Team Spirit Hats

I've been having so much fun with colorwork these days! I've been inspired to create team spirit hats. You saw from my previous post the Pittsburgh Steelers team color inspired hat - my son was crazy about it, so I had a thought - what if I made more of these kinds of hats?  My son gives me the ideas and I try to create a hat from the color scheme of the team.

For instance I came up with my own colored chart to create a hat for the UW Huskies:

Go Huskies!!!

Reminiscent of the early football helmets of the 1900's
Earflaps are knitted double-stranded for warmth

Made with Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Oxford Grey,
Violet, and Gold 

Learning colorwork has been challenging yet fun and its opening up more design ideas. Also, now when I come across colored charts I'm not so intimidated. In the past I have steered away from patterns that require me to read a chart and especially any that had colorwork designs!  Now that I've designed a few of my own colorwork patterns, I say, "bring on the colored charts - I'm not afraid of you!!!"

I am currently working on of course UW's rival team - Washington State University Cougars, for which I have also designed a colorwork pattern for and of course I can't leave out the Seattle Seahawks - I designed a really cool pattern for the team color scheme for them. I will post pictures of the hats when I'm done, but in the meantime here is a sneak peek at the design I created for the Seahawks team spirit hat: 

Have you started your holiday knitting?  Have you decided on patterns and designs for the colder weather yet?  Would love to hear from you, come on and drop me a comment.  Happy knitting!!

Update: Finished September 28, 2011

As promised here is the women's WSU beanie with pom pom that I designed and below is the colorwork pattern for it:

Model: Vanessa, a friend at work

Update: Finished September 30, 2011

Seahawks, Sounders FC, or Thunderbirds Team Spirit Beanie

Close-up of colorwork design



I Survived Turning 40!

Last week (January 13th to be exact) was my 40th birthday...I know, I know, just a babe in the woods to some and to others (my son particularly) I'm soooo old!  But I have to say that turning 40 wasn't as bad as I envisioned.  Actually, I think I was more upset when I turned 30, but now I'm going with the flow and I'm loving it!!!

To celebrate, I threw myself a wine tasting/birthday party.  It was lovely having my friends and sister sharing my big day.  I even got my friend Debra and her boyfriend to karaoke a duet and they were actually very good.

Reflecting on my life of where I've been and what I've done, I am thankful for: my fun-loving son (who keeps me young), a supportive and loving if not slightly dysfunctional family, and host of really good friends. And then there is what do I see myself doing down the road?  I've discovered that I really enjoy knitting, learning new knitting techniques, patterns and designs, scouring my LYS for new arrivals, and seeing what I can create with the different fibers I find. 

Seeing my creations being worn and appreciated gives me a sense of satisfaction and success, something I haven't felt in a long time at the "day job".  At the "day job" I'm a secretary and I've been in an administrative support role in one form or another for over 20 years and I feel I've done all I'm going to do in this field of work. Oh I'm sure there is more to learn out there, but at this point, I'm really not looking to advance up the corporate ladder.  I'm happy where I am in my life at the "day job", I tell my friends and family that I work to afford my yarn addiction. 

Now I'm at a point where I'm ready to discover more with my creative side.  And that would include, creating my own knit-wear designs.  Five years ago, I learned to knit, at the same time I taught myself (with lots of trial and error) how to read patterns.  Of course that was before I discovered there is a vast community of knitters, spinners, and hookers (those who crochet) out there!  I became a regular at my LYS and anything I didn't understand I asked the experts there or some of my knitting friends.

Lately though, I've been feeling the itch to design.  When I see a particular knit item in a store, I think, I can make that or something close to it.  I have tried my hand at it and feel I want to venture into it a lot more and the two scarf patterns below is what I've done so far, one is a combination seed stitch, with a garter stitch and basketweave stitch along the ends.  What I liked about this pattern is that there isn't a wrong side, both sides are the same.

Seed stitch & modified basketweave design
in Lion Brand Wool-Ease, Color: Wheat
(86% acrylic, 10% wool, 4% rayon)
Model: nephew

Close-up - a copy of this
pattern is available on the
sidebar under *Patterns
by Knitter Mama* 

This other scarf pattern is a men's horizontal ribbed scarf with 4 rows of the garter stitch along both edges:

Close-up of horizontal 2x2 ribbed scarf with garter stitch
edging made with Sirdar Denim Chunky
in Starling (off-white) and Vintage (charcoal)

Same design in Berocco Comfort Chunky
in burgundy and black with matching
2x2 ribbed hat

I used The Knitter's Bible, that has a stitch library section, to create the patterns for both scarves.  While I found these designs simple and easy to create, I would like to learn to make more elaborate design patterns.  So I'm making it one of my long term goals - to create my own designs, but for now, I'm learning new techniques, continuing to learn new stitches and how these stitches when combined create the end product, whether it be a hat, scarf, sweater, shrug, etc, so that I can soon learn to create my own style. And one of the wonderful ladies at The Knittery in Renton, suggested I get my hands on the stitch books by Barbara G. Walker, which I was able to find three of the suggested four Treasury of Knitting books she wrote at my local library and immediately placed a hold on them, so that I can continue to broaden my stitch knowledge and learn how to combine the different elements of knitting to create my own designs and knit-wear.

Great stitch library
section for beginners

Hopefully, some time in the future, I will be seeing my designs featured on Knitty or even in one of the Stitch 'n Bitch knitting book series.

My designing goal: to be published!

So, in closing, I'm looking forward to what the future holds.  40 can't be all that bad, I have lots of friends who have survived it and so will I!  A toast to being 40 and fabulous - it only gets better from here!  And to all you young'ins out there, you will be here one day, so don't knock it until you've tried it!!!

NaKniSweMo - Knit a Sweater in a Month!

Have you heard of NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month] where you write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November? Well Ravelry is hosting a NaKniSweMo [Knit a Sweater in a Month] where you knit a 50,000 stitch sweater in the month of November.


Basketcase Jacket - Men in
Knits by Tara Jon Manning

Well I've signed on to particpate and I just started last night.  Only one day late, but hopefully that won't deter me from getting it done by the end of the month.  I've chosen a men's sweater Basketcase Jacket for my project from Men in Knits by Tara Jon Manning.  Here is a picture from the book and below is how far I've gotten. I'm using Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky in Walnut and sizes 13 & 15-29" circular needles.

Of course the basketweave pattern has to be in a chart.  Charts and me just don't mix.  I'm still learning how to read charts, and even though this one is pretty simple, I've found that it's easy for me to make mistakes, which of course I've already done.  Hopefully it's not too noticeable.  I'm such a perfectionist though so I'm debating on whether I want to pull it apart to where I made the mistake and restart from there.

 

How far I've gotten last night (November 2, 2010)

I just picked up my yarn last night at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store.  I love going to the craft/yarn stores.  I'm a tactile person so I like to feel the yarn before I buy and even though as a child I hated the feel of wool, now there are so many wool blends that takes the itchiness out of the traditional wool I remember as a child and I enjoy feeling the fibers and making my decision based on how it feels against my skin. Because let's face it, you can spend a lot of energy creating a really wonderful piece and find that the person you made it for doesn't like wearing it because they don't like the way it feels.  I know I'm always looking for comfort and why wear something that makes you feel uncomfortable? 

And on that note, to all the knitters out there participating in the NaKniSweMo good luck and happy knitting!