knits, notes, etc.

I've actually had this design brewing for a really long time. I wanted it to be a heavier weight hat with a lace-leaf pattern, but was not sure how I would keep the distinctive leaf design with the crown decreases. In the end, I decided to just cast-on and knit away. I love how it turned out.

I'm very happy to present to you a very simple and cute lace-leaf patterned hat:

I finished it that morning, on the way to work.

Yarn Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, 2 skeins.
Needles Size 9 (5.5 mm) 16" circular and dpns.
Notions Stitch markers and sewing needle.
Gauge Approximately 16 sts and 18 rows = 4" (10 cm).
Finished Size Approximately 18" around, though stretches to fit my monstrous 22" noggin.

Pattern available for download: Lace-leaf hat PDF

Pattern Description

This pattern contains instructions for knitting the lace-leaf hat in child and adult sizes. Both hats begin with twisted-stitch ribbing for 7 rows (about 1.5�). The child-sized hat follows 1.5 repeats of the lace pattern before decreasing begins for the crown. The adult-sized hat follows 2 repeats of the lace pattern before decreasing begins for the crown. For the adult-size, the instructions include two widths: smaller (larger).

Not the best picture, but I love the detail of the crown.

Important! At the beginning of Rnd 7: Remove the stitch marker, slip the first stitch without knitting it, and place the marker to indicate the new beginning of the round.

The smaller adult-sized hat, side view.

This hat is very stretchy, especially in the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk yarn. The smaller size can comfortably fit head sizes from 16� to 22� around. Though, if you want a more relaxed fit, I would recommend making the larger size for head sizes larger than 20� around.

I hope you enjoy this quick knit. Please let me know if there are errors!

At long last, I begin the project notes series for the string of cat sweaters I've been working on since the beginning of the year. I want to keep them short, with some description of the actual construction. Mostly, I just want to get this done and out of the way because I have so many more projects notes to write! How exciting!

Kitty Couture™ Angora cat sweater.

Pattern Kitty Couture™ Angora cat sweater.
Yarn Prism Yarns 100% Angora.
Needles Size 9 (5.5 mm) and Size 7 (4.5).

Pattern Description

All of my cat sweaters have the same shape and general construction. For the most part, I didn't have an excessive amount of yarn to play with (well, I think I am still pretty bad at judging how much I can get out of a skein of yarn). I was very concerned that this sweater would not be long enough for the cat, especially since my previous sweaters were very short. Deb had asked that I add a flared skirt to fit Piglet's chubbier hind-quarters.

Angora cat sweater, picot edging and 3×1 ribbing.

This sweater/dress was knit from the bottom-up on Size 9 needles. I casted-on multiple of 4 stitches (I believe 88 sts) and began with a picot cast-on, separating the picots with three knit stitches. I knitted the 3×1 ribbing (the purl stitches fell on the picots) for about 8 inches. On the next row, I decreased every two stitches (k2, k2tog; repeat to end; leaving 66 sts); thus, removing the purl columns and creating a skirt. I knitted the body for about 1.5 inches before separating for the front (23 sts) and back (45 sts).

I knitted the front and back parts separately, tapering the front and knitting the back straight. To shape the front I decreased by two stitches every 4th row 3 times (the armholes) and then every other row until three stitches remained. I knitted the back straight to match the row count and then changed to Size 7 needles and knitted in 1×1 ribbing for 7 rows, decreasing at each end on alternate (RS) rows to shape the collar.

Angora cat sweater, body and collar shaping.

Really, I tried to knit everything in-the-round just so finishing would be easier. I only needed to seam the chest part of this sweater (above the armhole shaping and below the collar ribbing).

The yarn

This yarn is a cloud of luxury--extremely warm and soft. But also, very difficult to get good pictures! And, the fibers ended up everywhere!

When Deb picked out this yarn in Luxury Yarns (I think that's what the shop was called) while we were Christmas shopping in Newbury Street, Boston, the store owner actually did not want to sell it to us. She was saving it for a frequent customer who would use it in a shawl. Obviously, Deb prevailed, and we left with this yarn and many others.

To speed up my Kitty Couture™ series, I'll post two sweater reports today. I really don't want to spend too much time on this one, because I really wish I had unraveled this sweater and started anew--It's by far the most boring cat sweater I've ever produced. And, I begin to think it won't fit at all.

Kitty Couture™ Kashmir Aran cat sweater.

Pattern Kitty Couture™ Kashmir Aran cat sweater.
Yarn Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran, 2 skeins.
Needles Size 9 (5.5 mm).

