Starfish Hat, by Anne Farnham, worked up quite nicely. I moved the needle size up one beyond gauge, to get a bit more slouch in the main section. The bit of lace and bobble mix is easy peasy and adds a nice touch. And at the crown, the decreases form a starfish shape. This electric green will brighten up a wintry day. Cascade 220 wool has such a wonderful selection of colors.

This one, knit in Cascade Quatro, is “Tasseled Topper” by Linda Medina. That must make mine: No-Tasseled Topper” and I think it works nicely.  Not a fan of tassels, but I like this hat.

Cascade’s new book is great for knitters looking for small projects in worsted weight yarns. In the last few weeks, I’ve knit these three hats and have already started my second scarf from the book.

Durenda Pake’s “Yarns To Go” shop  is located at 127 Second Street, in the heart of downtown Alpena. She has a wonderful selection of natural fiber yarns, as well as acrylics. I’ve never knit with Plymouth Yarn’s Galway and so I selected these two shades for a pair of fair isle mittens. It’s a yarn that looks quite comparable to Cascade 220–maybe a  bit more “refined” and a bit tighter twist. On US size 8’s it should knit up at 5 stitches to the inch. So says the ball band. The yarn is spun for Plymouth Yarns in Peru.

Naturally Nazareth is a “100 percent domestic wool” that I am not familiar with. Yarns To Go has a small selection of what the ball band describes as Aran weight (4.5 stitches to the inch on US size 8 needles). The yarn is produced by Kraemer Yarns. I puzzled over the “Naturally Nazareth” yarn name–until I saw that the yarn is spun in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. I plan a scarf for the variegated yarn and a pair of mittens for the black and natural.

Locally, Cascade 220 is getting to be hard to find. Maybe the shops have mostly abandoned the yarn to the internet sellers.  The shops nearer to home have started stocking Ella Rae, instead. Good yarn, but not Cascade 220. I like the somewhat more rough look of Cascade 220 better. Plus Ella Rae is more expensive.

So, if you are in Northeast Michigan looking for yarn shops, be sure to check out Yarns To Go. Nice people. Helpful. Lots of yarn. And a surprisingly complete and up-to-date selection of books.

The trio of washcloths in this post are designed by Evelyn A. Clark. The patterns were published by Fiber Trends in a booklet called “Bathtime Blossoms.” They are worked flat, in short row wedges. Eight wedges to a cloth. I knitted mine in a discontinued Rowan “100% organic” cotton that’s been in my stash for about a dozen years: Fox Fibre. Size 3 needles. Clark calls the first one “Flowered Wreath.” Next is “Blossom.” The last one is “Scattered Flowers.” They are each a quick knit.

But why do I knit such things? I have no idea. They are not exactly mindless. They are not exactly useful. They are not exactly useless. They are just kind of pretty.

Knitwear designer Cheryl Oberle tells the story of how knitter Carol Sanders deciphered the pattern to a shawl from the 1880’s. She generously includes a free PDF of the shawl (this one) on her website. Cheryl calls it “Carol’s Clever Little Shawl.” Carol has decided that Mrytle originally knitted the shawl. This one is my version, which is very true to the original. I knitted it in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, in their color M-140 Aran. Brown Sheep is often my “go to” yarn. At 85% wool, 15% mohair, it is warm as can be. It can sometimes be a tad thick and thin, but never too thick and never too thin. It is very reasonably priced and comes in wonderful saturated colors.

This was a fun knit. The three regular readers of my blog know that I’m a big fan of garter stitch. Some experienced knitters find it very boring. I find it very calming. This shawl uses a bit of short row shaping to give it a nice drape. The keyhole is a wonderful feature. No need for a shawl pin or for fussing with a knot. And the touch of lace is a touch of inspiration.

Thank you Carol and Cheryl. Oh yes, Mrytle too. (That’s Hoover in Elizabeth Paige Smith’s  kittypod in the background.)

This is my face to the Ravelry world. She is my Ravatar. Whenever I post on Rav, this is who other knitters see. Some knitters show their arm tattooed with a wound ball of yarn. Some show a beautiful piece of lace work. A plate of cookies. Themselves astride their Harley. Or a cat. Some show their real faces. But this is me. A doll I knitted many years ago, complete with knitted hearts on her underwear, a knitted wig done up with a bun in the back and a dress of my own design. The original pattern was a severe looking doll knitted in dark colors.  It was a Fall, 1980 Better Homes and Gardens Magazine pattern called Grand-Mere Knitted Doll. The first time I knitted her I followed the pattern and she turned out very somber.   Next time I knitted this version of her, for me.

