electric poof

This hat makes me so happy. I picked up this yarn this summer in the sale bin at Fengari in Half Moon Bay and bought the poof to go with it at the same time. It's a Malabrigo single ply yarn that is bright and squishy and perfect for this pattern. I originally planned to do just a simple knit hat to show off the yarn, but I found the Amanda Hat pattern and liked the way it played with variegated yarns. 

There's a couple garter stitch sections with broad bands of a pattern that includes some passed over slip stitches and a plain knit crown. The passed over stitches take the fluffy yarn and make a truly fluffy finished fabric. It's just slightly slouchy -- really what I've been finding in the cold weather this week is that it is plenty long enough to pull down over ears to keep them warm. Making it again for someone else I'd be sure go a little tighter on the gauge, but for me it's a good fit. 

The bright colors and the satisfying squish are pretty awesome, but what really makes this hat is the electric blue poof on the top. I sewed a button on the inside of the crown, and the elastic attached to the poof hooks around that making it removable. Not that I will. Because it's awesome. 

Electric Poof (my Ravelry page)
Pattern: The Amanda Hat, free on Ravelry
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Seleccion Privada in "Z"
Needle: US 9

pax

When I told my mom I was making socks for my dad, I asked if she wanted anything off my needles for the holidays. She suggested gloves, or a hat, or 'something cute'. Then a few days later, I got a Pinterest message with a cute hat pattern in it with a "Can you make this? I used to love peace signs." Why certainly! It was quick work to whip up this beret and I used about half of a pretty purple-y pink skein of Tosh Merino DK in Alizarin from my stash.

I reduced the band ribbing to 7 rows instead of the recommended 14 because it seemed a bit wide to me. I ended up with just 20 yards left, so that was a good decision on my part. I took it right down to the wire and didn't remember to block the thing until the night before we left for Chicago. It was *mostly* dry by the time I packed it in my carry on in the morning, I do admit to giving it a quick once over with the hair dryer. She's been wearing it in the (frankly) frigid weather we've had this week, so chalk up another successful knitty gift for 2017. 

Pax hat (my Ravelry page)
Pattern: Peace Beret by Christin Kimsey, free on Ravelry
Yarn: madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK in 'Alizarin'
Needle: US 6

cardinal

On the heels (no pun intended) of my fair isle hat, I immediately started a pair of socks. This yarn is the second skein of a pair we bought at the King's Mountain Art Fair. I used the first for Dave's scarf he sports at Stanford games. This second one is now Stanford-themed socks for my dad. Apparently he was jealous of my mom's birthday socks...

For the pattern, I riffed off of a combination of Petty Harbor (which I used for my father-in-law's socks last year) and just a regular afterthought heel pattern. The Petty Harbor told me I could do a pattern down the leg and along only the top of the foot while the afterthought heel was more suited to this thin-striping yarn than the heel flap approach of Petty Harbor would have been. I chose 8x1 ribbing to give it a little bit of interest without being overly complicated. 

The afterthought heel was from another pattern I found, called Crystal Socklet. It works a few full rows around before decreases start, and then those decreases are graduated starting with every fourth row instead of every other row. This approach makes for a deeper heel that I figured would fit a little better on the particular foot I was knitting for. Love how these turned out, hope my dad does too!

Cardinal socks (my Ravelry page)
Pattern: improvised
Yarn: Schafenfreude Fibers Luster Sock
Needle: 1