Hats

[oyceter]

Yay yay yay! My vacation starts today! I actually wasn't going to take any, but then the company shut down the entire office for the holidays for some financial thing having to do with vacation time.

Other things that made me happy:

One of my knitting circles has been knitting at an indie coffee store for nearly three years now. This week, we went and gave the baristas and roasters there a stack of hats we had knit for them. (Well, some of us knit six times more than all the rest of us, but it's the effort that counts?)

I got the idea about a month ago just as a fun and nice thing to do, given that we've been camping out in their store for so long, and, honestly, I really just wanted the excuse to make hats. I love making them -- they're small, they take less than a skein of yarn, there were two patterns I desperately wanted to knit (Koolhaas and Foliage), and it only takes me a few hours to finish one. Except I don't really wear hats. I adore all kinds of brimmed hats and the occasional cloche, but I tend to accumulate them and then let them gather dust, and I never wear the knit beanies.

Turns out my whim has paid me back tenfold, because it was just awesome going over there with everyone and our stack of hats, then watching several baristas immediately start trying them on. I have no way to express how happy it made me to see people actually going through stuff we knit and wanting the stuff! And trying things on! And attempting to do trades! Like, I helped make that! So cool.

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

Aw, that is such an awesome idea! I am glad they were properly excited about it.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's such a sweet idea! Yay!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Yay! What a wonderful idea.

[chomiji]

Awww, that was such a good idea!

(I never wear hats like that either. My wavy short hair mostly minds itself - but not if I cram in into some tight thing that generates static.)

[heresluck]

Hats, yay! I just finished doing a bunch of kids' hats for charity -- it was fast and fun and a terrific way to use up some of my odds and ends of yarn. I don't do the fancy patterns that you do, though. *g*

Hey, speaking of knitting: one of my projects during the holiday break is to learn to knit socks. I have a very basic top-down pattern, but I'm also looking for a toe-up pattern, and I know you've knitted some of those; I'm going to hunt around online for free patterns, of course, but are there any you'd particularly recommend?

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds so awesome! Yay you guys!

(And "yay vacation!" kinda goes without saying. ^^)

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Koolhaas! I've been wanting to make Pecan Pie (http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/PATTpecanpie.html) but would never wear it. Clearly I need to come up with a cunning plan like yours.

[oyceter]

It was so fun!

[oyceter]

People are out there wearing hats I made!

[oyceter]

It was so cool! Like, people were picking things I made!

[oyceter]

Bwahaha, yes! Also, hats are great stash busters. Er. Unless you use them as an excuse to get a single ball of that yarn you have desperately wanted to work with, like me.

[oyceter]

Yay hats for kids! Maybe I will do that later! I have a lot of odds and ends.

Ohhhh! Socks socks socks! I like toe-up a lot. Here's a giant collection of toe-up sock links:
http://www.technologymom.com/justknittingaround/?page_id=24

Here's a generic, basic toe-up pattern:
http://wendyjohnson.net/blog/sockpattern.htm

Here's an article on Knitty on three kinds of toes:
http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter02/FEATtiptoptoes.html
(I do short-row and figure-8 a lot, though short row can be annoying b/c of the provisional cast on and figure-8 can be annoying b/c you have to remember to tighten the stitches in the beginning. There's also the Turkish cast-on, which is very similar to figure-8.)

After a while, you can just swap out the pattern toe to your favorite toe; you just need to know how many stitches the tip of the toe is and how many stitches are at the base when you start the foot. Uh, that sounds more complicated than it actually is!

So far I haven't actually knit that many socks, but I really liked the Baudelaires because of the hybrid short-row/heel flap heel. A lot of people with larger insteps don't like short-row heels because they leave less space there, but the heel flap Cookie adds on ameliorates that a bit. Er, but I suspect you will not go for the lace patterning. I also just finished Anastasia, which is a really easy pattern to keep track of, and the eyelets mean the sock is very stretchy! I didn't have a problem with the short-row heel on this one.

And that is probably way more info than you ever needed! I haven't actually made a plain sock yet because I am a lace geek, but a lot of people have sworn by Wendy's pattern that I linked to above.

[oyceter]

It made me so happy!

[oyceter]

I know! I keep looking at that one too, along with the three tams from the current issue. I am trying to learn colorwork so I can finally make my sister her mittens.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

That's such a beautiful idea. Glad to read it was apprecated.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I love it when you get to be selfish & selfless at the same time. ^_^

[oyceter]

It was incredibly fun!

[oyceter]

I know, me too!

[heresluck]

Belated THANK YOU for this info! A basic generic pattern is exactly what I'm after for my first socks, and the other links and toe info will be perfect once I have a better sense of what kind of modifications I might want to make.

The lace socks are very pretty -- I can already think of several friends for whom I might make those as presents. I'm more into plain myself, especially because I have this absolutely lovely variegated yarn that I think will make even a plain sock look fancy. Also I knit reeeeeeally slowly, and adding lace into the picture... the possibilities for frustration and/or disaster are multitudinous. I am about to start my first lace-ish project, which is a fancy scarf; I think I will do better with a lacy pattern if I'm knitting a rectangle -- heh -- but if it turns out well then lace socks will definitely go on my to-do list.

In conclusion: yay knitting!