire hat seems hard. I do like having the toes and heels a different color; I have to be careful to weave in the ends really well because I'm paranoid that the heel will detach. Never happened, but my brain says IT MIGHT. ;)

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    2. You do a provisional cast on and knit the hat, then add the stitches and re-knit the same hat. Easy peasy.

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  8. Everything turned out so beautifully! I love the details on the hats, especially how they come together on the top. Your parents are going to get lots of compliments on them!

    Bravo on trying a new sock technique! I would be getting antsy to see the next color too. And if the wearer's feet/ankles are like mine, they will stretch those thick color bands out in to shorter ones ;)

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad you appreciate the decreases on the hats - I will look at that part of a pattern when I'm considering making it just to see if the tops are cute!

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  9. It's so amazing to me that you can take a rainbow yarn and have it match up exactly with the stripes and the heels and stuff. Not being a knitter, it just seems like magic to me :D

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