Thursday, October 24, 2013

Keeping warm

Each year, I try to make it until November 1st before I turn the heat on. With a good stash of knitted accessories, and a stack of blankets all over the house, I'm generally successful.

But not this year. The temperature has dropped dramatically, and the tile floors throughout this place don't do much to make a cozy environment. (Though they are easy to clean, so I count that as a win!). Last night I caved and put the heat on. I'm keeping it low though, so that still means I'm wrapped up in blakents, thinking warm thoughts....

So what better time for Practical Crafts to ask me to test knit a nice cozy winter hat? 
Nice snug ribbing, a must-have for a hat!

As you know, I'm not a huge fan of colourwork. Oh, I love how it looks, but the execution of it... I've gotten better at it, but I'll still opt for lace over colour almost every time. But I saw the hat she was making... maybe it was the colours - I don't know, it just grabbed me. I asked her what pattern is was, only to learn it was one she was just winging. (That's some pretty good winging!)
Look at those even stitches, I might be getting the hang of this!
But she put it all down on paper and asked me to give it a test knit. How could I say no? I'm using up some left over grey MadTosh Heritage from the Eileen Cardigan I knit for Mom. The pink is some Big Cat (non-superwash version) left over from the French Press Slippers I made for my sister-in-law. I was planning to put this in the Christmas box, but the more I'm working on it, the more I'm thinking it might go into my own winter woolies basket.... maybe with some mitts to match....

9 comments:

Rachelle said...

Love that colour combination!

Araignee said...

It's cold here too. We've already set up the outdoor heated cat huts and I am in worry wart mode about them being out in it all night. Silly things. They come in to eat and then out they go leaving me feeling guilty. We actually have made two first already and it's not even Halloween. They are putting up the Christmas lights in town-maybe they jinxed us.
I love the hat. I have the materials here to start another Faux Isle. I need to get on that. Brrrr......

Trish said...

I am the opposite and will almost always choose colorwork over lace :)

RobinH said...

I love the color combo!

And I didn't like doing colorwork myself until I mastered the two-handed technique. Even though I'm still really slow knitting English style, with two colors, it just seems to fly.

Anonymous said...

It's looking good!

Minding My Own Stitches said...

It is cute so far - and your tension looks perfect!

Unknown said...

Really nice project! Yes, it looks beautiful!

kathy b said...

Very very pretty. the pink makes it POP

lexa said...

Love the look of your project so far!

I haven't turned the heat on here yet. But it has gotten cold here nights, so I may have to break down soon. They furnace will probably only run for a bit in the morning and maybe late evening. The house warms up nicely during the day, especially if it's sunny because we get sun in the front of the house pretty much all day long.