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Here’s the hat I just finished for my brother-in-law:

He’s always cold, everywhere he goes, all the time – for his birthday, we got him an electric blanket for his bed. His knitting request was for a hat, a Very Warm Hat, that was similar to the pirate hat (Ravelry link) that I had made for my husband. I chose Swish DK because it’s superwash merino – he’s a little itch-sensitive, so I wanted something super soft, and there was a good chance of the hat getting less-than-attentive treatment in the laundry.

I used the free We Call Them Pirates pattern (Ravelry link) for the shape of the hat, but I used a chart from a different free pattern to use classic Space Invaders in the two-color stranded knitting. The hat also has a sewn hem at the brim, …

Don’t worry, I’m not wandering away from knitting and spinning! But, the gang in Connecting Threads has become obsessed with English Paper Piecing. It is a fast, easy and fun way to hand piece an entire quilt! No sewing machine necessary! And, it’s portable because you are working on little pieces!
It also turns out to be a perfect baby shower project. As you can see, even a complete quilting novice (me) can stitch together a little piece of the quilt. This is for Teri who is expecting her first baby. Stars and Hexagons have been distributed to people throughout the company – decorative painters, knitters and the quilters. I have to say that is was very soothing to work on my little star. I did the whole thing on the craft night before we left on vacation.

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This classic, Elizabeth Zimmermann project has been on my “Really Need to Knit Some Time” list. Thanks to Bob’s son, Adam, I finally got to make one!! It is absolutely fantastic on every level –
1 – Fast to knit
2 – Easy to knit
3 – Every guy in the office likes it. A couple even tried it on and I was a bit concerned I wasn’t going to get it back.
4 – It looks good on me!!! I am going to make one in “my” colors ASAP. No, I DO NOT want to hear from any of my friends in Tina’s UFO group. If you had just finished knitting this hat, you would have more compassion.
5 – It’s reversible
6 – With one end tucked into the other there are two layers on your head and four layers over your ears.
It’s heading off to Princeton this morning. I suspect Adam still has …

We’ve added a new poll at the bottom of the page for March. Let us know which fibers do you like working with in the Spring! <

Every time I write about a new project, I cringe waiting for Tina’s UFO group to swoop down and give me a lecture. But, this falls into an interesting category of projects. It’s the “Can’t Remember Where I Put My ____________?” category. I know that I want this hat for next winter. The odds of my remembering to knit it before next winter, given my age related memory issues, is pretty slim. If I add it to my To Do List, I might get it finished by September 2009.
I put stripes of a third color on Adam’s hat. The original pattern had you using the “reversible” color as a stripe. I think I like that better. And, I think I will use a two-color pattern instead of a stripe. A bit more feminine. Here are the colors I’m thinking of using – Swish DK – Grain Heather and Persimmon Heather. …

We launched the Knitting Community last March, and it took just under a year for us to reach 10,000 members! To celebrate, we’re giving a $20 Knit Picks gift certificate to #9999 (congratulations, Hind!) and a $50 gift certificate to #10,000 (congratulations, Linda Nelson!).
Thanks to all of you for joining. The users in the Knitting Community are so friendly and helpful, and it’s been really exciting watching all the activity and sharing in your knitting lives through your blog posts, photos, questions and comments. <

I finished my first lace project!

I was inspired by Franklin Habit’s Night Cap on Knitty.

So Alison helped me alter the pattern to make a scarf, knitting straight instead of in the round and helped me choose yarn and needle size.

Alison said to show off the beautiful pattern I should choose a yarn with sheen. She also said I could get away with a worsted, so I chose Shine. Here’s where the problem came in. I found some Shine in my stash that I had received from our stash swap party. The color was Sea Scape. I happily started knitting away. I came to the end of my second ball and went to order more, only to discover that we haven’t carried that color since 2007. Oops.
After asking advice from a couple people …

I am so pleased that the four colors for The Moderne Baby Blanket are working well together. I’m using Swish Worsted in Delft Heather, Copper, Merlot Heather and Camel Heather. I still have lots knitting!
I did enjoy knitting Delilia’s Log Cabin blanket from the same book, Mason Dixon Knitting, but I didn’t enjoy having it being the result of three failed attempts at a regular Moderne Baby Blanket. My inability to pull together four feminine colors that looked good together gave me a huge pile of yarns to use for the Log Cabin.

I just love having such a soothing, garter stitch project at hand. Bob’s youngest son, Jon, is in town for two weeks. Then he will be shipping out to Iraq with a small group of Marines. I don’t think I would be able to knit on …