Hat Count: 8.5

On February 19, 2018February 19, 2018 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Hat, Ravellenics7 Comments

I’m still making hat progress. I’ve got two new hats finished today. My bear idea isn’t fully where I want it yet but I’ve got a good proto-type…

I think he needs to be a little bigger and if I’m going to pass him off as a Grizzly, he should probably be brown! Good thing Stitches is at the end of the week!

I finished the next, in what is bound to be a limitless parade, nephew hat. Adults will definitely be reduced to goofy faces and baby talk when little Markosaurus wears this one.

There’s also two hats currently on the needles. With a bit of luck, I might get them finished tonight!

The blue garter stitch number is killing me. Garter stitch?? Who purls when then knit hats?? Not me. So I had to start the one of the right…I need a break after an entire row of nothing but purls?!?! It’s just terrible.

After that I only need 4 more. I was messing around with brioche yesterday. Liked my colors well enough. Couldn’t come up with a cast on that I liked though.

This is just a swatch with a standard long tail cast on. I also tried a 2-color Italian cast on. It was fiddly and by the time I got it right, I decided I didn’t like the way it looked and it offered no structure. So, before I get a gold medal for a brioche hat, I need a gold medal worthy cast on, Anybody have a suggestion?

I, also, thought about pom-poms a lot this weekend. I need to watch to youtube videos on how to make fancy pom-poms. Anybody have suggestions here too?

See the guy at the bottom of the frame with a red & white pom-pom hat. It caught my eye because I thought, maybe, it was a Canada hat with a maple leaf pom-pom! How cool would that be? I don’t think that’s the case here but I wish it was.

The pom-pom on the right side here:

I think that one’s a camel. I never got a better look at it.

And then, there’s the luge crowd. White hats with white pom-poms. Really?

Kudos to the one brave Romanian who opted for the hat with flag colors! Hats off to you, sir!

Now, back to the knitting…I think I might be able to get my baker’s dozen in by Friday if I keep at it!

Thursday Linkspiration

On February 15, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Ravellenics2 Comments

Hat 5 is off the needles. I decided no pom-pom. I did the stash dive and found lots of yarn to use. I have not cast on the next hat though. While I contemplate my options, lets tour the latest in PyeongChang inspired patterns.

Team USA hats have inspired many patterns! Having so many hats to choose from helps. The athletes get opening ceremony hats, closing ceremony hats and then there’s the sport specific gear like the very popular podium hat the Team USA snowboarding ladies have been wearing. I first spotted it on Jaime Anderson.

Once Chloe Kim wore it though, it became a must have. Knit Paper Scissors has obliged with her pattern Olympic Inspiration, a free Ravelry download.

The Ralph Lauren’s official Closing Ceremony hat is sold out. The traditional colorwork is resonating with everyone, not just the knitters.

It’s spawned several new patterns so you’ve got your choice! They’re both spot on!

2018 Winter Games Hat from The Wool & Cotton Co. (aran) OR 2018 Winter Games Hat from Susan Rainey (worsted)

Then there’s the Canadian snowboarding jackets.

I really love the look of the printed knitting and the idea of marrying time-honored tradition with new fangled technology. It hadn’t occurred to me to translate the design back into knitting though.

For that, we can thank Kristy Macdonald for her hat design, In The Hunt. The sweater includes four motifs – bear, orca, raven and sun and moon. Kristy has included hat options that correspond to each of the motifs. Definitely keeping this one in my queue!

The Latvian Opening Ceremony hat inspired knitters instantly.

The pattern, from Rebecca A., Latvian Brain 2018 Hat, appeared quickly after the ceremony. Several knitters have started it but no progress photos…yet!

And then there’s knitting heavy hitters, Dale of Norway. They were so prepared, their patterns have actually been available since last August. They’re perfect. They’ve kept tradition as the focal point, but still managed a fresh, modern feel.

AND, not to be outdone, it includes men’s, women’s, children’s, hats, sweaters, headbands, cowls, socks and mittens. 345-01 Olympic Passion from Dale Designs. Once again, Dale of Norway sets the standard and they set it high!

Of course, there’s also a huge catalog of old Olympic patterns to draw from as well. Searching Ravelry, this one caught my eye, for the crocheters out there. 0-1012 Olympic head bands from Drops Designs. So cute!

Here’s a Ravelry Search for ‘Olympic’ patterns. It’s a fun scroll down memory lane!

As I Where’s Waldo my way through the Olympics, I’m drawing more inspiration from the crowd. After seeing a Colorado hat, I started thinking about California hats. A friend tipped me to this pattern, Oso Plaid Beanie, from EvelynandPeter on Etsy. The California official state animal is the grizzly bear.

