speaking of knitting...

I've got more! Immediately upon finishing my sweater, I got going on a hat that I had promised my boss last winter. To be fair, she was buying the yarn and didn't do it until January, so it wasn't entirely my fault that it didn't get done until now. I wasn't really looking forward to this, I'm not sure why. It was just a simple hat and only took me about a week, but I guess I was just anxious to get on to other projects for myself! I used the large earflap hat pattern (found via Ravelry) since she has sort of a large head, and also wanted it fleece lined. I was thinking it was a little late in the year for fleece lined but since it's been below zero for the past two days, it seems like it was just right.

When I posted about Jared's hat, I had a few requests for fleece-lining instructions. I didn't respond (sorry!) mostly because I wasn't really sure what to say- you see, I just sort of fudged it until it fit right. Jared's hat was a bit harder since it was cabled and stretched quite a bit because of that. Since this hat was just stockinette, I was able to just trace it onto two pieces of fleece, sew the fleece together, and then handstitch (with the yarn) the lining around the bottom edge. Maybe I can come up with a tutorial for that if anyone is interested in more detail. Even though I wasn't that excited about this project, I ended up being really happy with how it came out- it just looked so professional! And my boss was pretty happy with it too, so that's always a bonus!
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Pattern: Large Earflap Hat by Omly
Yarn: Universal Yarn Deluxe Worsted LP
Needles: Size 8 circulars
Modifications: Added fleece lining and braided ties on ends of the earflaps.
{on ravelry here}

The project that I immediately moved onto after that hat was yet another pair of fingerless mitts. But these are for me! (The first two pairs were gifts). I actually made these back in January, but since I used a yarn with a larger gauge (and didn't pay attention to that, ahem) they were way too loose and I just knew I'd never want to wear them. So I ripped them out and decided to remake them a bit smaller. To be honest, they could probably be a bit smaller still, but I'm going to leave them be.

I think I may have worn this pattern out for now. Though I do have some ideas for more fingerless mitts, possibly a few pairs for the shop? Just in time for spring? We'll see. Also, the lovely (again) ladies from my knitting group showed me how to cable without a cable needle (why did I not learn how to do this before) which makes these much less clumsy to knit (take four double pointed needles, throw in a cable needle, and see how that goes).
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Pattern: Fetching by Cheryl Niamath
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool
Needles: Size 6 dpn (and no cable needle!)
Modifications: I only cast on 40 stitches (instead of 45) and did the first and last rows in a contrasting color. With this yarn, you could probably go down to 35 sts.
{On ravelry here}

So there we have it. Two more knitting projects down. And on to the next one...