Deep red habitat

Hello, hello! I've been sucked away into knitting for christmas land, where everything revolves around christmas television, nice munchies and speedy knitting as the deadline draws ever nearer - 12 days to go.....

But I have a finished hat to show you - a lovely deep red version of Jared Flood's (Brooklyn Tweed) 'Habitat'. I love this deep colour too! Even though I knitted a version of this hat a few years ago, it felt like a new pattern but it did seem easier this time around and quicker too. Does this mean I'm getting better?? Ah, ha, fate will slap me down for getting cocky:))

I wouldn't say I was totally in the zone knitting the cables or that it was a super quick intuitive knit for me on this occasion, but it was fast, only taking a few days whilst watching tv, which does tend to slow me down when I have charts to read as well as distract me.  But you do need to be doing something else as well when you try to cram a lot of knitting in before christmas:) For those of you interested, this was knitted watching Ice Age - (ah, Sid the sloth cracks me up every time;))),  the Mentalist and a few CSI's.

I do love the all over cabling on this hat and once the first few rows of pattern are done its easy to see if you are crossing over in the right direction - or not. Sometimes I catch myself expecting it to be wrong the first time - which in this case is just as well!! Just the one cross but at least I noticed straight away and not near the end! It was much easier to tink back a few rows than rip back two days work.

This yarn has a lovely lighter red fleck in it too which keeps the colour from being too solid but doesn't fight the cabling. One of the happy occasions where it's even nicer knitted than in the ball.  And if you look closely at the hat laid out from the centre, can you see the flower shape? Like a 5 star petal motif, very subtle though. What a clever pattern. I don't think I noticed this the first time around.

So another knit down, and I don't really want to think how many there are still to fit into the 12 remaining days..... I really should have a better plan for next year - but I say that every time ;)) Off I go for some more christmas tv watching. What shall it be next on the needles?

Turn a square... or two

It always happens at this time of the year - the knitting rush towards christmas is on and the gaps between posts gets longer! So much making going on that I can't show you quite yet but for now you can get a peek at the hat I finished last night. The weather is so dull today I had to use a lamp for photos but you can see it's a stripey blue beanie from Jared Flood's 'Turn a Square' pattern.

The pattern is super easy to knit up and I finished this in an afternoon/evening. It's worked in worsted weight using one solid and one tonal yarn. The lighter stripe is my tonal yarn but it is very subtle in these photos. I think the contrast between the two yarns may be too much - it gives really definite stripes but the tonal subtleties are a bit lost. Maybe having the lighter colour as the predominant one would help.

I used two DK yarns  - which didn't seem the same thickness, go figure! -  so I had to make some pattern alternations. The pattern calls for stripes in 2 rows, then 3 row thicknesses. My thinner yarn was for the three rows but didn't look much thicker than my chunkier two row yarn so I ended up knitting 4 instead. Now this is finished I'm thinking it is an excellent beanie but a bit neat to be flattering for the people I have it in mind for as presents so I'm going to cast on a few more stitches for the next one to give a slightly looser fit.

And I've even got the yarn all ready waiting to be cast on:-) It has a slight yellow tinge from the artificial light but this should knit up to be a lovely soft tonal pink and grey hat. I may change the solid colour to a grey tone but it depends if I have any in my stash! Mmmm, I think there is a little angora left from the soft grey cornflower cowl....... I'm thinking that would work better. Keep you posted on how this works out. If there is decent light tomorrow, you may even get some colour accurate photos!

Oh, and there are some snowflakes in the wind this week I have to show you - metaphorically speaking:-) Now back to some christmas speed knitting....... see you soon!

Cables, cables everywhere!

So the cabled Habitat is finished! And a grand knit it was too. I just realised today that the cabley mitts in the Vogue knitting Fall 2008 issue I wanted to knit before christmas - and ran out of time for - were designed by the same guy, Jared Flood aka Brooklyn Tweed. I seem to be finding his patterns everywhere at the moment. I nearly started his beret pattern Relm in the new Knit 1 magazine last night too. But not quite yet. I'll have to save that for later.

I knitted up the larger size for this pattern and it does snuggly cover the ears but if you don't like not seeing any of your hair to soften the pull-on look then I'd go for the shorter version! It's a bit big on me but fine on a guy. If I were knitting this for an average female head then it would definitely be the smaller version I'd use. I'd also like to see how this knits up in a nearly solid yarn. I like the tweed - and it seemed apt (brooklyn tweed) - but I think this yarn is maybe slightly too busy and fights the cables a little. I want to see the cables all merging and twirling together a bit more!

I think I may have cables on the brain for as soon as I finished this lovely cable creation, I have started another. Not another Habitat, yet, but a lovely cabled beret I found in Vogue knitting's holiday issue 2008. It's called cabled tam, pattern no 9 by Jennifer Hagan. It's full of cables, just full of them! At least the pattern is easy enough to remember, it just repeats 5 times in the round. But more on that tomorrow!

For now, I'll leave you with a last look at the lovely tweedy habitat hat in 100% wool, very snuggly and warm while I get going on my cables - the cables are calling me!

Cables and Costumes

New project on the go. This is the cable hat by Brooklyn Tweed called Habitat. It is a lovely complex mix of cables that is a joy to knit. The pattern is perfectly logical to follow and clearly laid out in charts so you can work away and see your progression. I'm not quite half way yet but that could be me trying to watch films whilst knitting. I don't really get much done as I have to keep referring to the chart, losing my place and waiting for a quiet bit in the film to count back and check my place.

It's aran weight, knitting up in Rowan tweed and the pattern comes in two sizes - basically you knit more length for a bigger head but the pattern has been designed to take both sizes into consideration - clever. This is a pull-on hat and although the pics show a man wearing it, this yarn isn't looking very masculine to me. Maybe it'll end up being for either.

For those of you interested, so far whilst knitting this hat I've watched Pride and Prejudice - 1940's version with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. Aaah.

Moonstruck with Cher (this was because I was listening to Dean Martin's 'That's Amore' earlier this week),

and first two episodes of Torchwood - as I missed the beginning episodes and I'm catching up. So quite a mix. Next on the list is Beetlejuice - because I listened to Harry Belafonte's 'Day-o'. I found a clip on you tube for you to watch:-) Enjoy!

Also, An affair to Remember and probably The Scarlet Pimpernel. No reason for this, I always love it:-) But definitely the 1984 version with Anthony Andrews. Mmm, the costumes.... I found this pic here, and there are plenty more to peruse!

'Sink me, m'dear, ain't this snuff quite the thing, wat?'

But they may have to wait as Miss Marple is on this evening 'The 4.50 from Paddington' - the newer version with Geraline McEwan. I think I missed this the first time round so I'm looking forward to it. (The 1980's version with Joan Hickson is very good too.) But I don't expect to get much cable knitting done. Maybe I'll have to start another sock for some mindless knitting to keep me busy.

Yes, the opal socks are now finished!!! Just have to take some photos to show you. They fit well and look good on so - success:-)