2 Simple Knitted Skaterhead Beanie

A week ago I drove by the City park and saw several teenagers skateboarding, they are all wearing different kinds of cool beanie, I have also seen other Young adults  both male and female wearing those kinds of beanie, so I started to think of how I can make them. When I came home, search thru my stash of yarn and found a dark blue and heather gray simply soft yarn, this 2 will be a great start. After looking around ravelry for some pattern, most of them were just really basic knit and purl. I decided I'll make it up as I go. The first one I made a wider brim ,the idea was from the slouchy beret that I recently knitted, then I just knitted in the round endlessly ,while watching the Olympics.then started the crown decrease.Next time I will make another one with stripes and maybe with a design so it does not look too plain.The following day I started working on the Heather Gray yarn and to be a little different from the blue beanie, I knitted the brim in knit and  purl2 ribbing,  I like how it look so I just continue with the pattern instead of just plain stockinette stitch,I like this one better, it is not as plain as the Dark blue beanie and you can choose to fold the brim or not, it is also very stretchy.I have written the instructions in case you want to make one for yourself. This is just basic beanie/hat instructions,  ( I improvised this pattern. Any resemblance/similarity to a copyrighted item is purely coincidental. Yada,yada,yada, etc, legal jargon. :D) you can also find other pattern thru Ravelry.com. Have Fun!
  
Skaterhead Beanie #1

Materials:                                                                                          

1 skein of yarn, Dark Country Blue ( I used Simply Soft Caron)             
Size 8 Circular knitting needles 16"           
Size 8 DPN                                                            
Stitch Markers                                                        
Darning Needle.

Finished Measurements:    19” circumference and 15” long
Gauge: 5sts = 1 inch                                                                         


Cast On 88 stitches
Place marker and knit in the round. (Be careful not to twist)

Knit the K2 P2 rib for about 4" (wide brim, you can make it shorter if you like)
Next Knit in stockinnete endlesly until about 8 or 9 inches. ( while watching a 2 hour movie :D
 Note: Place marker in every 8 stitches on the very last round before decreasing. Make sure you use a different color from the marker you use at the beginning of the round.
Crown Decrease:
Switch to DPN
R1 (k6,k2tog) x 11 (77sts)
R2 knit around
R3 knit around
R4 (k5,k2tog) x 11 (66sts)
R5  knit around
R6 knit around
R7 (k4,k2tog) x 11(55sts)
R8  knit around
R9  knit around
R10 (k3,k2tog) x 11(44sts)
R11  knit around
R12  knit around
R13 (k2,k2tog) x 11 (33sts)
R14  knit around
R15  knit around
R16 (k1,k2tog) x 11(22sts)
R17  knit around
R18  k2tog around (11sts)
R19  knit around

Finishing: Cut yarn leaving about 6" tail,Weave thru all the remaining stitches, pull tight. Weave in ends.
Wear proudly :)

Skaterhead  Beanie #2

Materials:                                                                                  

1 skein of yarn ,Heather Gray ( I used Simply Soft Caron)            
Size 8 Circular knitting needles 16"           

Size 8 DPN                                                            
Stitch Markers                                                   
Darning Needle.
Finished Measurements:    15” circumference and 12” long 
Gauge: 5sts = 1 inch   (stockinette)     
                                                                            
Cast on 87 stitches ( if you are casting a different amount of stitches it must be divisible by 3)
Place marker and knit in the round. (Be careful not to twist)

Work K1,P2 Ribbing until 11"

Crown  Decrease:
Switch to DPN
R1 (k1,p2tog)  repeat ( ) until end of the round
R2  k1,p1 until end of round
R3  k2tog around
Repeat R3 until 8 sts remain

Finishing :
Bind off using 3 needle bind off.This method makes the top of the hat flatter.
If you do not know how to do the 3 needle bind off click here
Weave ends.
OR
Cut yarn leaving about 6" tail,Weave thru all the remaining stitches, pull tight. Weave in ends.
 **** If you have any questions or corrections on the Instructions feel free to comment.
Have a nice day!!

HOT off the needle!!!!

I did it , Yes I did. I finish July shawl KAL project in 4 days including blocking. I was very hesitant in starting this project since I was not in the knitting mood at all but I want to complete the Shawl KAL that I signed up, the group is not strict about it but I want to do it for ME!.
I was leaning on knitting the Beginner choice Ashton but when they posted August Beginner choice  Budding Shawlette, i decided to use the yarn for it. There was 2 skein of  Simply Soft Caron in Autumn in my stash so I decided to do the Summer Flies. Once I cast on Summer Flies shawl, it just went so fast. The instructions were so easy , the FO's on the project page look all complicated but it was not. Another Instant gratification project to get my Knitting mojo back.
Happy knitting and Enjoy your day!
Here are some pictures!!!

