Striped Knits

I have been knitting away making some arm warmers and an earflap hat out of this great colored yarn from Red Heart, the color is 0964 Primary and it has all of my favorite colors and stripes really well.

I used a combination of patterns blended together for the hat.  The arm warmers are a modified version of Slither from Knitty, I knitted them in the round and left off the stripes and buttons.  I am really excited to wear these this weekend, it’s finally getting cold enough for winter knits.

Are Your Ears Cold?

Mine aren’t either, but I’m prepared if they do get cold.  I have resolved to use up some of my stash of everything, but especially yarn.  You may remember this yarn from the swiffer cover and dusting mitt, well I still had some left and so I made an ear warmer.

It’s just a tube with some 2 X 2 ribbing around both edges.  I still had a bit of yarn leftover and I have a crochet project that I’m going to use that last little bit for.

I also decided to make an earflap hat.  I started out with this pattern and changed the earflaps a bit, left off the horns, and added twisted cords instead of I-cord.

            

I made the pom-pom using a doodle-loom that I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  The doodle-loom made it easy to cut the pom-pom, but overall I would have to say that I was unimpressed with it.  I was hoping to make big, full poms, but these ended up kind of limp and not as full as I wanted and I wrapped that loom until I couldn’t fit anymore yarn on it!

I don’t know what it is about earflap hats, but I can’t stop making them.  If you know of any good patterns let me know I’d love to try a new style!

Slither and Swell from Knitty.com

The minute I saw the pattern for "slither" the super long armwarmers on knitty I wanted to make them, but I wasn't sure that I was up for the challenge. I still think of myself as a beginning knitter and all those decreases, intarsia, button holes and the thumb gusset? I went for it, after all you can always frog the whole thing, right?

I knitted frantically for three days and then spent the forth day sewing on the buttons. I really like how they turned out.I love the shaping, it is one of the things that I find so fascinating about knitting. This pattern is really well written, it was a little complicated to do the shaping and the striping at the same time, but once I got the hang of it I did fine.

I also had enough yarn left over to make "swell" an earflap hat. I could actually make one in all three colors and I just might!

I had to go up two sizes of needle to get the proper gauge on this one and I also changed it up a bit. I didn't do the intarsia wave pattern or the peace sign purls on the earflaps. I also made the back longer than the front and didn't purl across the earflaps to make a ridge where they are connected to the hat. The hat turned out light weight and warm. I may add a fleece lining, but I think this may be the perfect earflap hat.

Yarn used Cascade 220 in black, dark plum, and cabernet heather.