A Finished Object....Plus MORE on the Needles

Geez.....one project down and another "jumped" onto the needles....even before I finished the latest one. I'll start with the finished object - A Retro Cloche Stash Hat from "Knit on the Net" by "Just call me Ruby".

This hat really worked up fast! I started it on Sunday night and finished it up on Monday morning! I made it from Elle Elite DK - a 50%wool/50% cotton blend. I love how the brim rolls up. (Sorry...my photos don't really show the hat well....you'll have to refer to the link above for a better photo of the finished hat.) The only thing I have left to do is find a fabulous ribbon tie!









I finally started a pair of socks using the Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn. It's a 4-ply superwash Merino wool yarn that's beautifully dyed and comes in a fabulous range of colors. I've purchased my stash at several different yarn shops but did pick up some of my colors at Nature's Yarns. This particular color way is called "Fruit Coulis". They have lots of lovely color ways currently in stock - yum!

The interesting this with these socks is that I started knitting them on size 0's with 64 stitches, but decided that it would make very dense socks. The colors forming a 1 cm spiral around the cuff - which I dearly loved, so it was hard to "rip them back" and try them on a larger needle. I wish I'd taken a picture of the original attempt on the size 0's for contrast)

I opted to try the US 1 1/2 needles and cast on 56 stitches. I definitely did NOT like the look of my sock on those - a full half of the sock (pretty much straight up the cuff) was the darker purple....and one half had the mottled coloring.

Back to the frog pond I went. After ripping them back, I cast on 56 stitches using US 1 double points. I like the result much better. Not as much as the original look that I had when I used the 0's, but it will suffice. There's still quite a bit of "pooling", but at least it's forming somewhat of a design in the process - a definite "zig-zag". I want to finish the first sock to see what it will look like before I make my final decision and commit to doing the second sock the same way.









I made it to Reston SnB again last Wednesday. As always, I had an absolutely fabulous time. There were probably about 16 or 17 of us there last week - and EVERYONE was so friendly! The variety of projects that are in process with a group of that size is inspiring - that's where I truly "fell in love" with the "Irish Hiking Scarf". (Christine had shown me hers a couple of weeks ago...and that's all it took!) I definitely make a point of joining them when I can't make it to the Wednesday night Yoga sessions! I've even been able to reconnect with some folks that I haven't seen for a long time! Oh....and "Happy Birthday" to Marie...the wonderful organizer of the group!

On Monday, "The-Yarn-Obsessed" got together for lunch and knitting to celebrate "President's Day". If you live in Northern VA, you might want to join "The-Yarn-Obsessed" yahoo group - we try to get together occasionally to knit/crochet and eat. Most often, though, we use the board to talk about upcoming fiber events, new

About 8 of us invaded the Panera in Herndon on Monday - quite a lively group! I'm very envious of Elizabeth - she's started her "Wool Peddlers Shawl" (from the book, "Folk Shawls"). My "shawl" is still a "Project-in-Waiting"! I WILL get to it one day soon...I promise! Susan was working on some "Hedera" socks from the Spring 06 issue of Knitty. The pattern is really lovely - now I want to make a pair of those too! I can't remember what everyone else was working on, but I remember lusting after the yarn that both Anita and Sue were knitting with! And I LOVED the vest that Gretchen had completed....it's part angora....yummy!!!!!