Another hat. I like these quick projects. Rae picked the yarn for this one.

• Project – Cobblestones, free on Ravelry
• Needle size – 8
• Yarn – Paintbox Simply Aran

I mentioned last week I have my routine here at Big Canoe … at least for now. During the day I sew downstairs, knitting on my hats when I take breaks and in the evenings I work on my crochet blankets upstairs. Today, I started a new quilt and this evening a new blanket. Tomorrow, I’ll start a new hat. Progress is being made all around not that it was easy getting this blanket started.

Last night I tried several different patterns and hook sizes for this Caron Cotton Cake yarn and nothing worked. I now have two other patterns I’m anxious to try with other yarns, but they weren’t right for this one. At one point I had two different projects on different skeins trying to decide between them and I frogged a couple false starts too.

Tonight I went with a shell pattern and I think it’s going to work.

I finished knitting another hat today.

• Pattern – Ross, found free on Ravelry
• Yarn – Paintbox Simply Aran, colorway is Coffee Bean
• Needle size – 8

Rae looked through my hat yarn when she was here and picked out a couple skeins she liked so I’ll start on a hat for her next.

I finished crocheting this Ripple afghan before we left Big Canoe in October but it still needed all the ends woven in and I got that done today. It was hard to get a good photo of this colorway and this was my best shot. This isn’t the softest yarn to work with especially after working with the Mandala Ombré yarn but the blanket feels soft enough and has good drape.

• Pattern – Easy Ripple, found free on Ravelry.
• Hook size – I
• Yarn – Caron Jumbo, colorway is Garden Grows
• Blanket size is about 45 x 48. I would have made it longer but I only had two skeins of this yarn.

I finished the Linen Stitch afghan last night but I still have to weave those ends in and then I can start a new blanket! Today, I started a new quilt. I’ve got Rae here so I decided to go for easy and pulled a Jelly Roll out and started piecing one of my Boxed Squares quilts. It takes just one Jelly Roll and makes a nice lap size quilt.

This is my favorite guy hat to knit and it’s free on Ravelry.

• Pattern – Ross
• Needle size – 8
• Yarn – Caron one pound. I’m not sure what the colorway is called but it’s a dark gray or black heather

The turkey masks fit … gobble gobble. I’m helping with Rae’s school again. Just 3 days this week and 3 days next week with Rae and then we will not be seeing the kids until after the holidays or until things improve (they’ve been cautious the last two weeks and not around people without masks and distancing). They are trying on the masks but we didn’t wear masks while they were here. We’ve seen the kids all along and have tried to be careful but it’s just too much to try and continue to track and isolate from them when they’ve been with other family and with the COVID numbers still climbing.

• Pattern – Citrus hat, found free on Ravelry
• Needle size – #4 for ribbed cuff, #6 for body of the hat
• Yarn – Caron Cupcake

This yarn comes in cute color ways but I just don’t like how it works up as well as I do other yarns. It’s an acrylic which makes it easy care but it doesn’t have the elasticity I like and find even in other acrylic yarns. I still have several skeins of it and I will use them but I don’t think I’ll be buying more of it and I think I’ll stick to basic fold up cuff hats for the rest of it.

I was going to use the pattern on the yarn band but I’d forgotten it was knit flat vs in the round so I just made it up as I went along. It’s taken me a long time in knitting to be able to make something without a pattern but I’m at that point that I can use a stitch dictionary to come up with a scarf or blanket and I can knit plain hats without too much thought.

• Cast on 96 stitches
  • K2P2 ribbing for 2 inches then knit until hat measures 6 inches from cast on edge.
  • I calculated the crown decreases using the method described on this site
    • https://fortheknitofit.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/knitting-101-hats-decreasing-the-crown/
• Yarn – Caron Cupcake
• Needle size – 6
• Size – this hat is child size but does fit on my head. Knit hats have plenty of stretch so I find I don’t have to worry about hitting an exact size. I often see Rae or Mo wearing hats I made for the other one.

The yarn came with a Pom Pom but the swirl on the top of this hat looks so cute that I’m not going to use it. I’ve got enough yard for another small hat from this cupcake so I’ll use it on that one.

Since I finished this one so quickly, I’ll have to cast on another hat tonight so I’ll have a small project to work on tomorrow in the car.

Several people have mentioned wanting to learn to knit and I encourage you to give it a try. I taught myself to knit from a book in 2006 and while I still just consider myself an experienced beginner, I can knit the simple projects that interest me. Today, there are many YouTube videos that can supplement a How to Book and there are online classes available too. You’re never too old to learn either. I taught Mom several years ago and while she doesn’t knit now because of her hands, she made some very pretty scarves including some simple lace work.

I like to knit hats, they’re quick!

• Pattern – Cobblestones – found free on Ravelry
• Needle size – 7
• Yarn – Cascade 220 superwash
• Cast on 88, knit ribbing for 2 inches, knit hat to 5.5 inches before starting decreases.

I’m not neglecting all my duties and I’m still cooking dinner most nights. This bowl of chicken salad will take care of two meals! I’ve had to find new recipes since I’m cooking so much the last 8 months and this Waldorf Chicken Salad has become one of Keith’s favorites. She recommends cooking the chicken breasts in the crock pot but I always fix mine in the Instant Pot.

Several of you commented about using my left foot to sew with and I have been doing that … I’d forgotten how easy it was to manage the pedal with my left foot but it’s also easier on the Elna than the Jane because I have a speed control dial so I can’t go but so fast!

No photo of it yet but I’m about half way done assembling the first Plus quilt. I’ll have enough squares leftover for a doll quilt too. Just a simple one with alternating colored and background squares. Rae has requested that the next doll quilt be a little bigger so she can put more than one doll under it! I need to cut some more gray squares.

I’ve done as much knitting as I have sewing… maybe more. I alternate between the two so I can have my foot elevated some. The Blue hat is finished. This is one I started in February I think and it got set aside.

It looks big on my hat head but she has a little head … this is large enough for a guy but it also fits me with a big overlap on my ears ( that makes it nice and warm). It’s nice to have a “one size fits most” hat when you’re donating them.

And rather than start a new project, I pulled out another UFO last night … that’s the scarf you saw sitting on my lap in the library photo. I’m rather proud of myself for resisting a new start!