A New Pattern!

That's right!  I have released a new pattern!

The Harney Peak Hat is a spiral ribbed hat made from wool and alpaca.  This hat is super warm but unlike 100% alpaca it holds its shape.  I am very excited to see other people's versions of this hat!

I have priced the hat at $2, but for the first week (until November 29), you can get it for $1 by entering the coupon code "AJC" at checkout.

So go!  Get your copy today! It can be found here or from my Patterns page.

You know you need a warm winter hat.

And in other absolutely amazing news, I finished the black socks of doom.  I just sat and watched Poirot and let my hands go.

Not too shabby

They are now washed and blocked and once they are dry I can give them to my dad.

So, grab a copy of my pattern for yourself or your favorite knitter and I think I will kick back and have a beer for a week well done.

Just Like a Little Bird

That's right!  Just in case you can't get enough of my obsessive ramblings, I am on twitter!  If you would like to follow me, please check me out @AngieChervenak or just follow the link on the right side of the page.

I have actually been making pretty good progress on my list of projects since last post.  Some of the progress is on design projects though and I won't be able to share those with you until they are done.

However, I did whip up the crocheted slouch hat!

See, I can crochet too!

I have to say, this was a fun project.  I especially love the look of the band.  It is done in back post single crochet.

However.  Hmm.  I apparently crochet at a much tighter gauge than whoever wrote this pattern and instead of starting over when I realized this, I just decided that I would keep going as long as it fit.  So my super slouchy hat basically has no slouch at all.

Which doesn't really matter to me.  The even bigger problem is that my greatest fears about this yarn were realized.  The fiber content is wonderful, but the colors are hideous together.  Beautiful colors, absolutely goofy when knitted up together.  But I will wear this hat, because I love a hideous hat.  (Something my husband and I always had in common.)

There has been no sweater progress over the past few days because I decided to put it aside for a minute.  I have been working on that sweater very hard and I am proud to say that I will likely finish the whole thing within a month of starting.  But it is a personal project and I have other things to work on too.

However, the sweater has inspired me to add a list of links to helpful tutorials.  Check out the new "Links" tab at the top of the page.  This week I have added some links for my favorite yarn joining methods.  I have been spit splicing my yarn for this sweater and I am very pleased with the results.  Leave it to me to find a way to avoid weaving in all of those ends.  The russian join method is great for joining yarns of different colors without having to weave in ends.  I will be adding more links as I think of them.

Finally, I have a confession to make.  I gave in to the trend and made a ruffle scarf.  I can't see myself ever wearing it, but I am considering trying to start up a class in Custer on how to make these.  Gotta give the people what they want, but I can't help but think that this yarn would make a way better skirt embellishment than boa.

Not too bad.

Check and Check

The shawlette is now officially finished and blocked and so is a hat for my brother's birthday!

I really enjoyed making the shawlette. The rhythm of lace knitting and reading the fabric as I knit was both relaxing and challenging. I particularly enjoyed how much it challenged my problem solving skills. 

I know that sounds like I am being sarcastic but I assure you that I am not. I have been working on solving missed stitches or incorrect stitches without ripping back and it was very educational to do this kind of fixing with lace. (I believe that this method of correction is called "laddering down".) One of the things that I find most fascinating about knitting is the geometry of it all. The series of knots that you must do to turn what is essentially a line into a 3 dimensional object. 

The hat was a quick project for the yak yarn I have in my stash as a present for my brother's birthday. I used the free Rinsessa-pipo pattern found on Ravelry. I really liked how easy this pattern was and the decreases at the top are very clever. The pattern goes all of the way to the point.