Saturday, December 16, 2006

Two down

I have finished the second surprise Christmas project! More on that below.

Meanwhile, I have another finished object to show you - the hat from Rebecca 28, out of bulky merino from Handpaintedyarn.com on size 10 denises. I forgot how fast hats are - too bad I never wear them. Here it is blocking:
rebecca hat

Here it is on me (it was not fully dry when I tried it on, let me tell you, there are not a whole lot of things less pleasant than putting a bulky soggy wool hat on your head).
sprig of lavendar

I was trying to recapitulate the Rebecca model pose (although our house was lacking sprigs of wheat, so I had to sub a sprig of dried lavendar. Same diff.)
Did I succeed?
wheathead

I hadn't appreciated how difficult it is to take a picture of the top of your head. This is the only one out of like 20 where I even got a good part of my head in the frame:
hat top

This yarn is so soft and squishy, and I love the subtle variations in color. Yay Uruguay! I didn't even use a full skein (I also forgot how little yarn hats take), I'm thinking of maybe a neat neck gaiter like this one with the rest.

Alright, now for the surprise Christmas present.
Here's what I did:
dad's socks

Socks! They're for my dad. This present I can actually model for you myself.
dad's socks, my feet

Specs -
pattern: Gentleman's sock with lozenge pattern, from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.
yarn: Knitpicks Essential in Pumpkin, just a titch over 2 skeins. I've heard that they changed the composition of this yarn somewhat so that it's softer - it did feel kind of tough and wirey while I was knitting with it, but once I blocked the socks they felt smooth and soft and lovely. And I love the color (orange is my dad's favorite color).
Needles: Knitpicks dpns US size 1 (which is really more like a size 1.5).
Verdict: yay socks! I hope he likes them.

11 comments:

Libi said...

The hat, the pose and the model....great!

I love those socks. I want to get back into sock knitting soon.

Batty said...

Gorgeous! The socks and the hat are great, and I love the way they look in the yarns you've chosen.

Zonda said...

Nice work on the hat! I like your pose! ;) The socks are really nice, I'm glad to see them knit up in that pattern; only seen them in the book.

Anonymous said...

Even better than the model my dear! And I like the present, v. sleek yet cozy.

Brittany said...

The socks look great. The hat looks nice and warm too. I love how hats look myself, but can never bring myself to wearing them. Hat head and all. ;)

Knittypants said...

Great hat! Great pose!

The socks are so very nice, too. A perfect gift.

Hege said...

What a cute hat! And great socks, too! How do you do that with the hiding the text and the links??? It's so clever!

Anonymous said...

Great hat and socks! I am STILL trying to get my Xmas knitting done. 1 more pair of fetching mitts and 2 smocked gauntlets, a bag, and sweater seaming to go. UG! Hey, btw, you've been tagged (SORRYSORRYSORRY!!) See my blog...

schrodinger said...

The hat, and pose, looks great! I laughed when I read about taking pictures of the top of your head, the amount of pictures I take before I get a good one is silly sometimes.

Unknown said...

great pic's! And the socks are superbe!

tejiendo said...

The socks look great. Thanks for providing multiple views of the hat. It's one of the projects on my to do list. Was it difficult to knit?