Ten days ago I began a requested Christmas stocking for my SIL. Started out fine – as you can see from the previous post. Disaster hit soon after – yarns tangled, knots, and total frustration as dropped stitches occurred and, and, and…I took it off the needles to ravel and begin again. More knots, more disaster, and my angry solution was a pair of scissors and the trash.
Total stop.
A break.
Begin again.
I returned to the pattern once again, cast on my stitches and began. This was couple of days ago. Things are proceeding in a more orderly and much more happy manner. I’ve continued to change things around as far as color and patterns to a degree, but am happy with the results. Sitting in the afternoon sun, coffee and audiobook for breaks, make for a pleasant and non-stressful knitting time.
Years ago I made a fish hat for my husband. It’s in the shape of a real fish, complete with eyes, fins, and a tail. That was some 10 years ago, and over time, I have probably made another half dozen. The fish hat is clever and a fun way to use up your stash of left over yarn. The pattern was published in the online knitting magazine, Knitty, and you can find it here: Fish Hat: Dead or Alive? Because the dead fish hat was so popular, the designer even opened up a special website for more information about her ingenious pattern. The beauty of this last link is that you can find the fish hat in crochet, for charity, using a knitting machine, in different languages. If you don’t want to knit, find the crochet version at that site.
Fish Hats from the Knitty pattern site.
I even created knitted, rather than felt cloth, eyes for the dead fish. The pattern is below:
Fish Hat [Dead or Alive?] Eyes
Cast on 4 stitches. Knit front and back of each stitch – 8 stitches. Transfer to double point needles, place marker at round beginning.
Rnd 1: Knit
Rnd 2: Knit front and back each stitch – 16 stitches.
Rnd 3:Â Knit
Rnd 4: *Knit front and back, knit 1,* repeat to end – 24 stitches
Rnd 5:Â Knit
Rnd 6: *Knit front and back, knit 2,* repeat to end – 32 stitches
Rnd 7:Â Knit
Rnd 8: *Knit front and back, knit 3,* repeat to end – 40 stitches
Rnd 9 and 10:Â Knit
Bind off.
Here is the first fish hat I made. I made it around 2008 for my husband. It has the knitted eyes, which look pretty good, I think.
The most recent fish hat is all stripes and has crocheted eyes. The eyes were all done with single crochet. For these eyes, follow the same ideas as the knitted eyes, but crochet. It works.
I like the knitted eyes better.
With limited amounts of yarn for the most recent fish hat, I had to be pretty careful about what I used. For instance, the tail is in two colors, not one. The pectoral fins are smaller, too, because I was running out of black yarn.
I spent the last week knitting up this most recent fish hat – good way to listen to an audio book or watch some TV and do something productive and satisfying while riding out a head cold.
If you need something to do with your stash and have worsted-weight yarn, make a fish hat! I’ve made a Nemo (clown fish) and others, and everyone has liked them. The yarn is worsted weight, and my preferred yarn is acrylic, specifically Vanna’s Choice,which I find to be a very nice yarn altogether. The original fish hat is about 10 years old, and has been washed multiple times.
This one is for my SIL who, at Christmas, said, “I’d like a fish hat, too!” So, here it is, ready for her birthday next month.
Below, a rogue’s gallery of the fish hat in action!
There are a lot of people who can inspire you, but how many can put their challenges into words that inspire? Here, above, we have the book Handywoman, by Kate Davies. Eight years ago she had a stroke, and went from an agile, athletic, academic woman to someone whose world was suddenly in upheaval. This book is about her recovery, but more than that, it is about the trials and tribulations, the mental and emotional and physical challenges. Being inside another’s mind in all this turmoil is one of the gifts of this book.
Simply put, it’s one of the best books I have read this year.
And, that made me get out my needles and yarn. I decided I was going to learn to knit with both hands. My preferred method is English – throw the yarn with the right – and have struggled numerous times to use my left hand to any useful degree. Continental knitting leaves me befuddled if I only use my left hand – but using both is pretty simple. (Mirrors? – read Kate’s book to find out more!) I have a problem transferring learning from the right side of my brain to the left, probably remnants of a very serious head injury when I was a kid.
Kate went from being an academic to a woman running her own business, writing books, creating patterns, and developing her own line of wools. Take a look at her blogif you don’t know who she is – I’ve been following her for years and always enjoy what she has to say.
This weekend was a very busy one as we cleaned out things, such as old computers (taken to an e-waste recycling place), sold a bunch of books, and finally hit the stash of yarn and spinning fleece in the garage. From 45 boxes, I am down to 22 with yarn and fleece. Some things were thrown out – such as a bag with a big, black spider, most likely a black widow. Other things were boxed up so my MIL could come and take what she wanted. The rest is going to be delivered to a local senior center where they use donated yarn for charity work, or they can just take yarn home for fun – not everyone has a big income, and yarn can be a luxury.
Oddly enough, going through everything didn’t take that long. I think I spent about 6 hours at the most. It was easy to choose, too. Nearly anything that was unfinished was cut off the ball of yarn, discarded, and the yarn ball put into the “to be donated” bin(s). Tacky or sticky or scratchy fleece was discarded as not worthwhile. All balls of handspun yarn were saved, regardless as to length, unless they didn’t feel good to touch.
And in the middle of this, I have a sweater that has been sitting in the knitting pile for some time. It is a cardigan, but I decided to try steeking with it. Well, that fell by the wayside. I ripped out the entire sweater, re-balled the yarn, and started over. Much happier, even though purling is not my favorite knitting stitch.
I restarted the sweater, an Icelandic pattern, and have done a few inches. I think this will be my night knitting, when we are watching TV. The lower edge, as with most Icelandic sweaters, is a patterned border, but the main body a plain color. Instead of using Icelandic wool roving, which pills and is too itchy for me, I am using an acrylic yarn with a bit of halo. Yeah, not the most sophisticated of yarn choices in a “natural” world, but for me, right now, it is perfect. I need a cardigan – and one with as little sewing as possible! I hate sewing things together, and never finish anything that requires too much of it.
It feels good to have a knitting project on hand again.
Beginning mid-December, I started this sweater, designed by Kate Davies, and available in her book Yokes.   Asta Sollilja is a sweater derived from traditional Icelandic sweaters, but with waist-shaping (not that I have much of one!) and short rows to make a distinctive front and back. Traditional Icelandic sweaters have neither, but are wearable in any direction, although with regular wear, take on, perhaps, more of the owner’s body shape.
I used Cascade 220 and changed the colorway a bit, cutting down on one color and using navy blue for the dark brownish color as well as the navy.
I just finished this sweater and was soooo excited, I just had to take pictures of it! I used Jeny’s Stretchy Bind Off, which is fantastic in that it is tidy, and stretchy, and can be done quite nicely with 2×2 ribbing at the neckline. Â You can see the video here.
I still have ends to weave in and armholes to graft before the final wash and blocking – but this is the first Finished Object of the season – my New Year’s resolution – the BIG ONE – is to finish up my plethora of UFOs.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 