Thursday, December 08, 2005

Questions & Answers

Thank you all so much for your kindness and your encouraging words this week. It has been a long week and it means so much to know that there are people out there thinking of me and praying for me. Thank you, thank you!!!

The last few days have been slow on the knitting front. I am still working on that hat I started on Monday but other than that, no knitting. (This hat kick is strange, considering a. I live in a place where it is seldom cold enough for a hat and b. I personally do not ever wear hats. . .) So now I need some input on this hat. I am making this hat free hand. No pattern. A friend of mind described something she wanted in a hat and I am trying to make that. It is a basic K3, P2 rib, knit in the round. This is fine for the body of the hat (and it is actually working up nicely and very cozy in that
Rowan Calmer I bought over Thanksgiving weekend) but when the time comes to decrease, how should I do the decreases? (Yes, I realize I probably should have figured this out before I cast on but alas, I did not. . . .) My thought is that when it comes time to start the decreases, I will:

1. *K2tog, K1, P2* repeat to then end of the round
2. *K2, P2* a round
3. *K2, P2tog a round
4. *K2, P1* a round
5. *K2tog, P1* a round
6. *K1, P1* a round
7. *K2tog* a round
8. *K* a round
Repeat rounds 7 and 8 until there are only a few stitches and then, you know, pull the tail through a bind off....a la a normal hat.

So does that make sense? Has anybody done a hat similar to this? Do you have any thoughts? I'd appreciate some input.

Super Secret Knitting (Related) Project

Some of you may remember my
super secret knitting (related) project from back before Thanksgiving. They have all arrived at their new homes now so I thought I'd show them to you. I was happily surprised at how the idea came together.

I had:

-some nice lengths of scrap yarns that are too long to just toss and too short to really do anything with
-some dowel rods
-some styrofoam balls
-some large beads and notions
-some friends I wanted to send some nifty little treasures to

So these were born:
















Yarn ball & homemade needles Christmas tree ornaments. Ann temporarily decorated her ficus with hers. I haven't seen pictures of the others in their 2 new homes but I know they made it there. Somehow, I neglected to make some for myself but I still plan to. You could make these pretty much any size your heart desires. I happened to have some golf ball sized styrofoam balls so I used those for bases and ended up with yarn balls about tennis ball sized, maybe a little smaller. The "needles" for those who care, ended up about a size 4 or 5.

And because I am a sucker for the photographic evidence, I'll leave you with a few more pictures.












8 comments:

Tara said...

Those ornaments are too cute!!

Steph said...

Hey! Bloglines didn't tell me about this post!! Grrr....

ryc: thanks!!! upstate ny. shhhhhhhh. Paul is from the area originally and has a LOT of family and friends there, and they are really great. Our agent is his college roommate's dad and has really gone above and beyond for us already. We're looking for lenders, and have a friend who works at a credit union, but I don't know where else to look yet. Also, must find a house. Ack.

Anonymous said...

Hey!! Mine are hanging up at home, I will send you a pic tomorrow :)

I love them! Seriously, those adorable ornaments are the only Christmas cheer I have in my house, and I love them more than I can explain!

The hat:
Well. I haven't tried this one. My suggestion, though, would be to follow some sort of decrease scheme that allows you to decrease in pattern. In other words, knit two together on knit stitches and purl 2tog on purl stitches.

What do you think?

Anonymous said...

Oh, ok, here's a pattern online for a ribbed hat done in the round:
http://frugalknit12330.goeserv.com/homepage/ribbed.htm
But I can't tell if that's what she does...?

Steph said...

re: hat, I plead dumb. and tired.

ryc: I don't know, until I find a house I guess. I'll be home before Christmas. SC home. That gets confusing depending on who I talk to.

Steph said...

by the way, I keep forgetting to mention what a genius you are with those ornaments. genius. And when i get my christmas tree, i will make them gosh darn it!

Steph said...

ryc: I think Rhett might actually be working at work. Don't worry, it won't last. I don't know about the housewife thing. People (everyone) expect me to work, but they (his family) also expect me to do housewifey things. Like cook tomato sauce for 12 hours. The ultimate female conumdrum. However that is spelled.

Anonymous said...

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!! How creative! These ornaments are just beautiful - lucky Secret Pal ;-)

First time visiting your blog - it's great.