Knit Picks Interchangeable Needles

My order for the Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Needle set came in and I'm so excited, I have been wanting to have this set for awhile. The set came with 9 needles from size 4 to 11, 2 24" cable, 2 32" cable, end caps, cable keys and a zippered vinyl clear case.I paid $84.99 for the set,  it's a lot of money but It's worth it and I don't think I will be buying anymore needles anytime soon. I previously tried their Try it needle set with 3 different type of needles steel, plastic and wood. I have always like to knit with my bamboo needles made by Clover since the yarn just glide thru it. So when I tried the Options, I specially like the Harmony Wood, it holds/grip the yarn just the right way and the tip is pointy, which I really love since I am working on lace shawls. I also like the color of the needles and the fact that it is interchangeable so I can switch needles anytime as well as the cables. It is very easy and practical when making shawls. I would start with the shortest cable and switch to longer cable as my work progress, this way I can see my work well. I would definitely recommend the Harmony Wood Interchangeable Needles.(Note: I am not being paid by the company). But you can always get their Try it needles first just like what I did to get a feel of the product. Now I have to continue working on my endless WIP' :D
Happy Knitting everyone and have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday and Totoro Hat

10 days before Christmas! Oh my., I started knitting Christmas presents since August and still I have more to go at least in my mind. I should just be happy on what I have now instead of thinking adding more stuff like hats, mitts to go with the scarf. On top of that I will have to wrap and mail them too.And then I have some other projects in between. Well today's WIP Wednesday is a Faire Isle ear flap hat for Brianna's mom. My daughter gifted her an ear flap hat last week for her birthday and Brianna's mom loved it so Brianna ask(thru my daughter) if I can make one for her mom and she will supply the yarn (how sweet!). I told her I'll make one and not to worry about the yarn since I have the blue and white in my stash.I also finished my daughter's Totoro Hat and of course as usual it was small , thank God for blocking. I keep on forgetting to adjust the size even if the instructions says it will fit an adult head :)
Here are my pictures, enjoy and have a nice day!

Totoro Hat! If you are wondering what Totoro is, It was a character from a Japanese fantasy anime movie called My Neighbor Totoro.

Earflap hat, I still have to work on the sides and ties!

Shawl/Shawlette Progress....

Okay so far I made it to the first 22 rows of lace and working on the repeats. I did not have to ripped back my work since I have place a lifeline but im still keeping it just in case.It looks wonky right now hopefully it will look better after blocking.

Happy knitting and Enjoy your weekend!!

Lifelines in knitting

Wow it's November already, hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween, I still have sugar rush just by giving treats to little monsters and also big ones in my neighborhood. I manage to have 3 projects in my needles so far, 2 projects are pretty much the easy shawl and the one row scarf, yes I'm still working on my Christmas presents, hopefully ill get them done by the end of this month. I actually challenge myself by knitting my first lace shawl. I use a pattern that I got from Ravelry, it should be a beginner lace shawl/shawlette but I actually frogged it so many times but I am not going to give it up, so far I am on Row 9 ... 63 more to go :D and I do not want to ripped my project back from the beginning if I make another mistake which I am sure will happen so I decided to try the lifeline which is pretty much a scrap yarn threaded through the live stitches on the project, as you continue knitting,the scrap yarn will stay on the stitches and if for some reason you make or I make a mistake and needs to rip back I only have to rip back up to the lifeline (scrap yarn on your stitches), this makes a lot of sense and it would help prevent frustration from starting all over again especially when working on lace pattern. On the picture below is what i have knitted so far and as you can see there is a white scrap yarn for my lifeline, I will keep going and plan to place lifeline maybe every 5 rows just to be safe. I will try to post more pictures of my progress. Happy Knitting!!

Fingerless Mitts

Photos of the most recent FO's, fingerless mitts I made for my daughters. The pattern is available in Ravelry, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alices-mitts.

WIP Wednesday

I started this earflap hat for my daughter on Monday, and I should finished it today. Im thinking it might be small for her since she wears her hat differently, she does not pull it all the way down, I guess Ill just wait and see until its all done.