Finished object files: Dragon Aviatrix | Cleckheaton Superfine Merino

He's so chuffed with his dragon hat that he's proudly telling people his mum made it for him.

For my big boy's birthday this year I knit him a dragon hat. He is a big fan of the 'How to train your dragon' movie and has been asking me for a 'Toothless' costume and I'm not quite ready to try my hand at sewing a dragon costume yet so I stuck to what I know best, knitting. 

To make this hat I knit a large child sized 'Aviatrix' hat and then knit a set of spikes that I then whip stitched onto the hat. If you read my 'top 5 baby hats' post earlier in the week you will have read my thoughts on the pattern. I chose this over other dinosaur/ dragon hat patterns that are on Ravelry because I love the earflaps and the shaping of this hat. I also thought that the hat's design of stockinette stitch sections bordered by a row of garter would be perfect sections for each of the spikes. To knit the spikes I took the stitch pattern the 'the ninja herself' blog and before I stitched the them onto the hat I stuffed my yarn tails into the triangles to puff them up a bit.

The hat is knit in black because that is the young sir's favourite colour and I suspect he likes it because with his colour blindness, black is the one colour that he feels confident he sees it correctly. But, if I was going to knit something in such a boring colour I decided to choose something nice to knit with, so I picked Cleckheaton's new Australian Superfine Merino. This is a seriously soft and bouncy yarn and it is so good to see Australian farmers producing such a magnificent fiber. I used up 1 whole ball for the hat so I knit the spikes with some black acrylic. The difference between the textures is quite obvious but since the spikes were not going to be worn against the skin anyway I decided to go with it.

Just need to add this mask and the costume will be perfect. Image source: MyBFC

I know that the hat doesn't really look anything like 'Toothless' from the film but I found this really cute mask on Etsy and if Sir S wears the mask with the hat together I think it will give a pretty accurate picture.

With the completion of this project, I have crossed off all the items from my Feb/Mar make list. However, I'm not going to get cracking into my April projects just yet because I want to take some time to work on a 'me' project. I realise that I've been knitting gifts since I started last year's Christmas knitting and that the last thing I knitted for myself was my Mara shawl. So, I've cast on a Moto Vest for the March Woolful KAL (knitalong). I'll write more about this later but suffice to say this little bit of 'me' knitting is quite soothing for the soul.

Do you too find that you knit more gifts than projects for yourself? How do you achieve a balance between gifts and 'me' projects?

Happy with High Water

A perfect fit for Sir S

I finished the High Water pullover for Sir S recently but had to wait for some cooler weather before I could convince him to try it on for some shots. Today's not too hot and I resorted to the ol' bribery, "I'll give you a whole Zooper Dooper if try this on and let Mummy take some photos.".

I always love photographing this little guy's facial expressions

One of the joys of this pattern was that the use of worsted weight yarn plus lots of stockinette stitch made it a very quick knit. The last pullover I knit for S took me about 7 months to complete because it was using fingering weight yarn and Miss L was born in the midst of it.

Other than the concerns that I have with the choice of green stripes because of S's colour blindness I did blunder up the right sleeve. When I got down to the rib cuff I realised that I was one stitch short and I have no idea how that happened; the most likely possibility is that I picked up one less stitch under the arm when I was starting the sleeve. Hence why I subtitled this blog, "the (mis)adventures of...", I always manage to make some little mistake in all my knits.

Of course he chose black buttons because it's a colour he is definitely able to see

Regardless of the missing stitch the jumper fits very well on my skinny mini and I am certain that it will last him this coming winter season.

This was the first time working with the Cascade 220 worsted yarn for me. It has really great stitch definition and a lovely springiness that holds the structure of the garment well. But, I was a little disappointed that it was not as soft to touch as I had hoped it would be. However, I read the comments on Ravelry and there are claims for other users that it softens with washing. Sir S has commented that it feels scratchy against his skin but I'm hoping that he will be able to wear a long sleeve baselayer in the winter with it to buffer his skin from the wool.

I made a MOD with the sleeve cuff because Sir S requested "sleeves like mittens". I knit in some thumb holes and made the whole cuff 10cm long (2cm more than the pattern suggestion). If I make thumb holes again I will try a different technique because I think my bind off, knit two rows and then cast back on method is a bit sloppy. Next time I will do it like a buttonhole with a K2tog then a yarn over in the next row.

roaring fun thumb holes

Overall, I love the stripes and the boat neck collar. I used exactly 2 skeins of the Cascade and just under 10g - approx. 14m according to Ravelry calculations - of the Spud & Chloe for the stripes. It felt good to stash bust some of this yarn that I had purchased so long ago.

I love the classic and simple stripes design

I look forward to the winter and taking some more photos of Sir S wearing this jumper while in action.

"I like what I made, but do you?"

I've been pondering this last couple of days about my choices when making for others. I wonder if the things that I have gifted have actually been to the taste of the recipient or other factors such as is it suitable for the climate that my friend lives in. I am asking myself have I made a good colour choice? Do they even wear cowls? Isn't Texas too warm for a woolly beanie?

A lot of this questioning has arisen as I near the end of finishing the High water jumper for Sir S. I knit the stripes on this jumper with a beautiful grass green yarn but I am doubting my colour choice a bit now because we have suspicions that the dear boy is actually colour blind - particularly a reduced sensitivity to green.

I couldn't resist buying this beautifully soft yarn in a lovely vibrant green

We have suspected that Sir S is colour blind for about a year but I had bought this delicious green yarn long before this realisation and I had always intended the yarn for the stripes on this jumper. Now that I have finally started knitting it I wanted to avoid buying more yarn but unfortunately I don't have any thing else that is suitable for this pattern. 

 The stripes are so simple but such a classic touch 

I like the green stripes and I know that S will still wear the jumper regardless because he is excited that I made him something.  

Did a fit test today and the sizing is looking perfect

But, is it okay to just make what I like when I'm making for someone else? I'd like to hear some thoughts on this, so please comment.

High Water for Sir S

Today I'm just quickly sharing my current WIP (work in progress). Just before the end of 2014 I cast on a jumper for my boy who asked for one while he was watching me frantically try to complete all my Christmas knitting. I haven't knit much for him due to the fact that he is a typically grubby little boy and I don't want my precious woollies being covered in dirt and sand. But my heart melted when has asked me to knit him something.

The pattern is High Water designed by Veera Valimaki and I'm knitting with Silver Grey Cascade 220 worsted for main colour and some green Spud & Chloe Sweater for the stripes. I queued this pattern at least a year and a half ago and I'm excited to be finally taking it on. I also stashed this yarn a long time ago as well and I'm pleased to be doing some stash busting by finally using it for a project.

swatch and initial cast on

It's been a pleasure to knit so far. The joining of the front and back collar stumped me a little initially but if you knit it exactly as instructed it turns out perfectly. I've just separated the sleeves and the body and I'm happy to be taking this project with me as my travel knit while we spend a family holiday in Sydney this week. Since the body is just stockinette I hope it'll be fast knit. At the moment it's looking pretty plain in just the grey. I can't wait to add in the scrumptious Spud & Chloe.

If you want, you can check out my Ravelry notes here.