PS

I love Frozen Frontier Flashback Photo Friday! I've got lots of photos to share from my time in Antarctica.

Wing-it Hat

Dear Lynn,
Great to get your post! I love hearing -- and seeing -- what you've been up to and what's on your needles.

Panopticon. Wow, I honestly have NEVER heard that word in my life. It's on par with borborygmus, or greige, but even those words are gaining popularity. I looked it up. Very interesting and I wonder about Franklin's thought process that led him to name his blog that. I enjoyed looking at the blog and I'll put it on my list of blogs I frequent. He's got an excellent mind!

On my needles...well currently at THIS very moment, nothing. But here's something that just came off my HOOK...

It started out with this skein of lovely Rowan Colourscapes yarn, colorway designed by Kaffe Fassett (any other Kaffe Fassett fans out there? He is absolutely a GOD of colorwork!). 

I thought, well, I'll just start crocheting a flower. Then one flower led to two flowers. Then that led to an idea. What if I could connect these flowers into a hat? So onwards I went, boldly moving forth into unknown crocheting territory.

 I connected all the flowers and then blocked the hat. Here it is drying on the cookie rack...

It looks a little bit like the hexagon socks you are knitting...wow, they look great in the Noro sock yarn you are using.

I used absolutely every bit of that skein for the hat, but it may need a tassle - or a pom pom to tie all the colors together. What do you think? It just so happens I have another skein.

I think in retrospect, I would have preferred to mix up the colors a bit more. It's a bit too linear.

Other than that, I have some UFO's (Un-Finished Objects) laying around including a crocheted blanket, a poncho, a vest, and another hat...eeks! I really don't like UFO's. It goes against my nature.

And, I have a commission for a Dancing Adelies hat in forest green, black, and white. I love commissions! I love when people ask me to make a one-of-a-kind hat just for them, with the colors they like. For me, it's one of the biggest joys of knitting.

Wow, I LOVE the projects you are doing...love all that gorgeous, deep blue. The stripey hat looks awesome. Can't wait to see the finished project.

Knit on Sister!
Love, Christine

Handy Tip - Managing Yarn Colors

I wonder if anyone else would find this to be a handy thing?

Since I write knitting patterns, it's important to keep track of the yarn I use in my creations. The brand, type, fiber content and color. So often I have lost or otherwise misplaced the 'belly band' (the slip of paper that comes with the yarn that tells you all about it) of the yarn I am working with, especially if the yarn colors are designated as numbers. Cascade 220 is a perfect example.

One way to identify colors of yarn is to order sample cards from the company that makes the yarn. The drawback to this is, not every company offers these for sale to the general public. The other drawback is that many companies continually offer new shades of yarn, which would then render one with an incomplete sample set.

So what I have started doing, is each time I unwind a skein of yarn and make it into a pretty ball using my swift and ball winder, I attach a sample of the yarn to the belly band, then roll up the belly band and insert it into the center of the ball. Then toss it into the stash.

 I use a little penguin-shaped hole punch to make the hole.

So even if the belly band gets separated from the ball, I'll always have a record of what each yarn is because it's attached to the band.

Thing is, now I have all these belly band laying around with bits of yarn attached to them...and being the neat-freak I am, I have to figure out a way to organize them. Maybe just stuffed into a ziploc bag?  Thrown into the stash box with the yarn?

Anyway, it's just an idea and something I do. Anyone else have any yarn management tips to share?

Frozen Frontier Flashback Friday

Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica

The annual supply ship leaves McMurdo for the States, with recycling, trash and well-used equipment.  The Oden (from Sweden) helps guide them through McMurdo Sound.

Scientists and support staff leave McMurdo Station after a long season on "The Ice".  Next stop, New Zealand, a five hour trip North.

A Blog I Love

Dear Christine,

I have one word for you. PANOPTICON. I had to look it up.

Why is this important to knitters? There's this guy. His name is Franklin Habit. He could be the star of an Antarctic winter season. He would rock the place. Check out his blog HERE.  If the link doesn't work, copy and paste this into your brower:

http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/


On the needles right now?  Three things:  Always a hat (of course), for which I am writing a pattern for our Antarctica Knitters website and store. I'm using Cascade 220 yarn for this one.  There are so many color choices for 220. I love it.

 

I just started another shawlette. This one will be MINE.  Noro Silk Garden is fun to knit and it's in my favorite teal/purple/green colorway.

I'm having a great time in this summer heat knitting little hexagons that will turn into socks (I hope).  I'm using Noro sock yarn. This is a great pattern if you want to use up your stash of sock yarn leftovers.  The pattern is in the book Think Outside the Sox.

What's on your needles?

Happy Knitting,
Lynn

FREE knitting pattern for Summer Breeze Shawlette

NOTE:  2 skeins will render a shawlette measuring approx.  17.5" at widest width and 72" in length.

Cast On (CO) 1 stitch (st)  Now you are set up to knit from the left to the right needle on the circular in flat knitting style, turning your work to knit in rows.
Row 1: Knit (K) into the front and back of the stitch (Kfb). (2 sts on needle)
Row 2: Kfb twice. (4 sts)
Row 3: Kfb, k2, kfb. (6 sts)
Row 4 and all other rows:  Kfb the first and last st of every row. K all other sts.
After knitting 2 skeins, Bind Off (BO) all sts loosely, in a stretchy BO of your choice.
FINSHING Weave in ends.  Block to a long triangle shape.

This shawlette/scarf is fast and easy and fun to knit. It's is a great beginner project. It's also great for Zen knitting for more advanced knitters.

MATERIALS
Yarn:  2 skeins (50gr/142meters) Noro Ayatori  (60% wool, 40% silk) yarn. Color:
Needles: One 24" or longer circular needle, size US size 8/5.0 mm.  Gauge is not important and you can go up or down in needle size to suite your own style.
Tapestry needle: to weave in ends.
The triangle shape starts with one stitch and is knitted in garter stitch (knit every row) with a circular needle to hold lots of stitches as the triangle grows.

Antarctica Knitters would carry this in their travel backpack as a light,versatile accessory for travels after their work on the "Ice".

Start with at least 2 skeins of yarn, more if you like. Just knit until you are tired of it and bind off all stitches, block to shape and enjoy.

We always encourage you to UNfollow the instructions.  If you want to knit a shawlette/scarf that looks like the one in the photos, the pattern is provided. 

If you are adventurous, let this be a jumping off point for your own design.  Add a border.  Use a different yarn.  Change the needle size.  Do your own thing and see these instructions as a guideline.

Noro Rules

Hi Christine,

Your version of the Coffee House Hat is really nice.  I love the coordinated liner and blues are my fave.

I saw a new idea with Noro in one of the several Noro knitting books at the library.  What if we take one ball of any Noro yarn and divide it into 3 sections of about 36 ft. each and then knit something?  It could be interesting.  I'll have to experiment which I love to do.

Yes, it's hot and dry in Colorado and we are in the fire season.  I choose little projects like socks and hats and baby booties for knitting projects in the summer.

Here are some photos of some of my latest knitting ventures in various states of completeness. I've been working on using up some of this mad stash taking up space in my studio.

Now that you finished the coffee house hat with such success, what are you going to knit next?  I can't wait to see.  Hope you are staying warm and cozy with a hot cup of tea and a big knitting project.

Love, Lynn