FO: Charity Hat

Pattern: Marcie’s Epilogue
Yarn: Forest Edge Farm Angora
Needles: ??? US 10, maybe? I need to keep better track of these things.

Warning: bad phone picture to port.

It’s FO Friday!!! Do you see what I did there? I declared Fridays to be FO Fridays!!! I suspect it’s only going to last about 4 weeks, maybe 5, until I run through the queue of finished projects. I doubt I’m going to keep up the trend, but still. Work with me.

Remember  Operation Provide Warmth? I think they are still accepting items. I made this hat for them in hopes someone who is going through an extremely rough winter would have something warm and super snuggly on their heads. And this yarn is super snuggly. A coworker gave the angora to me when she realized she was allergic. It’s like petting the actual bunny it came from.

Last I heard from the OPW site (which I think was around Christmas), people are still without power. That’s right. No power in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. So if you can knit/crochet something really, really fast go do it and send it to the coordinator.

Oh look, I’m trying to look like a teenager.

 

Marcie’s Epilogue

There is a local knitting drive for areas hit hard by the hurricanes. Winter is coming soon and some of the areas get extremely cold. What better way to stay warm than with a hat! I decided it was time to resurrect Marcie’s hat and fix what I became annoyed with in the pattern. I liked how the hat looked when it was done, but it didn’t quite work well in practice. So I picked a new yarn (one from my stash) and double stranded it for added warmth, one of the things I wanted to do with the other hat after the fact, and changed how the decreasing worked the crown of the hat. I’m much happier with the finished product.

Marcie’s Epilogue

Materials:
1 skein Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted (190 yards)

1 pair US 8 Circular Needles
1 set US 8 Double Point Needles

Gauge: 15 st = 4″

Notes: The hat is knit with two strands of yarn at a time, called double stranding. The bottom part of the hat is seed stitch. That part should be 2 1/2 to 3 inches long, depending on your preference. The hat photographed is knit with 2 1/2 inches of seed stitch. If 61 stitches doesn’t work for your head, simply add more stitches and follow the decrease as written.

Pattern

• Using two strands of yarn at once, loosely cast on 61 stitches.
• Join making sure not to twist and place marker to designate the row.
• Knit in seed stitch for 2 1/2 to 3 inches depending on your preference ([k1, p1] to the end of the row and ending on a knit. For the subsequent rows, knit the purls and purl the knits.)
• Knit every row until the piece measures 5 1/2 inches.

Decreasing for the Crown

• [K2 K2tog] to the last 3 stitches. K3tog
• Knit another 3/4 inch.
• [K2tog K1] to end of row. Switch to the double point needles whenever the hat becomes too small for the circulars.
• K 3 rows (approx 1/4 inch)
• [K2tog] to end of row.
• [K2tog] to end of row. You will end up with an extra stitch, just knit the stitch and end the row.

Finishing

Cut yarn leaving a 6″ tail. Thread yarn through a tapestry needle and pull yarn through last 4 stitches. Pull tight. Secure the yarn on the inside of the hat and weave in ends.

Copyright

This is pattern is free for personal, non-commercial use. Further use requires permission from the designer (me). You may not sell or distribute the pattern in any form. You may not sell the any item or items made from this pattern without my permission. You may not use this pattern or items from the pattern for commercial use.

Charity Hats

Made by Hand ran it’s last charity drive this year and I made 5 chemo caps as my donation.

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK
Needles: US 6

The first hat is a pattern that’s been bouncing around in my head for years. I thought I would take this opportunity to start figuring it out and see if I like it action. I’m not 100% in love with it yet, but I’m not hating it. It’s very floppy, which I’m pretty sure is due to the cotton. Next time, I try it in wool. I also ran out of the white yarn so I had to pick another color from my stash. In my head it’s a monochromatic hat. I don’t plan on leaving the top half plain garter stitch. My intent is for that part to be a different stitch pattern, I just haven’t figured out what yet. This first iteration was more to figure out the connection with the leaves and the rest of the hat.

The other four hats were quick knits that I just knit on the fly. I tried to make more masculine hats because the trend for the chemo caps this year seemed to be more feminine and some men who undergo chemo may want a hat too. There’s really not much else to say about them so here’s the specs and a picture.

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran
Needles: US 8

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran
Needles: US 8

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
Needles: US 8

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
Needles: US 8

Cancer Hat Update

Made by Hand has collected almost 50 hats! As soon as I finish the Husband’s sweater, I hope to make a few for the pile. This will most likely be Made by Hand’s last charity drive and we are going out with a bang. Or at least trying to. The goal is to bring in 400 hats for 4 hospitals in our area by November 5. That’s a lot of hats, so please take a moment and make a hat for someone going through chemo. You can knit, crochet, or sew your hat just so long as you make it with your own two hands. We even have an address this year!

As soon as I finish the Husband’s sweater I will be raiding the stash for really soft yarn to make a handful of hats. Will you be doing the same?

Sometimes Obssesion is a good thing.

I’m really busy lately and will be through the weekend, but I wanted to take a minute to point out that Made by Hand is back if anyone is interested in donating. We will be running through October 2009 since we started so late this year. New to this round is our ravelry group you can join and a PO box for donations which will be on the site soon.