"Porté Disparu" -- Super Bulky Cabled Hat

Every knitter has stash problems. Or that's what I like to tell myself. Like most knitters, I have an unusual fondness for yarn. I try to buy yarn project by project, but there's a sale or a certain color catches your eye and it's bye bye budgets... helllloooo yarn. This is a stash busting project that I've made before with success. I thought it was time to revisit the good old Super Bulky Cabled Hat.

The Stats:

The Pattern - Super Bulky Cabled Hat
Yarn - (substitution) 1 Skein Lion Brand Landscapes in Country Sunset and 1 Skein Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Fig (used about 1/4 skein Thick & Quick)
Needles - Size 13 needles (Knit straight not in the round, but I usually use circs anyway.)
Source - Online at abmatic/k
Price - Free Online

A little WIP action...

Songs*[rep]to end. - "Porté Disparu"

I've chosen Malajube's "Porté Disparu" from their latest, Labyrinthes because I think it pretty much embodies my yarn stash craziness both in the insane situations and color palette. I kind of love that this video is in French, so the obviously quirky video idea seems that much more absurd with the incomprehensible song lyrics. Dead chickens, murder and colored suits. Yes, that is my life. And bonus points for disappearing like my yarn stash!

Cable Pattern:

Let's Get Cozy - Super Bulky Cabled Hat (CO 8/13/09, FO 8/23/09)

Ravelry Listing

I just want to start out by saying that the time it took me to complete this hat is completely unrealistic. I would have finished it in one day if I hadn't lost the second ball of yarn. Sometimes you have to factor in the crazy misplacement time. This hat is knit flat and then sewn up at the end. They recommend that you use a mattress stitch, but I usually use a whip stitch because it was the first way I learned to sew up a hat. It works just fine. I used the Fig for the band and then for the last 4 decrease rows at the top. I've considered adding a pom-pom, but for now it's been left plain. This is just a simple, quick hat. I'd recommend it for using up your stash. I'm thinking of turning it into a gift, but we'll see what happens.

So, 2 skeins down and a (number that I will conceal from my parents) of skeins to go. I can only pray that my weakness for pretty wool doesn't translate into a fondness for felines. It's a slippery slope from, "Aaawww kitten!" to "I have 17 cats and they're all named Chester Cheetah." I'm keeping tabs on myself. And on the number of litter boxes I have the urge to purchase.

"A&E" -- Button Skull Cap

UPDATE: So, according to this thread on Etsy, it looks like I'll only be selling original stuff from now on. I'm glad I read that before I knit my heart out. Apologies for even thinking of Etsying something I didn't design. I feel bad, and I didn't even do it. Still look out for some Etsy things though, Alison originals (Maybe these ones I've put on the backburner.).

Find Ravelry Listing here and Etsy Listing will be up when I stop being a lazy bum and work on some of my design ideas.

Thus begins my Etsy adventure. So, this is the second piece I've made to get rid of my stash before I start selling some designs of my own on Etsy, a web site on which you can buy and sell handmade items. It's a Skull Cap from an old Knit.1 Magazine I had and it was pretty successful, in my opinion. I found that the first one I made was a bit too small, so I modified the band a little and chose a new yarn. Exciting.



The Stats:

The Pattern - #23 Cabled Hat or Skull Cap
Yarn - (substitution) about 1.5 Balls Knit Picks Merino Style in Asparagus
Needles - Size 6 DPNs from Knit Picks in Harmony Wood and a cable needle
Source - Winter 06/07 Knit.1 Magazine
Price - Originally $5.99 or Back Issues $8.99

[Songs]*rep to end. - "A&E"

"A&E" by Goldfrapp from Seventh Tree reminds me of this hat. It may be preppy cables, but it sure is green and that makes me think of nature sounds and shrubbery. Maybe it doesn't remind me of dancing leaf monsters, but if your hat does a little choreography, I won't charge extra.

Cable Pattern:

Let's Get Cozy - Button Skull Cap (CO 8/7/09, FO 8/11/09)

I'm very pleased with how this pattern worked out. My mods came out wonderfully, and the Merino Style shows off the cables and isn't at all itchy. I didn't run into any problems along the way. I've decided to add some buttons from my button jar, which is just a big jar of found buttons, but only after asking the buyer first. So I took some photos of the hat sans buttons, and some with the buttons against the fabric. If it was me, I'd add them, but I want to keep my options open. I was thinking of adding 3 in graduated order.

