Ski-cap beanies

Blogger is still being infuriating and the link feature won't work. I, once again, don't have time to write code, but you all know how to Google if need be, right?

You might not remember, but a while back I knit a pair of socks for the Mr. I don't think that I ever blogged about what happened, but as it turns out, Mr FiberFlash is highly sensitive to wool. He couldn't even keep the socks on long enough for me to take a picture.

On top of the fact that they made him itch like mad (even though they were made of soft wool!), they also had a rippled top. I knit them toe-up so that I could get them as long as possible before binding off. I researched the best way to execute a bind-off, and found a sewn one, as well as a tubular. I did one of each, and both looked similarly ripply, which made me unhappy. Since my husband wasn't going to wear them anyway, I just put them away, deep in the stash and out of view.


Last night, as we were wrapping gifts to send back to the States today, I realized that I had forgotten to get anything for my one brother, Caleb. Suddenly these socks came to mind -- he's the same size as my husband. I dug the socks out, wove in the ends, and BAM! A finished object, just like that! The easiest Christmas knit ever.

I knit Caleb a pair of socks a few years ago (King Kong Cabled Footies), and he loved them and wore them all the time. Those were knit out of Sockotta, a cotton/wool blend, and these are entirely superwash wool, so I just hope that he is not also sensitive to wool. I'll make him send them back if he is, and I'll think of something else to do with them.

PATTERN SPECS:
Needles: Knitpicks classic circulars, size 1 (knit them 2-at-a-time on two-circs, toe-up)
Pattern: basically a toe-up, man sized (72 stich) version of Ann Budd's Diagonal Rib Socks (free pattern on Interweave Knits). I used a backwards heel flap and short-row toe.
Yarn: Briar Rose Fibers Sweet Freedom in a blue/green colorway

The hats for my brothers are finished. (My apologies ahead of time for the pictures -- they were taken at midnight last night, just after I'd cast off. They were sent out this morning, so there won't be any other opportunity.)


I used Wooly Wormhead's Ribbed Beanie pattern (www.woollywormhead.co.uk/USERIMAGES/ww020ribbedbeanie.pdf ) for both, modifying the first one to a 2x2 rib instead of the 6x2 in the pattern so that the hats don't match each other at all (important when giving gifts to 12 and 14-year-old brothers -- matching isn't cute anymore).

The pattern says to knit six inches, than do decreases for the crown. Six inches is way too short for me (I suppose it's more of a true "beanie" that way, but I want something that will actually keep the ears warm), so I knit the blue one for 7 inches, and the grey one 7-1/2 inches.


I especially like the first. It's Lang Tosca Maxi, which is a wool/acrylic blend. The colors stripe in a seemingly random sequence, and always has a "surprise" color (this particular colorway had a red/pink stripe that I cut out for obvious reasons). I really like the end project though. These colors will look good on Christopher. I made it to fit my head, because I think that we're about the same size.

The second hat I'm not quite as fond of. The color is marled dark grey, which is boring as heck, but that's what Joel indicated. I suppose it's a "manly" color, but it's certainly not interesting. Lank York is a three-ply wool/acrylic/microfiber. One of the plies is a thread with bubbles of microfiber along it, making the knitted fabric extra squishy with a nice soft feel to it. So that part is good. I guess the color is just not doing it for me, but otherwise it's fine. I think that Joel's head is a little bigger than mine, so I knit the main part of the hat just a tiny bit longer than Christopher's before the decreases.