syncopated cap

George is on my case for a knitted hat of his own. Nevermind the 4,000,000,000 other machine knitted hats he owns - he's specifically requested a hat with snowflakes and a giant pompom.

I'm not that comfy with fair isle, having attempted it only once before. What if I hated it? So I decided that first I would knit a pattern that I have wanted to do for a long time, even if it wasn't quite what he requested.

Welcome syncopated hat from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. It's a Kate Gilbert pattern, and as a rule I like her stuff. I like the non-traditional take on this traditional sort of hat. Plus, I had a couple of sock yarns that I thought would work well in this contrasting pattern.

So I cast on. All went okay, despite my left hands unwillingness to do it's share of the work. We're slowly getting it to fall in line with expectations. Row by row it's starting to build. A little bit of a pattern reading problem resulted in me having to frog a couple rows, but it's working now. I took this on my trip to Oregon and enjoyed a little calm Sunday afternoon knitting in between all the hoopla with my brothers wedding.

Finished Toe-Up Socks

Pattern: On-Your-Toes socks from Interweave Knits Summer 2007
Yarn: A lovely wool with Aloe built right in to soothe your feet. gifted to me from a friend, and yes, I lost the label.
Needles: #2 Susan Bates metal (I think #1 would have been a better choice, but this is fine)
Mods: none really. i bound off wrong on sock #2, but i just wanted to finish something.

These things are finally done! After the #$*&% heel disaster on sock #2, i stuck these in my stash bucket until i felt ready to face the problem and do a good job. Luckily I had a business trip with several short flights. It's nearly impossible to 'work' on those short hops, but sock knitting is perfect for fidgety flying fingers. So I figured out where I went wrong with the heel and reknit the whole thing on the way to JFK. Finished the cuff between JFK and Richmond and back . very efficient.These are my first toe-up socks. I still think the cast-on is pretty fidgety and tricky, but I really like the short row heel. Now that my first try is over, I think i might be up for trying some Jaywalker socks...