Tams

Laurie asked me where I got my tam pattern: I got it from the book
Knitted Tams by Mary Rowe. After fruitlessly searching the Internet last spring for a tam pattern, I found this book by searching Nashville Public Library's online catalog. Eureka!

Besides the solid-colored tam pattern, there are fair isle patterns and many ways of decreasing in a fun pattern. I used the zigzag decrease on both tams--easy.

I played with the pattern a bit, i.e., I customized the hat for mom and made some mistakes I chose to work with along the way.

When I knit this tam, I did not do the recommended fancy tubular cast on, and I even skipped the k1, p1 ribbing, knowing I was going to sew some elastic in the brim anyway. I did k2, p2.

I made the plain knitted part pretty long, which is something mom asked for with the previous hat.

Also, the pattern has a mistake: it says to k1, inc* for sport weight, but really you should k2, inc*. You want to increase your stitches by 50%, not 100%. Whoops! When I figured this out, I was ready to decrease. Following the pattern, I divided the stitches into seven segments of 24 stitches--but instead had nine sections with eight stitches left over. Whaaaaaa?

I decreased to nine sections and commenced with the decreasing rows. All was fine. My hat's a bit more voluminous with the extra two sections, but mom will probably like it all the more.

(BTW, one yard of half-inch black elastic cost 35 cents! What a cheap way to keep a hat on your loved one's head.)

I have an oft-repeated knitting philosophy when things go wrong: Too bad!

Silly pictures

Momma's hat.

No pics

I've got multiple projects galore! (And I'd love to buy new yarn--no surprise--but so far I have abstained.)

Mom's hat is a tam, which is like a beret. I made her one last spring in itchy, itchy homespun yarn she had purchased. I also made a big ole scarf, but she sheepishly admitted to me this summer than it was entirely too itchy. I hated working with that scratchy yarn; I was grimacing as I knit, and that's no fun.

Anyway, the new hat and scarf are made of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool (65% wool, 35% silk, sportweight). It is the same yarn I used for mom's fingerless mitts. I got freaked out a few weeks ago that I hadn't started the hat and scarf, which are Christmas presents, but everything's going swimmingly, even though the needles are small (size 5 for hat; size 4 for scarf). I tried to take a picture of the hat, but the yarn is soooo black and soooo matte, it just didn't show up!

Mom's scarf is the new Yarn Harlot pattern, [k2, ktbl, p], k2. It's completely reversible, super easy to memorize, and a nice texture. The pattern is flater than a rib pattern and not stretchy.

I'm making a Lacey Hair Tamer with leftover Rowan kidsilk haze. Finally using those size 2 needles!

I'm daydreaming of two future projects: a hat for Paul, my brand spankin' new boyfriend who thinks all my knitting is beautiful, and a linen handtowel from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'd also like to do a little sewing; it's been a long while.

All wool, all warm

The colors of this yarn are dulled by my camera; it's prettier in person. I probably won't block my clapotis because I don't have space!

Whoo, boy! That was a lot of knitting.

Photo album of Chicago

Here's my first photo album of my Chicago trip!

I hope to make a second album of artwork in the Art Institute of Chicago. Enjoy!

Artyarns

(Artyarns was not off on their yardage, but I thought so when I wrote this. Read on.)

Artyarns lied to me about their yardage! Let's do the math:

Clapotis pattern calls for 205 yds X 3 skeins = 615 yds

Artyarns purchase was 188 yds X 4 skeins = 752 yds (Ultramerino 8)

So I should have 137 extra yards, right? I also used size 7 needles rather than the size 8 the pattern calls for. What the hell? If I'd realized this earlier, I could have skipped a straight row repetition and ended the clapotis as normal, so the scarf ends in a point. But instead I got near the end of my yarn, dropped the stitches that needed dropping, and bound off. Here's a pic of the end.

I think the project will be fine, but that's a lot of yardage off--around 34 yds a skein (??). I suppose I need to complain to Artyarns.

Be careful if you've bought Artyarns yarn lately!

PS--I just checked the clapotis pattern and they've corrected the skeins called for to 4! That could definitely explain my problem, since it means it calls for 820 yds! . . . Enough math for you?? Sorry, Artyarns. Thirty-four yards does seem like a ton of yardage to be off on, and that's why the problem was even more baffling.

First frost

Here's some pics of Dodger Friday morning.

Beck

I bought the new Beck CD, The Information, which is terribly exciting by itself. Then I found the pages of stickers inside. Wondering what to do with them, I realized that the CD book was blank graph paper--I could decorate my own book! The results below. How clever!

Hey, girlies

I'm tentatively planning a girls' movie outing in a few weeks to Marie Antoinette, which comes out October 20. Y'all come!

Progress report

Half a clapotis!

The Field Museum, Chicago

I had a FABULOUS time in Chicago this week! Hopefully I'll soon have a disc with photos I can put into an album. These are some pics from my cell phone of a wax reconstruction of King Tut, and the skeleton of Sue, the most complete T. Rex fossil ever found.

The Field Museum was mucho cool and beautiful. The interior hallway is two large stories tall with lots of sunlight and Greek architecture. There were hours of exhibits to look at, we just didn't have time to see everything. They have stuffed animals from all around the world, and curiously, wax models of plants of the world (!).

Because we decided to stay an extra day, we had time to go to the King Tut exhibit. I love ancient Egypt, and this exhibit was very neat. I had heard on NPR that Egypt probably won't lend all these objects again anytime soon, so I was grateful I got to see them. One of my favorite things was the childhood chair of Tut. I also loved seeing the statue head of Akhenaten, which I've seen in books and on TV, and the sunken relief of Akhenaten and Nefertiti (Tut's parents). For many of the items of the exhibit, the caption would list how many objects of the same kind were in the tomb, sometimes forty or more. Incredible!