Buttons Available:

Can't Even Go to the Movies -- Love, Cables

I just saw the new Harry Potter film IN 3D! Well, the first 10 minutes and the previews were in 3D. But, as any good knitter will, I spent the entire movie not concerned over magic and Death Eaters, but moreso with the knitted items the cast wore.

Though I did identify the various techniques used to craft Ron's sweater and admire each girl's cardigan while longing for some cooler weather, I was most intrigued by Hermione's hat, a simple cable and lace beanie.

This clip shows Hermione and her handsome hat quite -- quick and blurry-- but it's there. Yay for videos! (Marker 2:20 or so maybe a little later.)

Of course, I came home and immediately started my search for duplicating this pattern. So far I've found that some other knitters have made their own Hermione hats. Here, JL Yarnworks crafts a nifty little hat in Patons Classic Merino, a worsted weight yarn and Size 5 circs and DPNs (pattern on linked page).

But I was thinking of basing the pattern off of the Winter 06/07 Knit.1's Skull Cap Cabled Hat (one variation of mine here on Ravelry), which uses DK weight yarn and only Size 6 DPNs. Although this pattern uses a 4-st cable with 2 sts in between the cables, a slight (or not so slight) modification of the number of stitches in the non-cable panel to 3 to account for the lace pattern. This adjustment doesn't worry me because the original cable pattern came out much too small the first time I knit it. I'll double the band size of the Skull Cap to match Hermione's, of course. I'm thinking of a deep red for the color, like Cranberry. Then we're cooking! Or knitting!

I've make several different versions of this hat with different DK weight Knit Picks yarns including Swish DK and Elegance. I think it'll be just as awesome as a nerd hat can be. I'm especially excited to start working on this one because Knit Picks just released new weights of their Gloss yarn (like the extra perfect Gloss DK-- shivering with knitty joy!). That means soft yarn and super warminess!

Oh, knitters. You can't even watch a movie without thinking about cables. You can't even watch cable with thinking about cables. What am I going to do with you?

Thank You Alexander Skarsgard's Scarf Knot

I've been accumulating a few projects that I want to tackle eventually. I've done small mods and designs based on patterns in hats I've duplicated in scarves and mittens, for example. I haven't done as much from scratch work. I'm just working up the nerve to really get down to brass tacks and sketch something, swatch something. This is the summer, and therefore the last of my relatively carefree days for a while, so it's probably now or never. Or at least now or not until winter break. So this is a little preview of my design goals to keep me motivated.

1. Urban Outfitters Beret -- To Be Named the "I'm Swedish." Beret in honor of The Skarsgard's frequent interview response.

This is a now out of season beret from Urban Outfitters that came in a few colors, none of them right, and cost $30-$35 for a wool-acrylic blend. I decided then and there to attempt a design based on this one with better quality, more reasonably priced yarn. I chose Knit Picks Cadena Yarn in Neptune. I hadn't made many berets before this so I made quite a few in preparation. These included several with this free pattern from The Purl Bee, the Chunky Cabled Tam from Knit.1 Fall/Winter 08 and one yet-to-be-completed beret based on a pattern in Vintage Knits. I'm still not 100 percent comfortable with the design elements to get them exactly right yet, but almost.

2. Stockholm Hooded Scarf -- To Be Named the "A Little Red" Riding Hood

The discovery of this item from Coal Considered was a complete accident due to my obsession with True Blood, and more precisely, Alexander Skarsgard. I was reading a recently translated article from EricNorthman.net (read here) which happened to mention what the actor was wearing for the interview. His ensemble included a soccer ("football") scarf tied in what the reporter called a "Stockholm Knot." Of course, as a knitter, I was intrigued by this new scarf knot sported by the handsome man and dutifully looked it up on Google Images. No real joy of finding an actual picture of someone with a scarf knot, but I did find this awesome hooded scarf. The actual scarf-thing, called simply, The Stockholm costs $70 and is a "wool blend." This most likely means wool-acrylic to me because they wouldn't neglect to mention cashmere in the mix! Even though this seems to use one yarn weight (worsted, I'm guessing?) throughout, I'm thinking for my version, I'll use a combination of the worsted weight Lion Brand Cashmere Blend in Red which I got on sale a while ago and TBA bulky weight yarn (maybe Cadena?). I'm also seriously considering naming my creation after Mr. Skarsgard in tribute to his magical powers. I read about True Blood and I get knitting ideas. Abra Kadabra.

UPDATE: This is very possibly a Stockholm scarf knot. Mystery solved? Or possibly something more like this knot knot?

Images are taken from UO website and Google Images.