My hat knitting continues!

I finished this hat this week:

This is Let’s Stripe, a pattern by Nur Gutes, which is one of the 15 glorious hat patterns in Kate Davies new book, Milarrochy Heids. Mine looks a lot different from the sample in the book!

I used some Koigu KPPPM as a background color, and a set of miniskeins I purchased via Etsy a while back. I think it is a fun interpretation!

Speaking of interpretations, here is my current project:

This is Tettegouche by Virginia Sattler-Reimer, another design from Milarrochy Heids. For my version I am using a natural colored Koigu KPM as the background color, and a Koigu KPPPM “Pencil Box Set” as the foreground color. This is a set of 10 miniskeins that make a unique gradient.

Bonus: I’ll have enough to make the matching Tettegouche Mittens!

This leads me to a discussion of gauge.

The gauge for this hat is 30 stitches and 34 rounds to 10 cm. The designer achieved this gauge using a 3 mm (U.S. size 2.5) needle and Kate Davies’ Milarrochy Tweed yarn.

I got gauge with a 3.5 mm (U.S. size 4) needle! This is partly because the Koigu yarn I’m using is slightly finer than the yarn used in the pattern, and partly just because of the differences in the way different people knit. It is a cautionary tale: always check your gauge! I was pretty sure that the 3mm needle used to knit the sample would be too small so I started swatching with a 3.25mm needle. That was still too small, so I ended up with the 3.5 mm needle. An hour of swatching saved me from having a hat that would be way too small!

Loki says:

I’ve heard it all before.

All hats all the time!

I used my leftovers from my Geiger Cardigan to whip up this cutie:

This is the Crown Hat, a free pattern by Hanna Maciejewska. It’s worked in DK weight yarn so my Wollmeise Merino DK leftovers were perfect for it.

And last night I finished another hat. I apologize in advance for the photo — I supposed I could at least have brushed my hair, but it really seemed like too much effort. Never mind shoveling on make-up.

This hat is the Therese Hat by Nina Machlin Dayton. I knit mine from Madelinetosh Pashmina in the Glazed Pecan colorway. I love, love love this pattern. I think it looks rather Les Miserables, don’t you?

I have another hat on the needles . . . but I’ll save it for next time.

Loki approves.

Thank you for all your kind comments about my Geiger Cardigan. It was such a great project and such fun to knit. If you want a challenge, this is a great choice! I advise anyone embarking on it to read ahead n the pattern. There are so many things going on at the same time that it can be difficult to keep track. I made a chart to keep track of what shaping I needed to do do on which row and that was extremely helpful.

There were a couple of questions in the comments about the bind off on the button band. Isn’t it pretty? It’s a Picot Bind-off, not at all difficult to do and it’s such a nice little touch. I made the front bands a couple of rows deeper than the pattern directed, by the way, because the buttons I used were a bit larger than the pattern directed.

Since I completed Geiger I have been working on a non-public project, but I also finished this yesterday, shown here in its yet-to-be-blocked state:

This cute little baby sweater is the Norwegian Fir Top-Down Cardigan by OGE Knitwear Designs. I knit it from Rowan Baby Merino Silk Dk. The intended recipient will reside in California after birth, so doesn’t need anything superwarm, and this yarn is machine washable, so seemed like a good choice.

The pattern was easy and fun and comes in a very wide size range.

In closing, here is an overhead view of Loki in one of his favorite spots: the end table next to the sofa.

As you can see, he does not exactly fit on an end table.

I actually finished Geiger quite a while ago – November 12. I missed posting last week due to a number of unfortunate Real Life events (sounds like the name of a novel) that have distracted me from knitting. I am doing my best to, in the words of Elizabeth Zimmermann, “knit on with confidence through all crises.”

Anyway, Geiger front:

And Geiger back:

I am delighted with this knit — it was challenging and highly entertaining. I used Wollmeise Merino DK in the Schwefel colorway. Here’s a close-up of one of the adorable bronze edelweiss buttons I selected for it:

Back to the grind! As you can see, Loki is, as always, hard at work:

Sleeves are done!

All that remains is to pick up a million stitches for the front bands, knit ’em, and sew the sweater together.

Loki is in position to help.