Knit It: 2

I've finished my headband/hat; it's turned out so so.

I have decided that I made it a little wide, but at least it covers my ears, and my hair can come out the top, hooray!

I actually cheated a little, as I originally knitted a fair way before I realised that for some strange reason each row seemed to be getting more and more stitches to it. It took me a while to work out that because of the type of wool I was using, each row ended up with more and more stitches as the wool split. Instead of  a rectangular strip I ended up knitting more of a triangle, with one end starting out with 15 stitches cast, through to 40 at the other end. Woops! So I actually carefully un-ravelled the whole thing and started again, this time counting the stitches as I knitted each row.

I think I will be able to rock it, even though if you look too closely the stitches are a little all over the place, but for first attempts I'm stoked. Thankfully the bobbly wool was very forgiving to my troubles with the tension. I think it wasn't til I got near the end that I got the hang of the perfect tension, but hey, practice makes perfect!

Knit It

After checking out the weather websites for Vancouver I discovered that March and April up that'a'ways will see me cooling my tootsies off nicely in 10 - 15 degree weather. Ahh yes, that's a bit more like my good old NZ temperatures!

However seeing as I haven't seen those kinds of temperatures since 2008, I no longer own a hat or gloves, which I am guessing, if we get the outdoor volunteer work we are hoping for, I will be needing.

Well, the easiest thing to do would be to just go out and grab a cheap beanie somewhere for my wee noggin but noooo, why would I do that when I can use this opportunity to acquire a new crafty skill! Knitting.

I have vague memories of my Grandma teaching me to knit when I was quite young, but I also remember that she did all the casting on and off, I just did the bits in the middle. And I also remember that my patience for scarf making (the obvious easiest project to begin with) seemed to wane at about the 250mm length mark, where I would then get Grandma to cast off, and Barbie and Ken would get a new, extremely 'cool' woollen blanket for their Barbie bed. Of course.

But for a while now I have found myself rather envious of my Grandma's ability to spend an afternoon in front of the tennis on tv, whipping up a nasty, scratchy woollen  jersey, complete with animal face on the front.

So I went for a little trip today to good old Spotlight, and bought myself some needles, wool, and a 'how to' book.
I am going to knit a hat! And to make it easier, (and a lot more practical for me with my long tressses) I decided it's not even going to be a hat, but one of those wide head band type things that your hair can come out the top of. (OK so if I had a picture you would get it, it is a lot cooler then it sounds.)

It took me a while to get started - talk about all fingers and thumbs, I think my winter jersey will be a wee way down the track, but my hat? Well I think, no I hope I can make it to the end. I no longer have barbies or pets to relegate the half assed attempts to, so there really is no excuse to not finish. It's looking a bit of a shambles at the moment, firstly because my tension is all over the place and secondly, because I knew the tension would be a problem, I bought the type of wool that goes from thick to thin and has the odd bobbly bit in it. It's all about faking it til I make it, I reckon.

I'll keep you posted on how it turns out!