Pattern Description

There was actually so much more that I wanted to do with this pattern--It was supposed to be almost a "cheongsam" in design. But, I just couldn't get it right. In the end, it was just a straight and dull tube. And, because it was the first one I had made in a while, I forgot some of the lessons I learned about shaping from Blush and Chic. Hence, the front armhole section is not tapered (which means, it will probably hang off the cat because there's too much fabric). I used plain k1,p1 ribbing—no fancy twisted ribbing here. I did, however, crochet an edging around the armhole openings.

The Yarn

I actually liked this yarn. It was soft and the color is very vibrant. I think the problem with this lay in my inability to measure how much yarn I would need for the design I wanted. I actually bought a skein of black (to make the edging for my "cheongsam" design), but used that for the prototype to my Lace-leaf hat, instead.

For this sweater/dress, unlike the previous Angora cat sweater, I definitely had more than enough yarn. I really tried to take advantage of it. So, in my imagination, poor Piglet is tripping over the skirt of this sweater every time she tries to run around.

Kitty Couture™ Kimono Angora cat sweater.

Pattern Kitty Couture™ Kimono Angora cat sweater.
Yarn Louisa Harding Kimono Angora, 2.5 skeins.
Needles Size 5 (3.75 mm).

Pattern Description

For this, I casted-on 150 sts, intending to decrease 1/3 of these to create a bell skirt below the armhole openings. I knitted in stockinette stitch for about 8 inches before decreasing with k1,k2tog to the end of the round. 100 stitches remained, but this was still too big for the cat sweater body. I knitted for about 1.5 inches and then knitted another decrease round, this time k3,k2tog to the end, leaving me with 80 stitches.

After another 1.5 inches of stockinette stitch, I divided for the front and back panels, which I knit separately and seamed together as before. I did not add 1×1 ribbing to the collar for this sweater; Instead, I finished the sweater with crocheted scallops at the collar and hem:

Crocheted edging on hem and collar.

The Yarn

Normally, I don't really care for multi-colored yarns when I am knitting something that requires shaping, which usually disrupts whatever patterns may come out of the colors. But, it seemed to work for this sweater. I forgot to mention before, but the colors of the Prism Angora completely lost the striping after the decrease row but brought them back for the armhole shaping.

On our way to Stitches West, we drove past NASA's blimp hangar (Hangar One?), and for some reason or other we (or rather, I) started talking about my threefold obsession with dragons, airships, and mecha. I like each individually, but put them together and you have one awesome... anime series?

Back to this cat sweater, yes?

I almost frogged this sweater a few times because I was very unhappy with it for a while. I don't know if you remember, but I actually started this way back in November... I was constantly worried that I didn't have enough yarn, that it was too small, that it was rather ugly... But, when I showed it to Deb, she laughed. She found it pretty funny that I thought her cat was so ferocious. And, really, I love LOVE how it turned out:

Kitty Couture™ Dragon scales cat sweater.

Pattern Kitty Couture™ Dragon scales cat sweater.
Yarn Louet Gems Topaz, #39 Fern Green, 1 skein.
Needles Size 5 (3.75 mm).

Pattern Description

I think everyone is pretty familiar with the "dragon scale" stitch pattern here--I am pretty sure I based it on Marnie's Wyvern socks pattern? I scaled it down to a 20-st and 8-row repeating pattern and used slanted make-1 increases (M1L and M1R). So, I casted-on 92 sts: 30 sts of 2×2 ribbing for the front, one purl st to give a seam between front and back, 60 sts of dragon scale pattern for the back, and one purl st for the second seam.

This looks like a snake husk—OMG! There's a giant snake loose in the apartment!

I knitted in pattern for at least 9 inches (really, with one skein of yarn, I was concerned it wouldn't be long enough). Then, I divided for front and back. This time, because the front was actually pretty wide at 30 sts, I just decreased every RS row. For the back, I knitted a couple repeats of the pattern (to match the row-count of the front), then joined for knitting in-the-round. I continued to decrease the front until two stitches remained, knitting in pattern for the back. Then, I finished the back with 2×2 ribbing and decreases for collar shaping.

The only thing I don't really like about the front shaping is that I used feathered decreases. Notice how at the top, the stitches pull from the center? Drat. However, I really do like how the edges of the armhole openings were very neat and didn't require any finishing. Cute.

Front and collar shaping.

The Yarn

I like Louet yarns very much. (I've used Euroflax Linen and Gems Opal before...) I bought this skein from Imagiknit's sale shelf and regret not buying more of it. The sweater is very soft and stretchy.

So, no more cat sweaters for a while. I have one more to make and this will be very different for the six you see here. But I want to finish one or two other projects first.

Happy Knitting!