Intermission.

Well, the Beard Hat has been moving along at a slower pace than I really wanted. I got all the stuff together that I needed - planned out what I was going to do, and knit the hat itself.
When I made the original, I took the design that I found online, and altered the beard a little. But the thing I changed the most was that I decided to knit the hat first, and then pick up the stitches for the beard on the bottom of the hat. This allowed me to have a fold up brim, and give the hat itself more of a home knitted look.

So, I finished the hat for this project fairly quickly. But then I realised that I didn't have the yarn I wanted for the beard, so I put it on hold for a few days. Then I realised that I'd actually knit the hat using needles that were far too big for what I wanted, leaving me with too few stitches to pick up the stitches for the beard around it. Right then. Back to the drawing board.

I couldn't face starting the hat from scratch right away, so I took a little break to knit my daughter a hat for these cooler fall days.
I found the pattern in a Pattons spring book, and the original was knitted as Fairisle. I felt that a deep red would be a better option for the season, and I was right.
This is the best earflap hat that I've knitted. It's knit from the top down, and I find that decreasing on the earflaps is far better than trying to increase on them - you get a much smoother curve on them.
Now I need to work on a bigger version for Beth...

Right, back to the Beard Hat.

Beard Hat

It's been a VERY long time since I posted on here, but it's time that I started again. It must be. My wife said so.

Since I last posted, things have changed quite a bit. Our little girl is getting bigger and bigger. Beth (my wife) is juggling school and a fabulous new job, and I'm about to start full time as a tattoo artist. When I last posted, we were living downtown Toronto, and I was taking the subway to work every day. I like knitting on the subway. It's relaxing, I have nothing else to do, and it doesn't make me feel sick.

Then we moved to North York for a bit. I had to take the bus to work from that house. I don't like knitting on the bus, because it DOES make me feel sick. So I pretty much stopped knitting.

Now, we've moved again, and I'm back on the subway. So I've picked up my needles again.

Something else has made me take up my favourite hobby again. There has been renewed interest in a project I worked on about a year ago.
A friend of mine had seen a picture online of a beard hat. He wondered if I could make something like that. I searched the internet for some ideas, and found a pattern that someone had made.
I adapted the pattern for my own purposes, and knit this little beauty up.

I've had a lot of requests for these, but I've not been in a position recently to do anything about it. But now I am.

The only thing is, I never saved my version of the pattern. And I remember that I changed it significantly. Ah well, back to the drawing board, I guess. I'll let you know how I get on. And then I'll save the pattern and post it here.

Knitting on Demand

First things first: yes, that was a picture of my wife in my last post, and yes, she is smoking hot. Now, on to business.
I've been knitting quite a lot recently. Of course, I've had to squeeze it into the commutes when I don't take Adelaide to Grandma's house in the car, and into lunch breaks, but I've found myself on a bit of a roll anyway. There's been a bit more time at home too, because my little treasure of a daughter is sleeping a little more consistently now.
The funny thing is, I've been knitting for other people. That isn't unusual in itself - if you look back over this blog, you'll see that I mostly knit for other people. What I'm finding to be different is that now I'm knitting for other people at their request.
The first real request I got (more than just a 'will you knit me something?' came from a place I never would have suspected. When my brother-in-law came to visit from England, he came with strict instructions from his boss. Brett is a policeman in my home town, and he works in the Divisional Support Unit. You don't really need to know much more than that. Bethany and I struck up a friendship with his boss, Tom, when we went to a Wednesday match him and his daughter a while back, and he had obviously heard about my new passion for knitting. When Brett asked what he should bring back from Canada for the station, Tom asked for a DSU scarf for the wall. So I set to work, knitting my first requested piece - a police scarf. Strange, eh?

Then the requests started coming in more frequently. I was asked by my colleague to make her a hat. I went for a stitch pattern I found in Mary Webb's Knitting Stitches called Candleflame Lace. I chose a rather nice springy yellow to suit the season, and set to work on it. (It didn't really turn out to be her colour, though, and I had spent too much time and effort on it not to give it to Bethany instead - she's modeling it here.) My friend Mel asked for a pair of fingerless gloves to match a hat someone had knit her. They turned out pretty good too.
Then my sister-in-law wanted a beret. Strange choice for her, but it turned out to really suit her. So much so that Beth had me knit one for her too. Beth's wearing hers in this picture. I knit Becca's in a really nice chunky chocolate brown.
The other request I've had recently was for a pattern. A friend from back in the UK had seen the Milky Way hat on this blog, and asked for instructions on how to make one herself. I hadn't written one properly when I made it, so I had to write them up from scratch, carefully investigating the hat to check what I'd done. I guess that'll teach me to not keep a scrapbook as I knit. I'll get the pattern online when I get half a chance.
I'm still finishing the scarf (I kept getting bored with it and having to knit something else for a while), but other than that, I have nothing on the order list. Time to indulge and knit a little something for myself, I think. I'm thinking a grey moss stitch hat. Maybe I'll throw some cables in too. I figure I'd better get the sketchbook out, then.

Want me to knit you something? Got any ideas for what I could do with my grey hat? Comment on this post, or drop me a line at salvatordarling@gmail.com

I Know What I Said, But...

