Finished object file: Crag hat | Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

School is back and I'm going to aim to get back into the swing of things. I must confess that I do find the balance between blogging about knitting and actually knitting hard. When on the kinder days I only get a couple of hours completely kid free during Miss L's nap I often choose to knit rather than blog because I have so much knitting I want to get through. However, since I keep starting new projects I don't think that status is going to change any time soon, so today I'm going to keep the needles aside and update the blogosphere about one of my latest finished objects.

After asking my friends and readers to help me choose between the Bartek and Crag hat patterns to make for my husband as an anniversary present (you can read about that here) I went with popular opinion and knit the Crag.

I wanted to use up the charcoal Debbie Bliss Cashmerino from my stash but after making two swatches with the aran (heavy 10ply) weight yarn I was starting to lack confidence in my choice. Using 4mm needles for the main pattern was still slightly off gauge but I didn't want to go any smaller because my hands were finding it uncomfortable knitting such heavy yarn on small needles. I kind of fudged it because I rationalised that if I kept my tension tighter for the actual knit and because the Hubs does have a bit of a big head I think I can get away with it in the end.

For the actual knit I started on 3.25mm needles for the ribbing and used a crochet cast on that my dear friend Jenny (Tatterz on Ravelry) taught me. I was leaving this present to the last minute so I decided to skip the tubular cast on because I just wanted to get onto it rather than fiddle with a third needle size and learning a new technique. 

Once I got going into the main body of the hat it was pretty easy to memorise the pattern and it would have been a really enjoyable knit if it didn't hurt my hands. I found I could only do about one set of the pattern repeat before I needed to rest my hands. 

In the end I didn't finish it in time for our anniversary but I did have it done for our time away in Marysville. The Hubs wore it when we went up Lake Mountain to take the kids tobogganing and he said it was perfectly snug and at times he had to take it off because it made him too hot. All credit for that goes to the beautiful cashmere and merino blend of the yarn. You can't go past good fibre when you want warmth.

My latest lesson that I have learnt after knitting this Brooklyn Tweed design and also the Rosebud hat is that I should substitute with either a light worsted or even a DK weight yarn rather than use aran. I have never used Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter yarn for which both these hats were designed for and I hope one day to get the chance to use it but for the time being I am definitely going to select more carefully when substituting for future BT projects.

What to knit Wednesday: Help me decide.

I'm going to try to stash bust the left overs of this Debbie Bliss Cashmerino for this project.

Today I am literally asking 'What to knit?' as I need help deciding what I should knit for M. At the end of the month we are celebrating our 8 year wedding anniversary and I want to make him something.

I did a bit of stash diving and found about 140 metres of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Charcoal which I could turn into a hat. I've done some Ravelry trawling and I have two patterns in mind. 

Image source: Brooklyn Tweed/ Jared Flood

1. Crag by Jared Flood.

This lovely hat was part of the latest BT Men Volume 2 release and I was immediately drawn to it. I am wanting to do some more cable knitting and the all over cable pattern on this hat looks striking yet easy enough to memorise and repeat all through the hat. I also like the name Crag because it connects to our love of rock climbing.

I would absolutely love to try making this in the Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn that is suggested but to my knowledge this yarn is not available through any Australian stockist yet. As much as I love trying new yarns I still prefer to buy from Aussie stockists and support their venture.

I think the Cashmerino Aran would be ok with this pattern. I will have to swatch it properly and make sure I get gauge before I go ahead with the project.

Image source: Woolibear/ Jesska Hoff

2. Bartek by Jesska Hoff.

The second pattern I think could go well with the yarn is this Bartek hat. I like the main large cable twist surrounded by a set of smaller cable bands. I also like how it has a bit of a slouch to the hat and if I do make this it will be different to the hats M already has.

The suggested yarn is an Aran weight so I think substituting with the Cashmerino will be ideal. However, the designer, Jesska has noted in the pattern that she is a tight knitter so I will need to carefully gauge swatch this to double check which needles I will need to use to match gauge with her.

Take a look at both patterns and help me decide which one I should attempt. Or I'm welcome to other suggestions. If you've made a fabulous hat for the man in your life that was a winner share your project.

Yin yang Rye socks - a knitting misadventure

Last year my dad fell from a ladder and he fractured his pelvis quite badly. While spending 7 weeks in hospital rehabilitating after having multiple pins placed into his pelvis to help stabilise the injury, he regularly complained of having cold feet. I decided that a dutiful daughter ought to lovingly knit some cozy socks for their dad.

