I made this around the end of February but never got around to posting.
I call this the Scooter hat because it reminds me of the hair of Scooter from the Muppet Show. Inspired by the Rasta Hat of Annie Modesitt, I’ve never seen the pattern just the pictures. Made with Colinette Prism yarn in the Zebra colourway on the Reader’s Digest circle loom. Fits me snugly so approximately youth sized or very small ladies.
Because I feel bad about not having had photos today, here’s a pic of my Lagoon legwarmers (Colinette Prism yarn in Lagoon, knit in a 2×2 rib on the Reader’s Digest loom) and my sparkly Converse All Stars that are the closest thing to “dress” shoes that I can get my orthodics into!
PS, yes those shoes are what I will be walking in on Saturday’s walk! Sorry, I’m a long way from my donation goal so I have to keep plugging it 😉
Sorry I am still not doing well, but I thought you might enjoy seeing the complete ragdoll accessories set (which I have yet to blog about) in this picture my husband took last week.
I had started this thinking it would be a thing-a-day but the blasted thing took me twelve hours over two days. Knowing that has put me off doing its mate until thing-a-day is over.
Anyway, the gory details: One legwarmer, extra-long (I like em to come up over my knees), made in K2P2 (2×2) ribbing on the green loom that came with the Reader’s Digest set (does this thing have a real name?). Made from one skein of Colinette Prism in the Lagoon colourway, to be worn with the Ponytail hat. With lots and lots of flaws where I purled instead of knitting and vice versa. Doing ribbing for a few rows isn’t so bad, but for over two feet is a lot harder than I thought! But I guess part of knitting, especially when something is meant as a utility garment rather than stylish one, is that you have to learn to live with the mistakes. Still, I think I have a lot more love for storebought legwarmers after this. (And the ones I shall be making for friends will be ribbed at both ends but e-wrapped in the middle!!!)
This has been all over, starting with a gorgeous Union flag mohawk hat in a punk knitting book and with variations all around the net. I just made a hat in 2×2 (k2p2) ribbing on the Knifty Knitter red round loom and then added the “hair” in the same way you’d add fringe to a scarf (lark’s head knots, I use a crochet hook to pull things through).
Yarn is Colinette Prism in Cherry for the body of the hat and Colinette Marshmallow in Lagoon for the mohawk.
I call this the Ponytail Hat because, well it looks like the hat has a ponytail 🙂 Not suitable for wearing with actual ponytails, although I suppose you could modify it. It is youth sized (my head is 20 inches in circumference without hair which is very small for an adult, more like pre-teen sizing).
This hat was made on the Knifty Knitter long yellow loom knittiing in the round. I used a “ruffled” cast on (not that it looks very ruffled), then a K1P1 ribbing for six rows. Next was ten rows of e-wrap and then I started the decreasing: first just the end pegs and then four pegs per row until I had eight pegs left. I knitted the tube at eight pegs for about four inches, then decreased to six pegs for about five rows and then down to four pegs for the remainder of the ponytail. Add fringe and voila!
This used most of one skein of Colinette Marshmallow in the Lagoon colourway. To do an adult hat I’d go up to the green long loom and it would probably take one and half skeins. (It’s actually a little short for me as it is, if I were to do it again for myself I’d add 3-4 more rows of e-wrap but that would have put me over one skein and I didn’t have any more.)
This is what I am calling the Awareness Scarf, cince it looks so much to me like an Awareness Ribbon. It is a skinny keyhole scarf (one end goes through the other to hold it snug on the neck) made on the Knifty Knitter long looms. This one is made in Colinette Marshmallow yarn in the colourway Jay and was made for a friend who is an ovarian cancer survivor (which had nothing to do with my choice of colour, she just happens to like blue 🙂 ).
I’m thinking about making several of these to sell on Etsy for about US$20 plus shipping, with $2 from each scarf given to a charity relating to one of my diseases. I’d not really be charging anything for my time but I figure this is craft therapy time for me and the rest of the profit can go to more craft therapy for me. I found making this was very soothing to my anxiety levels, better than meds 😛 I’d always use Colinette Marshmallow as long as I can still get it and then Colinette Point Five after that, they have a wide range of wonderful colours to choose from.
What do you think? Is $20 a reasonable price? On the one hand it’s too little as it doesn’t pay me much at all for my time, on the other hand skinny scarves are very popular and going for much cheaper when mass produced so I think people will baulk at $20. All I really care about is the opportunity to raise some money and awareness of some of my diseases, but getting to knit more and more is a very big plus 🙂
Comments very welcome…
Well, we stil haven’t completed a light tent to my satisfaction, but t just got a new camera (out of his ten year service bonus) and it does muuuch better with colour than mine. So it will do for now with yarn type things.
But I am really tired, so for now I shall just leave you with this pic of a work in progres that was on my loom earlier today (now finished for Thing-a-Day).
In the 4 days since my Colinette arrived, and bearing in mind that I didn’t knit any of it on the first day, I have completed three objects. Not a bad track record at all, IMO. Proves that when you have exquisite yarn it motivates you to great speed 😉 I’ve even got a design that I think might sell (well it’s terribly similar to a lot of other things that are selling).
Unfortunately, a trip to the hardware store has not provided the material I want for a nice light tent, so we’re going to have to improvise. Because this blog is pretty boring without pictures of all these things I am making!
I have a ton of more insightful posts to write, but my health is not doing too well right now so sitting and typing are alas not among my top efforts at this exact moment. Soon, I hope.
OK, only hotspots. But still, that hated Bernat Soft Boucle is such a pain to work with, the nubby bits just get caught on each other and so trying to do a K2P2 ribbing (which I am doing for t’s wristwarmers — sadly, he liked the first one so I am having to do another) is nightmarish. Hoping to make it end quicker, I worked for 2-3 hrs on them yesterday and got *hotspots * (pre-blisters/swollen hot areas) on my thumb and forefinger from constantly yanking at the yarn to close the loops properly. I think it might be easier with needles but the way that you do a purl on the loom involves lifting it off the loom, putting the new loop on and then tightening, so that’s a lot of manipulating the yarn. Owwie!
Yesterday my Colinette order came through so I am taking a day off the blasted boucle and making a neck warmer to match my Ragdoll hat. I’ve yet to figure out how much “fringe” I want, but I have plenty of yarn this time! 🙂
Pictures are a bit of a problem with the utter lack of light in London at the moment, but we’re building a light tent this weekend so hopefully I’ll be able to take decent photos whatever the weather. Blistery fingers crossed!
