hat

This is my 2009 tally für preemies. You might know that I support the German knit for preemies charity Frühchenstricken, who collect preemie knits and distribute them to the hospitals who request them. I usually send one packet a year, and this is the one for 2009 (they asked me to wait over Christmas to send it, so I only sent it last week).

What I made:
2 cotton blankets, ca 55x60 cm big
5 pairs of preemie socks
5 preemie hats

OK, it's not so much, but hey, every little helps and I know these items will beused by those who need them. Plus preemie knits are so great for quick stashbusting projects!

PS. What do you think about the new background Nick made for me?

My October Small Item is finished! I present to you, the Huge Urchin!

For a little swap hosted by the Ravelry Finnish stashbusting group I knit this red hat. The pattern is called Slouched Tuva hat and it's a really simple, lacey free pattern. And so quick to knit! It took me maybe two evenings to finish the hat.

My swap partner said she has a big head, so I cast on 120 stitches. I did the ribbing on 3,5mm needles and the main part on 4,5mm 40 cm circulars and the crown with 4mm dpns (I don't have 4,5mm dpns, otherwise I would obviously have used them. Didn't really make a difference though.) The yarn is Marika Moon, the same I used for my Versatility.

I noticed I haven't made a work-in-progress post in a very, very long time! So to fix the loss, here are some of my current WIPs.

The first one is my current pride and joy, the Bramblewood vest in the making. I'm making the 40 in size, and was afraid it will be too small, as my gauge was a bit off, but as usual it seems I don't need to worry about that. Even when I measure gauge and everything seems fine, the garment ends up one size too big. So I'm hoping this vest, which should according to calculation be snug, will fit perfectly!

I'm taking part in a crazy Finnish KAL called "Kesäyön hullutus", which translates to "summernight's folly"! The idea is to start a new project every day from the 1st June to the 20th of June, and finish all these projects by the end of July! I joined on the 6th, so I have a few less to do, but still... so therefore small projects are the best in this challenge!

I think preemie hats are the perfect small projects one can make. They're easy, quick and very useful (I'll be sending them to charity).

I'm so behind on blogging my projects! Somehow there's been so many other things to do lately than blogging...

But, I'm slowly working the queue down. First in line is the Star Crossed Slouchy beret (Ravelry) which I finished maybe two weeks ago - and have been wearing it since!

It's so soft and lovely, and fits perfectly! I made it with 4,5mm needles (ribbing) and 5mm needles (the rest). The yarn is Mirasol Miski, 100% baby llama yarn! You can imagine how soft that is..! The colour is Wine. I will definately be using this yarn again, it was really nice to work with and (did I already mention) really really soft!

More Hamster knitting! I made a hat for me, and a hat just for fun.

First my hat. It's the Rinsessa pattern from Ullaneule-web magazine (in Finnish). I made one of these as a Christmas present and just loved making and trying it on, so it was clear I need to make one for me too.

I used Sandnes Garn Smart 100% superwash wool, which knits on 3,5mm needles. I cast on 130 stitches, and the hat came out really roomy, but not too big. No other modifications here! Love the hat, and been wearing it already! Grams: 69 used!

The second hat is not for me, indeed it looks so bad on me that I couln't even model it here (ha!).

I'm taking part in a stashbusting effort: Personal Small Items club. The idea is to bag patterns and yarn from stash for them, one for each month, and then knit them one a month.

I made my bags in December, and I can't wait to get to open the February one!

In the meantime, I'll show my January finished objects. Originally I just wanted to make the Beret easy! beret with a bulky yarn from my stash. I started it (and actually made it all wrong and way too small the first time and ripped back, knit happily and noticed my yarn ran out. So I ripped it up again, and decided to make it in different yarn. I used a beautiful handspun which I got in a recent swap from the US!

The beret was knit with 4,5 mm Knitpicks circulars and 4mm bamboo dpns.

I made these sets as Christmas presents for a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old girls. I hope they like them!

First the turqoise set (Pinja's set from Ullaneule)

For the hat, I CO 104 stitches and made the hat with 3,5mm dpns. The hat is ca 18 cm long - I made the first version too short, had to rip back to knit more rows. The mitts were made 100% according to the instructions.

The yarn is 7-Veljestä Moniraita (I think).

The red set is Rinsessa also from Ullaneule.net, for the 7 year old.

I cast on less stitches as the instruction says to fit a child's head. Also the mitts I cast on 40 stitches instead of 50. The hat is made as instructed, the mitts I modified to mits-mitts, not fingerless.

finished and sent off some Calorimetries and a cat bed to Ompelukerho . I got the Calorimetries' designers approval for making several of them and selling them for charity. The cat bed might be given as a present to an animal shelter (based on Princess Snowball catbed from S'n'B Handbook).

I hope they get some money for the animals with my knits!

Neuloin Ompelukerholle joulumarkkina-myytäviä!