I finished my Harriet’s Hat.  To recap, the proceeds from sales of this hat pattern support the Shetland Island MRI fund.  It is $5 well spent!!  I used yarn from my stash so this is a cheapie.

I have a big head.  This hat starts with 136 sts and then increases to 144.  Not enough for my melon!  I cast on 160.  The main snowflake chart and the crown require an 18-stitch repeat so I added 2 sts for the snowflake section.  For the crown, I decreased 16 so I was back at the 144 in the original.  So my crown shaping is identical to the original.  It worked smashingly well.  I may use this trick in the future.

The crown is so pretty.  I may add a tassel but will not cover the top with a pom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUSAN!!!!

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  (How does that happen?  Every single year!)

It’s Susan’s birthday today.  Wishing a wonderful day to my partner in crime and all things yarn.  (You knew this photo would make its annual appearance!)

Lettie is back and looking good!  She is not thrilled with her current location.  Instead of being upstairs in the limelight she has been banished to the lower level!  She is sad, sad, sad!  But she has a great view of the pond.

Lettie is wearing my recently finished 2019 Romi Hill Mystery Shawl.  It is knit out of mystery stash yarn, which is fitting.  The darker color is something I must have bought at Yarnover some time or another.  The lighter panel was knit from leftovers from my Fading Point Wrap.  As I already mentioned, my friend Kim had to come to the rescue when I ran out of yarn.

On my needles now is a hat: Harriet’s Hat.

The people of Shetland are trying to come up with the money to buy their own MRI.  All proceeds from the sale of this pattern go toward that goal!  I am very slowly progressing.  I am making mine larger and a bit longer so I have more knitting to do than most people!!

You think you’re motoring along and then you look…something has gone horribly wrong!  Things that need to line up do not.  That’s when repairs need to be made!

I am working on my Romi Hill Mystery Shawl and discovered that I had not been paying proper attention.  Years ago, Romi showed how she corrected mistakes in her knitting – specifically lace knitting but it could be used on any project.  You cordon off the mistaken area by identifying the specific rows/stitches that have gone awry.  In my case, center sts were not lining up in two repeats of the pattern:

I found the error when working Row 9.  I knew I had to go back and rework Rows 3 – 8.  I pulled out the bad section of knitting row by row, pinning each strand separately to keep them in order.  I then placed the live sts on a circular needle one size smaller than I was using.  I used another short circular to reknit each row.  I alternated using each circular (in other words I always worked from the RS).

Everything is all lined up!!

Now I can continue, but will pay more attention this time around!!

PS to all questioners!  I pinned the shawl to a tablecloth on top of a pad.  It looks very barky, but it’s just fabric!  It was easy to knit with the strands pinned out.  I just released them one by one in their proper order and knit the assigned row.  It did not seem difficult to do.  If this happens again I will try to do a video.

The bad news is that I ran out of yarn 5 rows from the end!  The good news is that friend Kim has the same yarn – I will get it from her on Thursday!!  🙂

If you can force bulbs, does that mean you can force Spring?  No, I didn’t think so either but I’ve been trying.  We’ve had a long and dreary winter and spring here in Boulder.  To counter it, I’ve been knitting with a lot of soft pastels and bright pinks.  That didn’t stop it from snowing again a few days ago.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that winter will eventually give up and go away.

One of my recent pastel knits is Adelaide by Isabelle Kraemer.  The yarn is Carol Sunday’s Angelic 3-ply in the colorway Ice.  I started this ages ago, knit the fun part (the yoke), and then let it languish.  I hauled it out this winter when I needed some mindless stockinette.

I made a few minor changes:  I added a stockinette roll to the neck, lengthened the short sleeves slightly, and added a few inches to the overall length.  I love the yarn and I think this will be a great transitional weather sweater.

On another note, remember this little guy?

What’s happened?  He’s turned into a big boy!

I decided to knit a summer shawl since my last sweater attempt was a flop (reboot Vitamin D!).  I am making Romi Hill’s 2019 Mystery Shawl, which is no longer a mystery.  The picture below is NOT MINE!!!

This is the mystery shawl by toro525 on Ravelry.  You can clearly see the design.  My darker section is out of a bright cherry pink/fuchsia.  Not sure yet what the bottom will be!

We got connected to the internet and cable today.  It’s been several weeks without.  I must admit that I have felt a bit disconnected from the world.  Some people feel better when they go without those connections, but I like to hear the news and watch a little TV while knitting.  So, I am back on the grid, People!!

PS to Penny: The Dumbo that I made was a major modification of an existing pattern called Elefante.  I changed the head, face, and ears the most.  I described the changes I made but really cannot provide a pattern for it.  He was a labor of love and is one of a kind.  I shared the “pattern” I used for the ears on Ravelry.  The hat and neck ruffle were done kind of freestyle!

PS to Others regarding Dumbo:

The ears were one of the easier mods — the curved trunk was no picnic!!  For the ears, I used a picture of Dumbo and traced the shape onto graph paper(shown on Ravelry as mentioned above).  I had to play around a bit, but it wasn’t too bad.  The really hard part was getting the eyes the way I wanted.  I tried EVERYTHING!  After dozens of tries (no exaggeration!), I embroidered closed eyes onto him:

I hated the way he looked.  It was not the look I was going after at all.  I finally stumbled onto some Amigurumi dolls and thought that maybe a combination of felt and embroidery would work.  I was much happier with the eyes…but something still wasn’t right!

The shape of the face was wrong.  So I took a long needle and yarn and pushed it through his temples to pull them in.  Much better!!

Julie’s Knitted Bliss Blog features a recurring item she calls Modification Monday (I’ve been featured there a couple of times myself!!).  Surly’s surprising mashup of Birkin and Colors for a Cloudy Day is highlighted today.  Check it out!!

April 29, 2017, I wrote the following as part of a longer post.

As you all know, I sew as well as knit.  My sewing days don’t exactly predate my knitting days, but I did a lot more sewing early in my life.  I bought some fabric a while back because it reminded me of a picture of me from kindergarten, which of course I cannot find.  It also reminds me of a beautiful dress that my grandmother made for my mom.

In the process of packing, I found the picture!  Here is that five-year old girl.

I feel like that little girl a bit when I wear this shirt!!

I finally finished my Drizzle on the Window mitts – made to accessorize my Drizzle on the Window Hat.  Truly, with a small amount of dedication, you, too, can finish these little mitts in two months!!  I started mine in early February and finally knocked them out and wrote up the pattern.

My mitts are knit with Anzula Serenity 100% cashmere, color Mariana.  At $48 a skein, I have not made a matching hat!  I bought the yarn so when I went to “Cocoa and Cashmere” night at Amazing Threads on February 8, I would have cashmere to knit on.

Anyway…when you buy both the hat and mitts patterns you get $2 off — and it applies to previous purchases!

PS to Denise: links to bead sources are included in the pattern and also can be found on various Ravelry Group Drizzle KAL posts.