the Akamai Knitter

Thanks to A Loose Knit Group’s goal of making hats for the month of February, I have discovered the pleasure of knitting simple beanies for gifts. These are super quick to knit, taking only a day for me to do.

Pattern: Just Your Basic Beanie

Yarn: Peruvian Sierra Aran in Chestnut and Knitpicks Swish Superwash in Jade

Needles: Size 8US/5mm

I don’t have much worsted or aran weight in my stash so I’m severely tempted to acquire more just to be able to throw a hat on the needles whenever I feel like it. They’re the perfect instant gratification project.

Only I’m running out of heads to put them on and I’m certainly not going to be wearing them in this tropical climate. So I’m searching about for a good charity to hand them off to. I’m hoping to find one with a domestic violence affiliation, but I’m open to suggestions. So if you have a favorite charity, please leave me the information in the comments. :)

A major plus to finding a good charity to knit hats for is the justification it provides for breaking my yarn diet. After all what could be more altruistic then yarn for charity? It’d be for a very noble cause. Really. Stop making those faces.

Did you catch the paw action in my first photo? That’s Scheyer vying for some attention. He’s made himself quite comfortable with us as you can see here.

Kitten love. How sweet it is.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I joined the masses and dived in head first (no pun intended) into the Koolhaas knitting frenzy. Within two days, I was able to finish a man’s hat.

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

Yarn: Swish  in Jade from Knit Picks

Needles: Size 6US/4.0mm and size 8US/5.0mm

Started: February 3, 2008

Finished: February 4, 2008

Size: Men’s

Despite the needle gymnastics I went through, this was really fun to knit. It was easy to get into a comfortable rhythm with the pattern. I was able to clip along at a steady and even pace.

The yarn was soft and willing to yield to the twists and turns I demanded of it. (What with not using a cable needle and all.) Hopefully, the recipient of this hat will find it warm and cozy as well.

I am a little worried that the hat will be too big. Since I don’t have much experience with the size of most men’s heads, I plan on taking it along with me to Aloha Knitters on Thursday to get a consensus. It’s just a little over 9 inches in height if that tells you anything.

Despite my concerns over the size of this hat, I’m already thinking of knitting another one in preparation for next Christmas. That would let me chalk up two scores to my name for A Loose Knit Group, whose project for this month is hats.

Ahh. The heady smell of accomplishment is sweet and these small projects sure do give me a high! :)