I missed posting my FO of the Florence hat on Friday, so let’s do that first, shall we? Design is from JP Knits and Knits (Jen Paroccini) and is one I test knit when it originally came out about a year ago. Like all of Jen’s patterns, it has a a wide range of sizes and a ton of great details. I swapped in a DK from deep stash – Valley Yarns Northfield, which is a bouncy merino/silk multi-stranded yarn, in Wine – rather than the called-for sportweight. I wanted an adult medium and knew I’d need to go up a needle size to accommodate the larger yarn, so I used the adult small numbers knit on the larger needles and it came out perfectly. A deep brim for extra warmth, a fun knit/purl texture pattern and columns of ribbing around which the shaping/decreases happen and this works up to a great-fitting, really fun finished project.
I also finished up another hat, which was a test knit, this week, but the pattern hasn’t released yet so I’ll have more on that once it does. Some new cast-ons for this week, however. I started the Dragonstone socks, designed by SammyLyn. These are a fun very textural sock with cabled details and an “arch architecture” heel that isn’t one of my usual ones, so they will be fun to give a fit trial to. I’m using Lanitium Ex Machina’s Basic Sock (75/25 SW wool and nylon) in “Slumber for these. I’m about halfway down the leg of sock 1 so far. Also new on the needles is the Carrasco Cowl by Katy Carroll. I’m using a 4-color gradient set of The Unique Sheep sportweight Foot Prints base in the “One Ring” colorway. This cowl has some slipped stitch and knit/purl texture, but is otherwise a pretty straightforward knit. Both of these projects are also deep stash yarns and I’m thrilled I’m actually getting these odd skeins from way back knit up! Finally, I also started a Granny Stripes blanket using sockweight minis and scraps, all in teals and blues. I’m enjoying picking colors out of a bag for this one and am equally thrilled the kitten has finally settled in enough that she can sit with me (when she’s not in full-on playtime mode) to craft and not try to eat the yarn.
I am just about done the singles for the next miniskein of handspun I’m working on. I’ll have one final color to spin up so it feels good to have that in the home stretch. I have moved back to my focus cross-stitch piece (Winter’s Encounter) when the month turned over to February, but I did get 1400 stitches put into Chesterton on Blue Patchwork in January, which put me at 2500 stitches since I started that project in December. Chesteron will be back out sometime later this year, but it’s a fun stitch and I’m enjoying working on the patchwork blocks.
That’s it for me this week, YOP’ers! Have a great one!
Knit One, Spin Too 
Hurrah for getting kittens to lie quietly while you craft! You are really quite full of lovely projects and yarns. I like seeing your progress week-by week.
It was a major milestone! Napping in the sun was a big help. Thank you so much for visiting and your kind comment!
You’ve got such a good balance of projects, and so pretty too. I’m glad your furry friend has decided to be a good helper, at least some of the time!
Thank you – it’s fun to have the variety. She’s getting there… slowly….
The Florence hat is great. Love the color and the pattern of it. Especially the top of the hat. Looks super warm with that deep ribbed brim. The socks have a great texture to them. I love socks with interest yet hubby prefers vanilla socks or shortie socks. *sigh* Since he is the one who receives most of my knit socks, I just grin and bear it. Pretty color on your cowl. It will be fun to see the gradients work together in this piece. Your kitty is so sweet looking. But then, most critters are when sleeping LOL. The cloth you use for your 100% covered cross stitch is so cool. Makes counting so much easier than normal aida cloth. What is the stitch count on it? How did you learn about this type of cross stitching? So many of us cross stitch and I for one would love to try my hand at a small piece like this.
Thank you for all the kind comments. Florence IS super warm and very squishy/cozy. The x-stitch fabric is Easy Count (brand name) and it’s 25-count. The grid lines wash out (lots of very hot water) after finishing and it makes these SO much easier to do. YouTube has OODLES of videos on “Full coverage cross stitch”, which is where I fell down the rabbit hole. You could also visit the FB group I run – Full Coverage Fanatics – lots of good helpful people there with projects from absolutely massive to much smaller/doable. (But I’d be glad as well to answer any questions you have. Send me an email at anne dot podlesak at gmail dot com if I can be of help!)
Your hat and socks look so good! And the cross stitch looks great – I find all lovely but the full coverage ones are amazing!
Thank you so much! I love working on those full coverage projects 🙂
Love the crown of the hat. I think my next hat is going to be the turban style. I think it’s very feminine so it will be a Christmas gift to one of my daughters. I’m impresses you are allowed to make so many changes to your test knit. I’m only done 2 but I was required to meet guage with the yarn weight specified. I think it’s nice to have some projects where weight was varied just to show the versatility of the pattern.
The original test knit I did last year I stuck to the pattern (sportweight, Jen’s numbers, gauge). This one is just one I wanted to make to use up this yarn – so no restrictions on it! But I was really happy to see that the fit and all the nicce details worked just fine in the DK weight!
Another great selection of projects in the go. The finished hat is pretty cool. I love your fancy crochet hook, at first I thought it was a spinde. I’m glad your little helper is behaving…the temptation to play with all the balls and strings of yarn must be very high so any overcoming that is impressive.
It’s actually really comfortable to use and I like how pointy the end is for smaller gauge yarns. She really did quite well – I was surprised – but I suspect the siren song of a big patch of sunlight to nap in called to her loudly.
Love the color on that hat!
Thank you! I’m not normally a “red” girl but I like this one.
This all looks great! I especially love the brim of that hat. The ribbing gives it a wonderful shape!
It does – and is super cozy!
You really were busy and productive!the hat is really nice and the color looks great. The pattern is so interesting and looks like it would keep you n ice and warm. The granny stripe blanket is very pretty. The XS piece is amazing especially with your technique. It will be beautiful when you’re done.
Thanks so much, Sandra! I highly recommend the hat pattern – fun and turns out great.
The Florence Hat is so pretty and looks to be quite warm. Since I live where winter is cold, I prefer hats knit from DK or worsted weight yarn. You have some nice projects going with enough variation to keep the making interesting.
It IS very warm. That doubled-up brim definitely helps. And I do love having a mix of projects to work on – keeps everything interesting 🙂