Hats and Scarves

Went to Knitting Fest at our LYS on Saturday. It was a great Meet, Eat and Greet event where a dozen or so knitters got together to knit, exchange project ideas and ask for and get help on projects. What a lively group!

I am please to say I have converted at least one knitter to socks and we are working on the second. Mary Anne’s second pair of socks look like she has been knitting socks forever. The stripes even match!  Come on Irma, you can do it too!

While I was there, I started a Gamecock Hat on Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky in garnet with black and white colorwork designs. I cheated a little by using a black and white marled yarn for the patterns. I am used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s pattern from The Knitting Workshop book. It is only my second attempt at knitting continental style with the left hand and English style with the right to keep the colors separate. Not too bad if I say so myself. I finished the hat when I got home as Tom was out of town camping with the scouts at a Diocesan Camporee.

I say my second attempt, because earlier in the week, I finished a gold and green hat using the same technique and same pattern in a worsted weight acrylic. Well, almost the same pattern. The gold and green hat followed the patterns in the book. On the Gamecock Hat I was doing the patterns from memory. 

I will be making more of these as this hat pattern is very easy. 

Now on to scarves. I received a text from our daughter who has moved to New York. She has put in a request (not a very subtle one) for warm scarves. Her color choices are black or gray. Not my favorite colors to knit, but she is our only daughter. ;~P

So, I headed to the stash and found a beautiful Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky in the inspiring colorway of #600. It is a marled black and gray. Just what the biomedical engineer ordered. Sorry, no doctors in the family!

I have started the scarf. I am using the Super Yak Scarf pattern from One Skein Wonders - 101 Yarn Shop Favorites. It uses an unusual technique of a “make 7”. The scarf also has a ruffle on each end. I hope she will like it. It should be very warm as alpaca is so much warmer than wool. 

Maybe if I make her a few in black and/or gray, I can then ease her into more interesting colors. Who knows by summer she may be ready for  “Summer Flies” or “Baktus” or “Clapotis” in summer colors. 

We’ll see!