This is the perfect California hat. I love it! The only hold up…I’ve never attempted crochet colorwork. I don’t think I’m going to start this week but, I could convert it to knitting. It’s going to take some work though. Single crochet stitches, like those used here, are square. Knit stitches are not square. My bear will look squashed if I use the chart, as is. I need to get out the pencil and the knitters graph paper for this one.

The Olympics has really cemented my desire to knit unique hats that stand out. If you can buy it, I don’t want to make it. It’s one thing to knit 13 hats during the course of the Olympics. I could bang out 13 plain beanies in my sleep. I want more than that though. I want works of art. Quality over quantity.

Come back tomorrow! I’m bound to put my money where my mouth is…eventually!

WIP Wednesday : Hat Halfpipe

On February 14, 2018February 14, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Hat, WIP8 Comments

Progress! Woo! I’ve moved the third hat into the completely finished pile, after a bit of duplicate stitch this morning.

Hat #4 is knit, but it needs a little something more.

It’s a bit sweet at the moment but I think I’ve backed off the Lisa Frank cliff. Instead of hearts and rainbows, I’m thinking Kraken! I need to stash dive first.

In the meantime, I’m finishing up this no-brainer. Bulky tweed done sequence knitting style. Might even go pom-pom on this one!

As for the Olympics, Shaun White did his thing. It was amazing and somehow lived up to the incredibly immense amount of hype?!?!!

And his sister was on hand for congratulations…

…in a new hat! She’s bought into the store bought propaganda machine. Oh well. I understand. Times change, fashions change. I was really hoping she’d pull out the old one though.

And now, I’ll leave you with a little Where’s Waldo challenge…

I can find an orange cowboy hat, a person with sunglasses instead of a face, Rodin’s Thinker, 12 Japanese flags, 1 girl in a fox hat, an ipad, 2 guys looking through binoculars and 3 friends all taking the same picture!

Can you find them all?

Just Another Day in PyeongChang

On February 13, 2018February 13, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Hat, Ravellenics, WIP9 Comments

As I expected, the Olympic crowd gets better with each passing day! Today brought these cute, crocheted, Colorado hats. Worn, presumably, by US snowboarder Arielle Gold’s family. The ‘C’ logo with the stripes is inspired by the Colorado state flag. I’m on the lookout for California bear themed hats now…a new addition to the ‘Waldo’ list.

This was another cute find in the crowd:

There’s a time and place for everything…even bobbles.

The crazy people have come out to the Olympics too! I love crazy people!

It is important to distinguish between good crazy and bad crazy though…

All in all, it was a good day of people watching.

And, I’m finally crossing the finish line myself. I’ve got two entries awaiting medals so far!

This first one really tripped me up. Took 3 starts to get it right. It’s a DK weight yarn, 100% baby llama called Llamor. It called for the standard US 5 or 6 needle size. I went all the way down to a US 2 and still didn’t get the right fabric.

I really like loose fabrics but that doesn’t mean they’re always appropriate. If the fabric were just a hair tighter, it would look much neater. But, I just can’t with the tiny little needles. US Size 2 is as far as I am willing to compromise on that front.

Ultimately though, it’s a cute hat. I went with some simple surface crochet to dress it up. Simple but effective.

My second entry in the Hat Halfpipe follows the same formula…simple but effective!

A few basic stitches and a big pom-pom.

Boom! Instant nephew hat!

Hat 3 is still awaiting adornment and hat 4 dropped off the needles before I could even show you a WIP pic.

I’m bringing color back with this one! It’s got an ice princess fade going on. I think my pendulum is swinging wide with this one. After the plain white start, I’m feeling very Lisa Frank. It might end up covered in hearts?!?

Four hats down…9 more to go?!?

Knitting Snowboarder

On February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Hat, Ravellenics9 Comments

Just a quick update today because I’m finally getting into the groove with my own knitting. This was too good not to share though!

This is Antti Koskinen, Finnish snowboarding coach, knitting at the top of the hill! I thought I saw DPNs and did a quick screen grab. A moment later, he finished his row and THEN fist bumped the kid and sent him down the hill. As if it were nothing. As if ‘just let me finish this row’ is a universal truth. As if he weren’t at the Olympics. As if I needed another reason to love Finland? I didn’t but safe to say, my love of Finland has certainly been confirmed.

Apparently he did the same thing in Sochi. He worked on a scarf that was then finished by the summer Olympics team. (Google will fill in the details if you’re interested. I couldn’t bring myself to share any of the links though…kinda bums me out that seemingly reputable news stations have such spammy advertising all over.)

I will share this link though: Latvian Braid 2018 Hat

An industrious Raveler has come up with a pattern for the Latvian hat! No picture but presumably it will look something like this:

Hopefully some other industrious Raveler will knit it up quickly so we can see it!

I’ll leave you with another interesting crowd shot. I was hoping to read the text on the orange hat but I never could make it out. My name is ??? girl. hhhmmm.

It wasn’t until later that I noticed the SF Giants fan.