Stranded.... and LOVING Every Single Stitch of it!!

I am not sure what took me so long.... i LOVE color... the combining and pariring of colors specifically. I have knit for about 4 years now. Everything else in knitting has come super easy to me. So why I have not given stranded knitting a go until now... I have no idea. About 3 1/2 years ago i did some intarsia... which was easy enough. That was the first and last time that I did any kind of colorwork.



I am now working on a secret project that has called for me to give it a whack. And lo and behold... it is ridiculously easy and FUN!! To practice stranding for said secret project I have chosen to make an earflap hat. I trolled around ravelry to find a cool basic pattern that i could throw some super simple blocks of color into. I hit pay dirt when I found the Earflap Hat Pattern Generator!!!!! It's a super cool, and super easy "pattern" that uses short rows to create double thick earflaps. You plug in your stitch and row gauge, the generator does the math and gives you a pattern. Once you have your numbers, then start knitting the inside hem (yes the headband is double thick as well) you knit 3-ish inches, do your cool short row flaps, and then begin the outer 3 inches of your headband. You can end your colorwork there or carry it up to the top of the hat. OR... You can do a three needle bind off and just sport a headband with earflaps.



The yarn for my hat is Malabrigo worsted merino in Frank Ochre. Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in Rosado Rose. And Jil Eaton Minnow Merino in Orangini. I used a US #8 addi turbo.

I was so enamored with how the hat was looking right after completing the earflaps.... that i wore it like lion's ears and snapped a pic for the camera.

Yellow Monday Yellow....

Yellow Monday, originally uploaded by punk rawk purl.

I often discover that in my day to day life.... i.e. not planned out... not staged... I end up developing unintended very distinct and striking color palettes.

Today I grabbed one of my MANY coats as I was on my way out the door. I tossed it on the passenger seat... atop one of my MANY hand knit scarves that had been on the passenger seat for a week or longer. I went to place a large package on the floor of the car and picked up one of my FEW umbrellas, which has been floating around in the car during the last couple weeks of insane rain. I tossed the umbrella on the seat... and noticed that the entire seat was glowing!

Today was already an exceptionally sunny day... and my rainy weather gear... kicked it up a notch.

"Be Still My Bacon Heart"

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all of you!

I knit an anatomically accurate heart for my valentine. And although this Valentine post is belated... the heart was completed well before February 14th.

The pattern is from Knitty... it is called... are you ready for this... Heart. It was a quick-ish knit... or maybe I was just having so much fun knitting it.. and so much excitement knowing that the recipient would adore it that I could not put it down for a minute.

I even knit the whole thing on double pointed needles!!! I could have easily used magic-loop. Which as the entire world knows, i am in love with the loop of magic. But I had so much fun using double pointed needles again. I did use a 32" addi as a stitch holder, I didn't want my addis to feel left out.



As I had suspected... the recipient LOVED it. He has a bacon fetish... well fetish makes it sound sexual... which I don't think it has gone quite that far... but let's just say that he is obsessed with Bacon. So I titled this project "Be Still My Bacon Heart". I made a little banner with the title and our names and the date on it. And of course I did not photograph that before handing this heart over... haha