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The Shark Hat is ready for test knitting. I’ll be starting to send it to potential test knitters tonight. If you don’t get an email by this weekend, please send me a message on Ravelry or here, and I’ll get it sent out to you.

Two other hats have also been made recently, both for myself. I love hats.

First is Capucine. Love this pattern.

Knit with Manos Del Uruguay wool that I’ve had sitting around for far too long.

The ponytail in the back is cute without being too silly.

It’s a really nice hat to wear out on the town with my hair down.

I also knit a more functional hat. But for the sake of silly, I added little ears.

Knit from Cascade 200 heather in a nice plum, and edged with leftover Noro.

It’s served me well for long days/nights of shovelling. Insulating and cozy without being too thick.

Also, KniCroBloWeek is coming up soon!

I’m excited. Last year was quite fun. Link me your blog if you’re doing it this year! I love reading different answers and it’s a great way to find new blogpals.

Now off to prepare the pattern and email it off. Cheers for your patience, test knitters!

[ 1 Reply ]

Lucky 7 & Squares

Posted on January 12, 2011

by Ninja

I have had the sick.

Just some sort of seasonal flu/cold bug, but it really knocked me on my knickers for a few days.

So, I knit.

While I was stocking up on some small skeins of dishcloth cotton at Wal Mart a little while back, I found Bernat Mosaic. I had not seen it before, but it resembled Noro Kureyon and was $2. I had to have it.

I decided to use the Lucky 7 pattern to knit a quick n’ cute hat to test out the yarn. The yarn knits very nicely. Breaks easily if I pull too hard, but so does Noro (and most other single plys). For an acrylic, it knits and feels very much like a wool. It’s amazing what they can do with acrylics nowadays.

The hat knit up in two evenings. Easy, fun knit. Here it is, modeled by a very sick me. Mind the face.

As you can see, the colours don’t knit up quite as gradient-like as Noro, but they still give nice subtle striping. I wasn’t a big fan of the orange in this colourway, but knit up in the hat I rather like it.

The hat is very nice, but contrary to appearances it does NOT fit me. It’s extremely snug on my head and gave me a headache just wearing it for photos. It is very soft and very warm, knit with love, has been washed, and is up for giveaway! I will be making a post regarding this very soon.

I’m not complaining, for a $2 hat that gave me something simple to knit on during a high fever. I would happily use this yarn again, especially for baby projects or other things that should be machine-washed. I recommend it as an acrylic, inespensive Kureyon variant.

Also, there is another illness being passed through this house.

If n0ot contained soon, this could become a pandemic of blanket-proportions.

Send aid.

lucky 7 hat granny squares

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Granny Squares and Landmarks

Posted on December 28, 2010

by Ninja

The holidays have been cruel to me, health-wise. Anxiety is at an all time high, meaning my temporo-mandibular joint issue has escalated, causing me to slightly dislocate the left side a few nights before Christmas. I had to slurp down my turkey dinner, and now it’s finally getting better thanks to a stress massage, some muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories, but the anxiety’s still a bit high.

A good therapy: Knitting. In fact, it’s been prescribed.

I don’t tell many folks this, but in the interest of a good tale… I see a therapist every few weeks for my anxiety, in an attempt to work on natural methods of controlling it as opposed to being on medication. This has included successful ventures like cutting out most sugar and caffeine, working on identifying trigger factors, etc. We had this very conversation a few months back:

Dr. T: So, this may sound like an old-woman thing, but… knitting, crocheting, needlework and the like are all great hobbies to pursue. In your case, they can be a focus exercise when needing a distraction from the trigger point, as well as keeping hands busy as not to fidget.

Me: I knit. And crochet, a bit. (more on that below.)

Dr. T: Oh? Excellent! Does it work?

Me: yes. Generally my first reaction is to grab the needles and knit something.

Dr. T: Very nice. Keep that up. Might be a good thing to bring your knitting with you out for social activities (it can be a trigger for me), but I guess it might be hard to tote…

Me: Nope. Got a sock in progress right here. (I pull out my RPM.)

Dr. T: … clearly I need to learn from you, here.

Now I can count knitting as physical and emotional therapy, though we all knew it was such.

I’ve successfully made some granny squares in the past little while.

They’re furiously addictive. I want to make a blanket of them. Like those awesome oldschool 70′s ones, but perhaps with nicer colours. I’ve been poking around at Attic 24 for inspiration as well as the all-knowing Ravelry. I also have The Happy Hooker which taught me all I needed to know, as the original Stitch n’ Bitch did.

I’ve also made decent stripe progress on the Who Scarf:

It’s just over 4 feet. Final length will be about 16 feet. I’m a quarter done! Wow!

Tonight is a night of settling in with some knitting, watching a movie, and working on de-stressing from the holiday.

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Regarding the Shark Hat

Posted on December 28, 2010

by Ninja

It’s been removed until further notice.

