Blue Koolhaas

It's 5 AM in my house. My daughter is sick with Steppe throat. I can’t sleep, since I’m wondering if the twinges of pain below my ears are caused by her spreading infection. So, I decided to take my mind off of it and catch up on some blogs.

The second hat I knit for our Guild’s hat contest was the Koolhaas by Brooklyntweed . The original directions for this wonderful creation appeared in the 2007 Holiday issue from Interweave Knits. I loved almost every pattern from this past Holiday issue. I made the December Lights Tam from the from the front cover and Jared’s Koolhass hat. I’m seriously considering the cable gloves and my daughter would like me to knit the messenger bag so she can do the needle felting on the front flap. I could go on-and-on, but, in any case. . . .
Nice issue and nice hat! . . .
I had a few question from guild members about the pattern I used for the hat so here are some details.

One of the rules for our contest was that the yarn should be machine wash and dryable (acrylic). After the contest, all the hat entries were to be donated to the Seven Hills at Groton nursing home. Being acrylics makes it easier for the foundation to care for the hats after being used.
My daughter and I really liked the Koolhaas hat pattern. So, I decided to give it a try. The original pattern calls for the Yak yarn made by Shokay, which doesn’t quite fit into the acrylic category. So, JoAnn Fabric came into play again with Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Yarn.

This yarn weight is a bit thicker than called for so I had to make some adjustment to the stitch count. The pattern diamond pattern is based on a 8-stitch repeat so I adjusted down from 104 stitches to 96 in the round using a size 7 US needle.

I was on a road trip in with my brother when I started testing this pattern. The printed pattern in the magazine relies on symbols to chart the actual stich-work used in the 8-by-8-stitch repeat. I’m pretty good with patterns but it took me awhile to figure this one out. (It could be that I was chatting with my brother the whole way.) I would definitely recommend a practice swatch before beginning, though. Once I understood when to hold the single crossover cable stitch in front or when to hold it in back I was able to knit without checking the pattern.

I did find the decrease instructions for the top of the hat confusing. It might have been that the pattern doesn’t translate well since I decreased the stitch count of the round. Now that I’m not tight for time I hope to repeat the hat for my daughter.

Morning Glories!

Our knitting guild the Nashoba Valley Knitting Guild had its’ hat contest last night and my Morning Glories hat won one of the prizes, the one for most beautiful. Yahoo!!! Here is my daughter modeling it. Excuse me if I say that I’m rather proud since I’ve never won anything before, not even a free scratch ticket. Our Guild even offered the winners prizes. How Cool ! I got a cute measuring tape, a fun knitting bag, a craft necklace, and a gift certificate to, The World of Stitches, a local crafts shop.

I was rather worried since after washing and drying it was not very shapely. I hadn’t knit with multi-stranded colors in awhile. I was rather rusty in the beginning. I was forcing the stranding at the back to be looser than I should have so the bottom was more floppy than I would have like. I was actually going to rip it out and my daughter convinced me to keep it. So I pressed it and wet it and dyed it with a cord and towel. Then it was much better. . .

I bought the yarn on sale in September at Jo-Ann Fabrics. When I bought the yarn I was thinking I might use it for making a hat for the contest. I had been on the prowl for something to use and at $1.97 who could resist. I got one of each color. I bought the yarn thinking of stripes or something colorful. When I took the library hat book home I was immediately inspired by the Morning Glories pattern. Now the saga begins . . .

I had the most of the colors that I needed for the pattern except green. So, coming from a crafty family, I chose to dye the white yarn green. (My mother is a rug hooker extraordinaire and dyes a lot.) Alas, I had only one white that I ball that I needed for the background! Back to Jo-Ann’s for more, what no more! . . . I had to go up to Tewksbury for more. I got it and dyed it!

So in my usual distracted fashion. I finished the hat and got around to the flowers but didn’t sew them together. Yup, Thanksgiving came and went, then Christmas. In between I cleaned up the house for company. The end of January is coming up and “Uh, Oh” I better finish the hat for the contest. After much searching I found the hat part with a bag of unfinished projects but no flowers. I spent one Saturday searching through several boxes of yarn. I finally turned the boxes over and found the flowers hiding in the bottom. Well the pieces are together and I’m happy with the results. All the members who knitted hats did a great job. Take a look at the tableful of hat contest entries. I sure hope all the lucky people at Seven Hills will enjoy them!

Project Details: Morning Glories hat found in the book
Knit Hats! by Gwen Steege

It’s one of the books our Guild has in its collection of lending books.

Yarn: Bellezza Collection Stellina
white, blue, orange, pink, lavender, green (home-dyed)

Needles: 6 US double pointed

Thoughts/Modifications: It was fun. I giggled as I made the flowers. I didn’t totally follow the flower directions though. Since the directions were well written I’m sure the directions would have made fine flowers except it called for knitting them flat. I already knit the hat in the round so why bother with stitching up a seam when I can just knit them in the round.