Some Ravelers change their Ravatars on a regular basis. Not me. Who you’ll see today is who you’ll see tomorrow.

“Pure Michigan” Bear is knitted of soft merino Shepherd’s Wool from Stonehedge Farm and Fiber Mill of  East Jordan,Michigan. His skin is knitted in their Milk Chocolate color and his sweater is knitted in Creamsicle. This guy, who I named Lansing to honor Michigan’s state capitol, is stuffed with unspun wool from the Frankenmuth (Michigan) Woolen Mill.

I’ve had Joan C. Haigh’s and Patricia Wulff ’s “Best Friend Bear”  pattern in my stash since it was first published in Interweave Knits, Winter 99/00. The pattern was also included in Interweave Knits Holiday 2006 edition. The opportunity to knit for a local hospice silent auction seemed a good time to finally cast on. He’s knitted flat–in only three pieces. Lansing’s sweater is Beth Brown Reinsel’s Sampler Gansey from her book Knitted Ganseys. It’s a teeny-sized, full feature gansey, complete with underarm gussets. The neck needed modification to accommodate Lansing’s pumpkin head, though.

Nice snout. Cute round belly. You gotta love those cheeks.  And his butt is cute too. You’ve seen the “after” photo, with Lansing sitting in his garden, among the Creeping Jenny. Next is his “before” photo.  This photo would frighten Lansing, but he doesn’t read my blog so it’s OK.

It has been a long time to “FO Day.” This now-Finished Object was cast on February 27, 2010. It was completed May 12, 2010.  Before being cast on, it was  about 1750 yards of, well, basically very nice string that used to grow on sheep.  It seems like it should be sheeps, and I’m sure it was more than one of those critters who “donated” their fleece to make this sweater, but sheep.  This sweater used to grow on sheep.  Mixing animal references now, this was a bear to knit.  Some knitters can teach their hands to remember intricate patterns.  Not me.  My hands are mostly stupid and need constant guidance from my head.

The pattern is Paton’s Dad’s Cardigan.  It is a free pattern with some unfortunate goofs in it just to keep us knitters on our toes.  Goofs in patterns are cod liver oil for knitters: it’s what makes us strong so usually we swallow hard and just get on with it.   I’ve posted my corrections here on Ravelry and emailed Paton’s hoping I can tempt them to fix the errors in the cabling abbreviations. Forget the errors.  They were momentary distractions.  OK, they were kind of big distractions and then I made my peace with them.   Another knitter has turned string into a garment to keep another brother warm. “O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He likes it a lot.  She “chortled in his joy.”

Then there’s Bohus Bunny and Bow-Legged Bunny.  Bow-Legged Bunny remembers that he was an old Sandra Magazine pattern, but other than that his origins (like Bohus’s) are cloaked in the fog of the antiquities.   Pastel Bunny can’t remember her origins either.  Big Eared Little Bunny Bunny knows that she was designed by Debbie Bliss as her Ballerina Bunny.  She prefers not to dwell on that. And no, she does not own a tutu.

It’s a WIP (“work in progress”) for now.  The weather will be warm before it’s an FO (“finished object”).  There’s been a lot of frogging  so far (“rip it, rip it”).  But I am pleased with this fun, challenging project.  I’m using a free Paton’s pattern published under a name so clumsy it doesn’t attract much attention:  ”Dad’s Cardigan.”  In a way, the clumsy name is refreshing.  Anymore, knitting patterns carry some truly odd names  that tell little about what it is.  ”Dad’s Cardigan” suits me better than “George” or “Humanity” or “Intolerable Cruelty.”  Unfortunately  Paton didn’t proofread this pattern as well as one would hope, but the experienced will figure out the errors before too much damage is done.  I’m posting corrections on my Ravelry project page as I knit along, starting from the simple (that it’s unlikely there are patterns for two different size smalls), to the more troublesome (three of the abbreviations within the cable panels are incorrect).  See Noreen1009  on Rav.

I plan for this being an awesome warm sweater.  But I think my fiddling with sticks and string is no match for this beauty of a table.  Thank you big brother!