check.

This cable hat became something that was just an item on the to-do list.

All I wanted was to cross it off.

Simple Cable Hat from Cables Untangled; Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Chocolate

Really, after the third time I had to frog several rows of work, I wanted to forgo the entire thing. There is STILL a glaring mistake... I couldn't bear to rip again.

I spent the morning trying to get a good shot of the hat ON my head, then balling yarn.

I frogged an entire sweater made of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora Pure

... and perhaps they will live on again as Juliet scarves.

ISO: cheap and easy

I am trudging through the re-knit of the Simple Cable Hat. To be honest, because I've knit it once, I'm just not as infatuated with the idea of it as a completed project.


As a bribe, today I purchased several skeins of Cotton-Ease for Wicked. Once I've finished the hat, I'll start in on my own easy-peasy, dirt-cheap, no-seaming-required, confidence-boosting sweater. I know, I'm late to the Wicked game, but until I saw it so prolifically and successfully done on Ravelry, I hadn't wanted to knit it. And honestly, I need a good ol' stockinette stitch project.

Since kitchen successes are more easy to come by in the Sheepish household, I share with you our family movie night treat: Snowy Trail Mix. Über-yummy.

a run of bad luck

What can I say? It's not unlike me to have a mistake (or two or three) embedded in a hand-knit. I admit, I'm a perfectionist. As such, I almost always rip back and right the wrong.

I was anxious to finish this Simple Cabled Hat from Cables Untangled tonight -- maybe tomorrow -- and wear it during the forthcoming string of rainy days we're expecting. With only six rounds more to go, I realized that there was something off with my number of stitches. Confident that I had followed the decreasing crown rounds properly, I was a bit unnerved but ripped back about 6 rows anyway. I counted the stitches: still off. Double-checked the directions for said round, and still did not know what had gone awry. Then it hit me: I'd read the pattern wrong long ago. After four inches of K2, P2 rib, I was to increase from 96 sts to 144 sts, then begin the cable pattern. I had only increased to 120 sts and begun the little, squishy cables. Oy.

The cables always get the best of me.

i guess they can't all be winners

Lucky 7 is not so lucky in my hands. Not surprising: I'm generally not lucky when it comes to games, lotteries, or contests.

This hat was intended for an adult. My sister, Kerstin, has a friend who had asked for a non-itchy hand-knit hat. Looking in my stash, I thought that the skein of Araucania Nature Wool Leslie had sent me this fall would be great. After perusing Ravelry, I even saw that others had knit hats from this yarn, so I cast on.

I tried it on my own head during the knitting process and suspected early on that it might be too tight. I went ahead and continued on anyway.


It fits Gavin, who is two.


I have no humility and will say, really, he's adorable. And proves I'm lucky in the ways that truly matter.

cute as a button

I adore this. And hope Jackson and his mommy do, too.

baby blue seas of yarn

The baby blanket that I had previously posted about is finished. Ends were woven in -- and no, it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be -- and it was washed. I had to prove to myself that the sea of blue yarn wasn't going to unweave, wave by wave, in a machine. As much as I would have loved to make this blanket in something soft and pillowy, I'm not sure that any new mother really wants a hand-wash-only baby anything. Machine washing this made me feel better.

Still, washing and pinning dry didn't seem to even out any stitches or help with the garter-stitch border curling under. There's nothing notably off in this project, but I did think that the reverse-stockinette "J" would have looked better after blocking.

In any case, I'd make the blanket again, but only with a different yarn -- like absolutely no percent of acrylic whatsoever -- and I'd reconfigure the sizing of the "J". To put this into perspective: the blanket is about 235 rows tall and the letter chart is only 32 rows of the entirety. I think I'd at least double the initial, length and width.

The last part of Jackson's gift is this Cable and Seed Stitch Baby Hat from purlywhites. Her pattern, in her own words, "is a blatant rip-off of a Debbie Bliss pattern." Much like Sundara, I too feel that Debbie Bliss should rethink pattern writing and start knitting things like hats in the round. There is nothing worse that knitting hats flat, especially for babies who spend so much time laying on what would be a seam. Yuck. I have the Debbie Bliss book that this pattern is in, fell in love with the hat, but turned my nose up at it upon discovering the knit flat aspect.

Anyway, Sundara re-wrote the Debbie Bliss pattern so it can be worked in the round, and every seed stitch still matches up. I leapt for joy. Here was the hat I had wanted to make, with every kink worked out for me. Beautiful.

in which I strive not to be a knave

Pay it forward. I do this sometimes at the drive-thru window at Starbucks; I pay for my coffee and then pay for the car behind me. It's especially fun if I can linger a moment to watch the lucky person flounder a bit and put away money when told that his or her order has been paid for already.

"I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you [...] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro' many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money." -- Benjamin Franklin

There is a Pay It Forward string going through Blogland. Natalie posted about it last week and I was lucky enough to get in on her PIF. Now here's your chance to get in on mine:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

knitting for baby

Can you believe it? I'm NOT knitting socks. I know, I know! Pick up your jaw! Behold: A Blanket for Jackson.

Personalized Baby Blanket from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies; Plymouth Dreambaby DK yarn

Jackson, due in March, is (will be) my husband's cousin's son, and the first grandchild on that side of the family. Surely, he will be a gift-laden newborn! I remembered today how fun it is to shop for a baby -- everything was so teensy and soft. Laurel was with me and commented that "everyone in here is picking something up saying, 'oh, how cute is this?!'" I purchased an adorable sleeper, and I'm hoping to also knit up a baby hat to coordinate with the blanket. Saturday is the baby shower, so I need to finish and block this soon. Oh, and weave in all of those ends -- something I never have to do with socks!