I met Jared Flood!

I was so thrilled when I heard that Jared Flood was going to be teaching classs at Nine Rubies in San Mateo!  I really wanted to take all of the classes he offers because he is not only one of my favorite designers, but also an immaculate knitter.  I settled on the Seemless Sweater Class.  He hit the ground running with information.  It was litterally three hours of intense instruction and note takeing, while trying to swatch a piece of fabric that had 4 different options for raglan decreases.  Not to mention I was a little late because I took Hwy 92 in the opposite direction and went all the way over the bridge and back!  Good thing I left 20 minutes early and the parking gods smiled on me because there was a spot right in front of the shop.  And thank goodness that Sue saved me a spot – thanks Sue!! 

Jared designed a few patterns that I have already done (see the hemlock and turn a square hat).  And a few projects that I want to do like the Koolhas hat, a baby blanket, and the adult tomten jacket.  Aren’t his knits and designs gorgeous??  It was money well spent.  I feel like I could go off and make a sweater based on a swatch that I like… now I better go do that quick before all the great instruction disappears from my head!

Hats!

I have been busy making hats lately.  Above is a hat that I made for Katy, my best friend of 20 years!  Wow, it’s been a long time.  I got a random text message saying, “I need a beanie, can you make me one?”  I was delighted to oblidge, but she had no colors in mind, and no idea what she wanted.  It took me nearly 2 weeks to finally decide out what to make for her.  Fair isle would look nice but take too long, blue would look good with her eyes, a simple ribbed hat is cute… I want to make them all!!  I finally settled on something that was quick and in her favorite color, red.  That way she would get it while it was still winter 🙂 

Here’s the final product:

I improvised on the top decreases.  They are not ideal, I will try a lot of things differently next time… like making sure I have an even amount of ribs so that the decreases match.  Here’s how it turned out:

I also finished a hat for my hubby.  I used a free pattern called “Turn A Square” from one of my favorite designers, Jared Flood.  I used Noro yarn for the first time and liked it better than I thought I would.  I really love the colors, but it’s not very soft to work with, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to feel close the the skin.  It’s actually ok… certainly not the softest hat, but not itchy or rough like had feared.

You can clearly see the square pattern in the top.  Such a neat and clean closure.  Jared’s knitting is impeccable, if you have a minute, do check out his flickr images if you want to be inspired.  I’m signed up for his sweater class in March.  Here’s his touring schedule.  I’m so thrilled to learn from him!!

And last but not least, I cranked out a ribbed hat for my dad with a free pattern called “Just a Beanie“.  I used Cascade Yarns Lana Bambu.  The yearn is super soft, I really enjoyed working with it.  I was worried that it wouldn’t have enough spring in it for the ribbed pattern, but it turned out really nice.  The cool thing about this pattern is that the flipped up ribs match the ribs on your head. The only thing I didn’t like was how visible the decreases at the top (not that my own attempt turned out any better). It just looked kind of sloppy, but since it was a speckled yarn, it wasn’t very noticable – especially to a nonknitter.  I need to do some research though, because I really want to find out good decrease method for a ribbed hat.  What’s your favorite ribbed hat pattern?