The Good, the Bad, and the Bulky Thorpe

The Good- a fresh, and heavy, snowfall for the kids to play in.

The Bad- a band of freezing rain, with a severe cold snap on its heels. It might get up to 4 whole degrees above zero tomorrow. You folks who live in places where nobody's even heard of a thing called a "Wind Chill Advisory", let alone felt one on your face or tender extremities like fingers, toes, ears, or nose, count your blessings this week. The bright side? The need for warm knits like this-

The Bulky Thorpe

by Kristen Kapur, of Through the Loops

I had a few hanks of Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky- in an older, camo colorway, that I got at a discount after they discontinued the Duotones. This seemed like the perfect project to finally use it on. This yarn knits up at a 'super bulky' gauge- I got roughly 2.625 sts per inch on size 15 needles, and I'm a tight knitter, really tight at times.

Casting 4 sts on 4 short and chubby size 15 double pointed needles was a bit awkward, to put it lightly, but I was determined. Those first 2 rnds of increases were tediously tight with this yarn, but once I got to knit a stitch or two between those knit into the front and back increases, things went much better. It was so gratifying to see a finished object fly off the needles so quickly (I may knit with a lot more bulky in the future...) and even more gratifying to see a child thrilled to receive it!

I only increased until I had 56 sts and then adjusted the rest of the numbers accordingly. This boy has a pretty big noggin, and the hat seemed huge in my hands, even though the math seemed to work, but it fits just fine and he likes it, so we're all happy. This hat should fit most adults' heads, but if I were going to use this yarn again on another child (one with an average head size), I'd probably stop increasing earlier. 48 sts at the gauge I used would make approximately an 18" hat, which would fit most kids.

I handed it to him before putting on the braided ties, and he said he likes it just the way it is, so this way it will stay, at least for now.

My oldest son is hoping I'll use my other 2 hanks of this same yarn on a similar hat for him. When trying on his brother's, he noticed that the ear flaps are almost long enough to come together, and he's requested that they do so and button, hmmm, that could work. 15 year old son, requesting hand knits, it does my heart good.

Happy knitting
ali

*One other mod- I left off the crochet edging, for 2 reasons. 1, I don't have a crochet hook that big, yet. 2, it really didn't need it. This bulky yarn makes a sturdy edging at the bind off, and the slipped st edges of the ear flaps give them a finished enough look.

**If interested, you can still find several of the Duotones colorways, discounted, at Webs.

Little Ear Flaps for New Little Ears

Despite having knit 2 little baby hats during the recent Ravelympics, I've been feeling the need to knit more. It might have something to do with the fact that I can't decide which cute little baby sweaters I want to knit in 3-6 months size, and which ones I want to knit bigger to fit when the first round of hand knit baby dressage is relegated to hope chests and teddy bears. It might have something to do with having too many single skeins in my stash and not having the time, energy, or budget for very many multiple skein purchases, when there are things like new cribs and car seats to be buying...

I think it has more to do with my very short attention span as of late, that, and a life-long love of hats. At any rate, I've been smitten with the idea of a little ear flap hat- we do live in Minnesota, after all, the land of 10,000 lakes, large and blood thirsty mosquitoes, and more bitter cold, frost covered, toe-numbing months than hot muggy ones every year. (Why, oh why, are the times in between the extremes so short?!)

For Warm Little Ears Hat #1, I went with Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed in Coffee, with a simple single crochet contrast edging in Squash, perfect fall colors. Cotton will give baby a comfy, cozy, feel, while giving mom carefree washability.

Warm Little Ears Hat #2 has been cast on in the scrumptious Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight (100% baby alpaca) in Natural Dk Brown and Avocado. This one will be striped, because I'm addicted to the stripe. The soft baby alpaca will be a sweet luxury for baby, so soft and deliciously warm, totally worth the hand washing.

I have several more variations planned, including some fun embroidery embellishment. I'm typing through my cryptic design notes, translating them into a readable pattern, to be released as soon as a few more hats are finished and modeled.

Fun stuff to pass the time, eh? 20 days 'till 'due date'...

Happy knitting-

ali

PS- I ravelled my finished Loppem, and hope to post soon about my little cable mishap...