Beeswax hat for Grandma

This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.

I didn’t do much gift knitting this year because I didn’t have much time with an infant, but I always try to make something for my Grandma. I know she appreciates that I’m thinking of her, not just in the moment of gifting but in the weeks or months that it takes for me to make something.

This year’s gift was a pattern I’d wanted to try for a while, and then it was on sale as part of the “indie gift a long” event where independent designers put patterns on sale before xmas and they give out prizes for people who post the things they’ve made. It’s pretty fun.

Pattern: Beeswax hat by Amy van de Laar

Yarn: Knit Picks Capra

This is not only a pretty pattern, but a very nicely written one with charts and written instructions and tips on a method of doing small cables without a cable needle in a way I hadn’t tried and it turns out I really prefer it. So it’s no exaggeration to say this pattern has changed the way i knit for the better!

I hope it keeps Grandma toasty and warm!

I liked this pattern so much that I promptly made one for myself. It’s a bit too big after blocking, though, so J may get it for Canadian winter protection next year. It was -12C out this December and we were wishing for better ear coverage!

Triangle shawl: 5 shawls 5 days challenge

This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.

I’m trying out the 5 shawls 5 days challenge as a way to practice some shawl construction, since I had to experiment a bunch in a hurry when I was designing the flax shawl for my sister. Also, this is a nice excuse to use some of the yarn samples I never tried from my yarn subscription, so I can tick off an item on this year’s fiber goals.

It started in Monday, but I’ll be posting a day late so I can block my samples and try to get a photo in better light. Here’s a blocking photo in bad light:

Day 1 was a triangle shawl. It’s a pretty familiar shape, though probably not the one I’ve done most often. I put a picot edging on mostly to use up yarn (and as an experiment to see how much the picot edging needed — this was about 3x a regular row’s worth)

Yarn: Rowan Tweed. This is a very solid dk yarn. I like the rustic look, but I’m less excited about the feel, which is itchy. I didn’t mind knitting with it, but it wouldn’t be great for the worn-by-the-face shawls that I make most. It’d be great for a cabled purse or something, though.

This sample came with the February 2016 little beanie bag (I’m not sure there even was a big one then?) and was intended for a cup cozy, which would have been a good fit for this yarn. Alas, as I burn my tongue easily and prefer my drinks lukewarm, I’ve never had much use for cup cozies, so this beanie bag languished in my stash. It had 4 samples, so that will cover most of this week’s mini shawls.