Look. I'm aware of the fact that I've said I don't like knitting in the round. I've made my reasons clear, and I'm sticking to them. They are all valid arguments for sticking to long straight needles. But I can't stop! I put the finishing touches to the Dashing gloves a couple of weeks ago, started a hat for Beth, did a bit of the scarf for Brett, worked on a pattern for a hat for Liz, but I couldn't resist the temptation to knit Mel's fingerless gloves. I'm back on the double pointers. They're addictive. And look at the results. Beth and I have been using them to keep our hands warm in the late winter days here in Toronto. We both busted them out for a day on Bloor Street a week ago. It was warm today, and I still wore mine, because I think that they look fantastic.
I'll knit something else soon, I'm sure. I'd better do, because these tiny sharp needles are starting to damage my hands. When I do, I'll make sure to let you know.

Round we go...

I've been thinking. Knitting in the round produces results, but I don't think that it is really my thing. I know I've mentioned this in passing before, but this time I'm serious.
I made a pair of Fetching Fingerless Gloves for Beth, which I knit on double-pointed needles, and I've just finished my own fingerless gloves. Mine were going to be Dashing, but when I looked at the pattern, I realised that they'd need a bit of altering to suit my tastes. The almost finished right hand glove is pictured here.
I'm with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee on this one. Knitting in the round is really fantastic for a few reasons. I don't really like sewing seams up, and I'm sure when you get on to sweaters that really makes a difference. I also don't like wearing things with seams if I can avoid it. Particularly not gloves. So if I want gloves, I'm knitting in the round. That's that.
But it just takes longer! I don't care what you say, it isn't quicker. And it's awkward to hold all those needles. Circular needles are cumbersome too. And then you have to get the right length cord on them. With double points, there's more needles to lose, and more ends to stab yourself with. There's more ends to drop stitches off in your bag too. When you knit with colours in the round, you have to use two hands, which is trickier. I've heard all sorts of reasons why people like doing it, but it doesn't sit with me. Stephanie agrees with me, and claims to be the last hold out for long straight needles.

The news is broken. She's not the last hold out at all. There's two of us. And I bet there's even more.

Are you one of the lovers of straight needles? Are you irritated with knitting in the round? Are you frustrated with having to juggle more spikes than seems strictly necessary or even safe? Then you can join our support group. Or leave a comment on here to encourage other knitters anyway...

Very little sleep.

Things are a bit different around here now. I don't have as much time for knitting, that's for sure. But my daughter is incredible, so my lack of knitting time pales in comparison. Someone who had a little more time to get the needles moving is my mum. My parents visited the last couple of weeks, so that they could meet their granddaughter. I took them to Romni on Queen, and my mum had me pick out a pattern and some yarn to go with it. Then she made it. You can't see it so easily in the picture, but she made a beautiful blanket in stocking stitch with garter stitch edging, and a garter stitch heart in the middle. The heart and the top and bottom borders also have a bobble pattern. What you definately can't see is the matching cardigan that goes with it. The pattern is SIRDAR cardigan and blanket, and they're knitted in SIRDAR Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK. We went for the cream for the blanket, and the teal for the cardigan. They came out stunning. The yarn is beautiful too.

As you can see, Adelaide does sleep sometimes (although far less than I would have thought), and I do still have my Subway journey to and from work, so there is a little knitting time for me. Although my productivity has certainly slowed, I've had time to finish Beth's Fetching fingerless gloves (more on those soon), and start my Dashing fingerless gloves (more on those soon too). I've also completed my Long Lost Whitby Hat. If you remember, I told you the story of this hat. I had bought it in Whitby, North Yorkshire, when I was 13. I wore it everywhere. Never have I found a hat that I wore so consistently, and managed not to lose for so long. Nor have I ever owned another hat that my mother hated so much. In this picture (excuse the poor quality, it's scanned and blown up rather larger than the original), you can see that it became very dishevelled looking.
Nontheless, when I finally lost it in the move to Canada last year, I was distraught. I didn't know what to do with myself. I had no way of replacing this precious hat. Perhaps this is why I took up knitting. I have knit enough hats now to have a fair idea of their construction, so I started drawing up plans to reconstruct my favourite piece of headgear.

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it means something to me, and I rather like it. If you fancy making one, you can have a look at the pattern here. I don't like the Google document format it's in, but I can't think of anywhere to store the PDF version online at the moment. All suggestions are welcome, as are comments on my hat. Let me know what you think.
Right, I'm off to try and catch as much sleep as I can before my adorable little bundle of joy wakes up crying.

Knit together in her mother's womb.

Well, as you can see, I don't have much time for knitting at the moment. I was nearly done the left hand of Beth's Fetching fingerless gloves, with only the thumb to finish, when she called me from the bedroom and asked if we could start timing her contractions yet.
As we predicted, we drove to the hospital in a CRAZY snowstorm. Beth did an incredible job, and at 3:26pm on Wednesday, our beautiful little girl, Adelaide Selah Hardy came out to meet us. She stayed with mom in hospital on the first night, and yesterday they declared that both mother and baby were doing fine, so we brought our amazing little package home.
I'm sure that the knitting will commence again at some point soon. Little Adelaide needs lots of lovely hand knits. But for now, I have a diaper to change...