Having never knit socks before I thought it best to go with the basic boy socks pattern from 'Purls of Wisdom'. I bought some lovely Naturally Waikiwi from the Sunspun spring sale and the aim was to have the pair of socks done by Ba's birthday in September. However, a few factors were unfortunately working against me. 1) I was in the middle of a couple of other projects 2) sock yarn is such a fine yarn that for a slow knitter like me a small sock project sti.ll takes forever and 3) life was just going through one of those particularly busy patches and knitting was not getting fit in as much as I had liked.

Well by the time Ba's birthday arrived I was only about 3/4 the way through one sock, so the plan became to give him socks for Christmas instead. About 5 days till Christmas I reassessed the sock project and decided on knitting some Rye socks by tincanknits that called for some worsted-aran weight yarn. I was also going to do some stash busting by using up the leftover Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that I had used for my BIL's Windschief beanie and some leftover random green coloured yarn that I had used for knitting mug cozies for the kinder teachers and SILs.

When we all sat down for Christmas lunch on Boxing Day I sadly only had one completed sock to give to my dad. So, these socks made it onto my January make list and as celebrated in my 'Small victories' post I finished them. However, as this is a misadventure I sadly ran out of yarn and had the small hitch of being unable to find the same yarn. I had bought the green yarn while on holiday in Torquay a couple of years ago from a little shop that sold handmade things. They had a lovely range of handmade knits, quilts, cards, etc., as well as a small range of hand dyed yarns. There was very little information available about the yarn and when I ran out I had little hope of getting more. I had enough green for the body of 1 sock so I ended up knitting the pair in contrasting colours, yin yang style.

So, that's how I ended up knitting yin yang socks for my dad, but at least I finally finished my first pair of socks.

Babies need bonnets

My favourite thing to knit for new babies is a bonnet. I just finished one for our friends in Sydney who are expecting their first. 

For little girls my go to pattern is Melissa LaBarre's Crooked Little Baby Bonnet. The pattern is designed for worsted weight yarn to fit at 6-18 month but it also gives a suggested conversion for newborn babies. Melissa suggests by using sport weight yarn and using 3.75mm needles a bonnet sized 0-4 months can be achieved.

The first time I knit this I used some left over Quince & Co. Chickadee in Frost that I bought from my favourite online yarn store, yarn haus. Knit on the suggested 3.75mm needles the bonnet knit up into a tiny little slip of a thing. Though very cute I thought it would really only fit a small baby for a very short amount of time - because we all know how quickly those little bubs grow.

A tiny little bonnet knit in a 100% wool Quince & Co. yarn knit on 3.75mm needles

Since that first knit up I have made it twice and have upped the needles to 4mm for the bonnet and 3.25mm for the i-cord straps. I personally like the slightly larger fit that results from the larger needles.

Side by side the size difference is more discernible

I have also tried it with different yarns because now that we have moved into the Australia summer gifting a woolen bonnet is a little silly in my honest opinion. So, I've tried this pattern in two beautiful yarns that I purchased from my LYS, Sunspun in Canterbury. Debbie Bliss ecobaby cotton as well as some left over Skein Merino Silk Sport (a 50/50 merino silk composition that is just so luscious to touch).

Beautiful colourways and soft squishy yarn make Skein one of my favourite yarns to knit with

The cotton is ideal for the warmer temperatures but I didn't like the lack of springiness that cotton yarn is subject to. The bonnet is soft to touch and drapes nicely but I'd prefer it to hold shape a bit better since it is a hat after all.

This little cotton bonnet was ideal for a little December bub

The third time I knit it with the Skein Merino Silk Sport hoping that the springiness of the merino would help the hat hold it's shape. Now, after I have blocked it, my conclusion is that it worked really well in this yarn. There is a delicious softness that will make it lovely to wear against the skin and just enough spring to keep the shape of a hat. 

bonnet love

Just by knitting this pattern multiple times I have played around with sizing and yarn composition. This has given me the opportunity to learn more about matching the right yarn to my projects and how to make things bigger or smaller.

This pattern has really proven to be "third time the charm" and I have really enjoyed the experimenting and learning process that I have undergone each time I knit it.

The perfect little knit for a precious little baby girl

And the next time there is a boy baby to knit for I'll showcase my go to baby boy beanie pattern.