Cold-Ear Remedies

I made my own Holiday Lights Tam after my mom's was such a success.

I’ve had a sock project on my needles for awhile, but something strange happened in the past month that really threw a wrench in the works: It snowed. A lot.

I’ve lived in Montana for a long time. Long enough that snow in January shouldn’t take me by surprise, but that’s exactly what happened this year. So, while I desperately wanted to work on my bamboo lace socks in preparation of spring, my sad little ears kept asking for hats. And really, who am I to say no to cold ears?

Over the past month four hats have come off my needles, and one didn’t even stay with me.  (My mom loves her Garden Party Lights Tam, by the way).

Just in the past two weeks I supplemented by beautiful Rose Red cabled slouchy hat with my very own Holiday Lights Tam (which I call my Scarlet Beaded Tam) and a simple blue-green beret using yarn leftover from my dad’s Christmas Cobblestone sweater.

My Farmer's Market Beret features a charming vintage button detail.

My Farmer’s Market Beret is made using Hannah Fettig’s Early Morning Beret pattern and features a vintage button from a collection my mom gave me more than a year ago. As a full-sized beret this hat is much slouchier than my tam or my Rose Red hat, but by this summer my hair will have grown out even more and I think this hat will look great and keep my ears warm when I hit the early morning farmer’s market by the river.

Since I finished my Scarlet Beaded Tam yesterday I haven’t looked at a single hat pattern on Ravelry, but I have completed a lace repeat on my socks. I think it’s safe to say that my ears are satisfied, which is good because it started to warm up a bit this week I feel confident that spring will in fact arrive soon. I’d better have some charming lace socks ready to go when it gets here.

My Scent of Lavender Socks.

I am working down the leg of the second sock at the moment, so hopefully I’ll have a completed pair by the end of next weekend. I love the pattern and I love this yarn (courtesy of my brother-in-law). Can’t wait to wear these with some cute shoes!

Project details

Scarlet Beaded Tam

Pattern: Holiday Lights Tam, Catherine Shields, Interweave Knits Winter 2011

Yarn: Cascade Ultra Pima, 220 yards, 100% pima cotton, colorway: 3713, purchased at Loopy Knit/Crochet in Missoula, Mont.

Needles: US 3 40″ circular (magic-loop for brim), US 5 16″ circular, US 5 40″ circular (magic-loop for crown)

Other: 360 size 6/0 Czech glass seed beads, color: black diamond, purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics

Farmer’s Market Beret

Pattern: Early Morning Beret, Hannah Fettig, knitbot

Yarn: Berroco Comfort, 210 yards, 50% acrylic / 50% nylon, colorway: Honeyberry Heather

Needles: US 7 40″ circular needles (magic loop method)

Other: 1″ vintage button, mother-of-pearl color

Scent of Lavender Socks

Pattern: The Scent of Lavender, Stephanie van der Linden, Around the World in Knitted Socks

Yarn: Quo Vadis Handspun San Bamboo, 328 yards, 75% bamboo / 25% nylon, colorway: The Lost City

Needles: US 1 32″ circular (magic loop method)

Sorry for the short post, but as you can see, I’ve been busy knitting.

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New Additions

This strawberry yarn bowl was made by a local artist and purchased at Loopy Knit/Crochet.

This Christmas some new knitting materials came into our house. Firstly, my mom (knowing that I love to shop local) contacted the owner of Loopy Knit/Crochet in Missoula and purchased this locally made yarn bowl and some yarn for me.

I’ve been wanting a yarn bowl for about a year now. That special cutout in the side helps me pull up my yarn from its ball, while the bowl keeps the yarn from rolling around the floor and getting covered in bunny fur … or attacked by the bunny.

This bowl is a great size. The yarn is a skein of Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted Cotton in the “True Red” colorway. The skein is 150 yards, a common size for a single skein of yarn, so this bowl should hold any yarn I’m working with perfectly.

The design of the bowl itself also couldn’t be more perfect for me. I love strawberries, and when I was a little girl, my favorite time of year was the summer Strawberry Festival. One year my mom even made me a strawberry dress especially for the festival. Moms remember this kind of stuff, and it made this great Christmas present even better.

This hand-dyed vegan sock yarn is based on the colors of "The Castle in the Sky".

My youngest brother-in-law also hit a homerun with my Christmas gift this year. I’m always drooling over the beautiful, hand-dyed yarns created by Quo Vadis Handspun. Much of this yarn is dyed in colorways based on the palettes of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli animated films. This yarn is based on the colors of Laputa, the hidden flying city in my favorite Miyazaki film: The Castle in the Sky.

This skein of yarn will make one pair of socks, but I’m still undecided on which pattern I’ll use. The yarn itself is 75% bamboo/25% nylon, so it will be shiny, light and stretch back into shape. I’m going to look for a pattern using lace or cables to highlight the gorgeous colors.

New England Knits is a great book published by Interweave Press.

The final addition to my knitting collection this Christmas was a large stocking stuffer picked out by my husband. New England Knits by Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre has great patterns for pullover and cardigan sweaters, as well as some really cute hats.

Many of my knitting books are focused on socks (unsurprisingly) but it will be nice to have this beautiful collection of patterns to pull from for larger projects.

I’m still knitting away on Ismael’s Stepping Stones socks, which are working up beautifully. Hopefully I’ll have finished project photos for your on Monday.

Happy weekend, and Happy New Year to all my readers!