I do not have the time right now for fixing the pattern myself, and I cannot deal with another “you ruined my child’s Christmas” email. People need to remember that the internet isn’t a wall. Speak the way you would speak in person. There’s a human being on the other side. I make mistakes like everyone else. The pattern was free. People are having wonderful successes with my other free patterns. This one’s simply been a knee in my back from day one, and I contemplated pulling it several times, but was asked not to by some. I should probably have listened to my heart instead.

Apologies to everyone. When I get the time, I will test knit the hat 2-3 times and re-write the pattern entirely.

shark hat

[ 12 Replies ]

Now I Am A True Ninja.

Posted on December 23, 2010

by Ninja

Because I have a ninja mask! Balaclava is complete.

Knit with Drunken Pennsic yarn, and reminded me of why I hate knitting long tubes of ribbing. It did knit up lovely though, and it is deliciously warm and soft. It will be a welcome outdoor companion.

Adventures in crochet to follow soon. Yes, you heard me.

balaclava

[ 4 Replies ]

Nothing says irony…

Posted on December 13, 2010

by Ninja

… like a pit bull in a shark hat.

This is the lovely Luce, eeeeevil red dog extraordinaire. Her person is an online friend from a dog community I belong to, and her mum was cool enough to knit this hat for her… or for Luce. Or something.

Regardless, Luce is awesome and now she has a shark hat of her very own.

(Photo credit belongs to Luce’s person who has a pretty cool blog herself.)

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Shark Hat, Version 3.0. Finally.

Posted on December 12, 2010

by Ninja

After way too long, the new, and hopefully error-free Shark Hat is available for download. You can get it on Ravelry or on my page here. Special thanks to the lovely Kate (discosmurf on Ravelry) for making some necessary mods to this pattern and making my re-write much easier. Also for allowing me use of a few of her adorable hat photos:

It is entirely my fault for letting this pattern go on for TWO YEARS without the needed update. I should have shut it down and saved people the torment of it, but when I did, people wanted it back. What do you do?

I can’t help but be a little aggravated that very few knitters contacted me regarding the pattern’s issues, but many were adamant to complain loudly about it on their completed hat pages on Ravelry. Here’s the magic of Ravelry: I can see every hat linking back to my pattern. I can read the comments. I can see the errors for myself.

I wonder, sometimes, why people do not take a moment to contact the designer directly. I make it a point to always contact the designer if I have a problem with a pattern. Perhaps I’m just logical.

Anyways, it’s no one’s fault but my own, just a musing. I worked very hard to make sure this pattern version made sense, and had it proofread by one other person.

I ask here as well as everywhere else:

If there is a problem with this pattern, please please do not hesitate to contact me at allisonmacalister at gmail dot com. That is the fastest way I can track the problem and get an errata out there.

Thanks everyone! I hope the new and improved Shark Hat causes everyone a little more RAWR and happiness and a lot less frustration. :)

[ 13 Replies ]

Health & Balaclava

Posted on December 3, 2010

by Ninja

Not much in the way of news. I’ve been chugging along on my Shovelling Mask for winter, based on this awesome balaclava pattern. I’ve made it to the split.

I want it ASAP so I’m going to keep plugging at it. I hope to make armwarmers out of the remaining Drunken Pennsic Yarn, but we’ll see what’s left at the end of it. The colours are knitting up nicer than I had originally thought. Instead of pooling, it’s looking more like paint splashed onto the yarn. Results may vary on my armwarmers though, what with smaller circumference and all.

Back has been spasming like mad for awhile (in the midst of getting it inspected by medical folk) so a lot of knitting has happened. It’s nice. Not the back part, the knitting part. :)

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Shark Hat and Travelling Sock

Posted on November 16, 2010

by Ninja

First, some big news. As many folks have learned, the Shark Hat pattern is… poorly written. It is my fault, having made a sore attempt to combine by test knitter’s efforts with my own and then failing to test knit once again. This time, I’ll be doing it right.

A lovely person on Ravelry has made the needed edits to my pattern, and with credit to her, I’ll be test-knitting and re-releasing the pattern soon. Watch for updates, and to all who have been frustrated by this hat, I give my sincere apologies. It is a lesson learned as a noob designer: Don’t be in a hurry to release your patterns. Be thorough and do your best to make sure it is correct the first time around.

In pleasant Shark Hat news, something awesome is going on over at Halos of Hope. One of my shark hats has been knit, named after a wonderful pit bull (which, given my other aspiration in life, fits perfectly), and took an inspiring voyage for cancer awareness. I have no place to brag in this awesome story; I am merely humbled that something as adorable and silly as my shark-eating-head hat could be an inspiration for something like this. Halos of Hope is an awesome organization; if you can spare it, throw them a donation.

Last weekend was spent in Virginia, up mountain at my sister (the Knitting Pirate)’s house. She is not my blood sister, but her and my two swornbrothers make it a point to unite ourselves a few times a year.

Sister and I knitted. Natch.