Turbine

Hello! So things are crazy around here again which is not really a surprise. I started class last Wednesday and rather than having it be a horrible ordeal (Shakespeare & Chaucer) I'm enjoying it immensely. What? I'm a nerd and I totally embrace that about myself. I should even have a little more time to knit this quarter since my work load isn't so excruciatingly heavy. I did manage to get some knitting done over the holidays, including Turbine. This is attempt number two as the first one, knit in November and frogged right away, was too small. Waaaay too small. N's dad loves the finished hat.


Pattern: Turbine by Woolly Wormhead from Twisted Woolly Toppers
Yarn: Tosh Vintage in Grove
Needles: US #8 Addi Turbo
Mods: Went up a needle size and knit the largest size in order to get a man-head size hat. I also used the Old Norwegian (aka Twisted German) cast on for added stretch around the brim since there's no ribbing to keep it snug, yet stretchy. If you don't know that cast on you can find it here *- I learned it in a class from Evelyn Clark and it's fantastically elastic. It's also a great cast on for lace since it allows for maximum blocking.


*The video is fairly long so you can skip to the 2min 50sec mark to see the cast on itself.

Happy New Year!

So there went the holidays. I can' believe 2011 is already over but I'm happy that it is. I had a bad year. Don't get me wrong, good things did happen but the good things definitely did not outweigh the bad things and 2011 just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

In the knitting goals category I think that I started out well participating in Stash & Burn's sock yarn stash knitdown but about half way through the year I petered out. That's also about the time I went back to work 7 days a week. Yikes. However, I did finish quite a few things and am really happy with my Chadwick and my Acer Cardigan with my Fair Isle Yoke Cardigan coming in close behind. What were your favorite knits of 2011?

In any case, here's one of my final FO's from 2011. It's Turbine by Woolly Wormhead knit in Tosh Vintage in the Grove color. I knit the largest size and used a size 8 needle to get gauge. My father in-law loves it and the color looks great on him.