Lion Brand – Yards of Happiness

FO: Karite Hat in Black

I rarely knit in black. It’s hard to see your stitches and it’s even harder to photograph. But whenever I knit a thank you gift for someone I typically ask what color they want so when I asked one of my class guest speakers if she’d like a hat she said yes and in black.

So I decided if it’s going to be black, it should have some texture and interest to it and I settled on the Karite hat and I used Lion Brand Heartland yarn in Black Canyon so it would be washer and dryer friendly. I actually made the Karite hat once before in a fun rainbow acrylic yarn but was shamed for making it in acrylic by a knitting instructor/pattern designer so I hadn’t made it again. Her comments left a bad taste in my mouth.

But the thing is it’s one of my favorite and most worn (and warm) hats! I decided to let go of the yarn shaming vibes and make someone else a really good hat for the cold weather. And after whipping it up I realized I needed to make a new one for myself in a solid color. I recently ordered myself a new winter coat (Land’s End has some of the best sales and the best cold weather coats) and I will definitely need a new hat and set of flip top mitts to coordinate. And I’m sure my gift recipient will be super happy to get something that’s hand made.

FO: The Road Trip Hat

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen in my Instagram stories that I shared our road trip for Thanksgiving. My husband and I packed up Cher and Jellybean and drove from Maryland to Memphis, Tennessee. Are we crazy? Perhaps.

On the way there we broke it up a bit stopping after 12 hours in Nashville for the night. The next morning we hit the road to Memphis.

Cher loves car rides and her cushy seat in the car. Jellybean does not. So on the way home I ended up holding her for about 4 hours since we did a straight drive home. It ended up taking up a little over 16 hours to get back because of traffic but we survived.

While I was on the road I decided I’d make a hat for my cousin Amelia that she asked for last year. It’s a pattern I’ve made a million times before,Dreiecke by Shannon Cook. I started it that morning…

And before I crashed for the night at the hotel I had reached the point of making decreases. In the morning we weren’t in a rush and my husband had a little work to do so after we walked the dogs and had breakfast I finished it off before we headed to Memphis.

The yarn is Lion Brand Heartland in Joshua Tree, a pretty olive green and it also has a Lion Brand pom pom I picked up from Amazon last year – note if you search for them on their site they have some fun colors and on clearance too! As for the trip with the dogs…

I already know Jellybean is slow to adapt to new environments and change so there was a lot of Bean holding. I also brought my little sling sack I carry her in and she would happily slide in and take a nap or just quietly observe hanging from my back. She’d be so quiet you’d almost forget she was in there until she started to wiggle around or readjust.

And Cher, as long as she has a blanket and someone to rub her belly when she rolls over she’ll go wherever we go. She’s such a trooper. And since I finished the hat so quickly I was able to start my next project!

My husband’s sweater is now almost to the point of separating for sleeves! But more on that later. Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

November 29, 2017November 29, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Cher, Color, FO: Finished Object, green, Hats, Jellybean, Knitting, Lion Brand, My Dogs, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, Dogs in sweaters, faux fur pom pom, knitting, Lion Brand yarn, road trip knitting, Yarn 9 Comments

FO: Lucia for Safia

I’ve got not one but two good finished object posts for you this week! And since I didn’t write on Friday because I was in Chicago I thought I’d start off the week with the sweater I finished for her while I was in Chicago.

This is my three color Lucia Hoodie for Safia.

This silly girl gave me every single pose in the book when I asked her to pose for photographs. I will admit it was fun photographing someone other than myself who was willing to pose.

The original version of the sweater was done in one solid color but because I am me I knew I couldn’t do that. Plus I knew I’d be just short of the yardage I needed for the entire sweater if I did it just in the solid purple. I bought this Lion Brand Heartland yarn in purple and pink on a black Friday sale with Safia in mind last year but just hadn’t figured out exactly what I wanted to make her. Her favorite color is purple and I wanted to make her something that would be good all year round in Chicago so I settled on the Lucia hoodie. My only modifications were to shorten the sleeves and add more buttons. The pattern called for the sleeves to be 18 inches long when you attach them at the underarm but I know her arms are only 16 1/2 so I stopped at that length and it’s a perfect fit.

I also knew a single button wasn’t going to do against cold Chicago wind, so I added five so she could keep out the chill and button it all the way up. Mind you it was in the sixties while we were in Chicago and I had to wear my Royally Striped cardigan because I was cold! I brought it with me to wear in the car because my husband always wants it way colder than I do but it came in handy while we were running around outside. We drove to Chicago so by the time we arrived on Thursday I had finished all of the body and just had to do the final garter button band – that took forever. And I added in just a few rows of teal to give an extra pop of color. Plus that’s the color on the inside of the pockets so it was fun to add another color to this project.

In the end, I love the final results. It’s a great trio of colors that really pop against her skin. If you like bottom up sweaters and don’t mind a lot of garter stitch this might be the project for you!