What's on my needles (week 90)

With the Holidays approaching I decided to change my posts a little.  

With less to read you will have more time to knit. 

Each week I will talk about ONE project I am working on or (preferably) recently finished.  

I will talk about the pattern and yarn I used (likes/ dislikes on both) and especially let you know about new techniques I used :)  Some of these will be quick projects you may get inspired to cast on as your next gift :)

 

Today's featured finished project is the "Koolhaas" by Jared Flood (click for the pattern on ravelry)

This all starts at Stickles again.  
I found a beautiful Shibui Merino Alpaca yarn (heavy worsted) and knew right away that this would be perfect for a hat for someone on my gift list (pssst, I can't tell you who).  
Both the quality of the yarn and the COLOR had this person's name all over it ;)

Step 1:  I went on ravelry and put in the name of the yarn.  It turned out that it had been used in 895 projects on ravelry alone.  BTW, this yarn is discontinued, but if you like this pattern, you can use any yarn which gives you the same gauge. Of course you can also come to Stickles and get what we have left (there are two more colors: blue and golden-brown)

I narrowed down the projects by putting in "hat" as a keyword where it says "search inside projects"and came up with nine pages of projets.  As I scrolled through those I kept an eye out for projects which used just one skein.  When I came across thraceknits' Koolhaas I knew I found what I was looking for!!!

Step 2:  I purchased the pattern (I had already bought the yarn) and looked more deeply into how thraceknit knitted up this hat.  It turned out that she started with a tubular cast-on.  You may remember that I quite recently have fallen in love with the tubular bind-off.  One thing I don't like about the regular tubular cast-on is that you start with a provisional cast on and have to do a number of rather complicated steps, but when talking with thraceknit on ravelry she told me about Ysolda Teague's long tail cast-on which does not use waste yarn.

Step 3:  Now this may be repetitive for those who read last week's blog, but I learned Ysolda's Long Tail Cast on.  It took some trying out to get it right, but was well worth it.  I definitely like it better than the regular tubular cast on.  Here is a you tube video:

Step 4:  And so I started knitting.  I like the clear lines in the design.  Here is the story behind the design ( I am quoting Jared Flood):

The Story Behind the Design: The hat takes its name from Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch Architect/Urbanist whose work I admire very much. Last winter when I was home in Washington, I spent an afternoon in the Seattle Central Library, one of my favorite places in Seattle and an incredibly inspiring space. The architecture there created a design impulse and the hat was born in the following days. The design process kind of explains itself when you view the space (photo below)

 

     And I finished it (in under two weeks).  It looks even better "in person", but here are some pictures:

To show off the pattern, I put the hat over the corner of a pillow

The color is actually more green than in the picture

What's on my needles (week 89)

"Elementary, Dear Watson" socks 

Click on the link; this is a FREE pattern on ravelry.
Since I used the Fish Lips Kiss Heel construction in the last few pairs of socks for Tony, I was not sure at all about the length of the foot before starting gussets and knitting the heel.  I followed the designers advise and put in a lifeline before starting the gussets. This is a Fleegler Heel construction and the gussets should start about 4" from the heel; these socks are knitted toe-up.
So, for a while I was anxiously working on just one sock and waiting to do a fitting.
Tony had his "Cinderella Moment" and, wonder of wonders, the sock FIT!!!  I brought the other sock up to the same point and they are now happily re-united again :)  Now it is just a simple matter of knitting the leg (about five pattern repeats and ribbing).  I am planning to bind off using the tubular bind off.

Tony's Cinderella Moment

Reunited again and it feels so good!

 I learned something new this week!

 I started making a couple of gift.  One of them is a hat ("Koolhaas" pattern by Jared Flood).
Since I like the tubular bind off so much and because I saw one knitter on ravelry start her hat with this cast-on, I cast on using the tubular cast-on method.  There are several ways to do this, but I really like Ysolda Teague's method which does not require a provisional cast-on.  It took me a while and two attempts to get this done nicely, but I am really liking it and happy to have learned something new.  Here are two video links to see how it is done, but as always I am here to help you learn this, too.
http://ysolda.com/tutorial/tubular-cast-on/ 
And on youtube:
Here are some pictures of my end-result so far:  

Long-tail tubular cast-on

One pattern repeat completed

Something quick and easy

It is fun to do something quick and easy. This washcloth pattern knitted flat and then seamed fit the bill:
The almost lost washcloth 
Click on the link; this is a FREE pattern on ravelry!
I am planning to make a few of these. They will make such good gifts partnered with one of the special soaps you can buy at Stickles!

A sweet gift