FO: The Adventurer Hat

Happy Saturday, friends.

Here's the first version of my "Adventurer Hat," which will be KUAS Design's newest pattern release this fall.

 

What makes this an Adventurer hat, you ask? Well, it was designed with a super thick folded brim that is secured to the main body of the hat. I'm certain this will keep your ears snug and warm during the coldest of winters

 

Was your first thought that you dislike sewing? (I do.) Well, there's no sewing involved! The cast-on edge is knit together with the body of the hat. I have a special hack that makes this process easy. You can find this on my "Knitting Up A Storm, the blog" Facebook group. (If you haven't already joined, I welcome you to. Straightaway after releasing a pattern, I choose a person at random to win the newly published pattern for free. I also run exclusive promos and giveaways too.)

 

To give the brim a bit of a twist on the traditional 1x1 ribbing, I literally have the pattern work up a twisted rib. It's takes a few moments longer, but it looks so clean and tidy.

 

The hat will come in about three sizes, and will give you some choices: slouchy, fitted, traditional ribbing, no purled line at the edge of the brim, pom-pom, etc. 

Project Info

Pattern from KUAS Designs---COMING THIS FALL!

Size: M

Needles:

US 6 - 4.0 mm

US 7 - 4.5 mm

 

Yarn: Patons North America Classic Wool Worsted

198 yds/93 grams

Colorway natural Mix

 

Hobby Lobby Pom-Pom 

I am always one for simple textures.

Now on to knit another version in Madelinetosh's Daffodil colorway for fall!

FO: Great Falls National Park Socks

 Good morning!

I've been on a hiking kick for a couple of years now, so I was excited to get my hands on a couple of skeins from KnitWit's National Parks yarn collection. I got a skein of her Bryce Canyon yarn, as well as the Great Falls yarn, which is featured today.

I casted on this puppy at a week-long family reunion in beautiful Geneva, IL. There's rolling farmland hills that is so picturesque. We had such a great time kayaking, shopping, horseback riding, hanging with family and just "being," without being connected to the internet. I got so much knitting done on two pairs of socks and Dockhouse Sweater.

There was a stray cat that lives at the cabin, and he made a lovely companion for knitting outside.

Wine and knitting while watching sunsets...

 

I did a toe-up version of vanilla socks with short row heels.

This was my first time horseback riding. My horse had a mind of his own and got me in trouble with the lady that was instructing us.

My knitting matched my scenery at times.

Now this photo below was taken at our former house. This was the last time I spent quality time knitting in that backyard last summer before the weather turned really cold in October.

Materials & Information

Project: Toe-Up Vanilla Socks with Short Row Heels

Complete Project Notes

Judy's Cast on with 14 sts, 32 st short row heels, and Jeny's Stretchy Bind-Off.

Leg increases to 82 sts.

Needles:

US 0 - 2.0 mm

US 1 - 2.25 mm

 

Yarn: Knitted Wit Sock

1 skein = 420.0 yards (384.0 meters), 113 grams

Colorway Great Falls National Park

And today: voila! Finished! My only criticism is that the pairs of socks do not match the color intensity. The first sock is much darker, and the second is a lot lighter until toward the top of the sock leg. It's not a big deal, but I'm one that prefers near identical socks.

 

What next? I'm about to cast off on a hat that I'm designing. :)

FO: Sack Boy Dolls

What's another quick project that I finished last year? Little Big Planet Sackboys for my boys!

I started first with the brown sackboy, which has the open mouth and tongue details similar to the cover of the game. I'll walk you through the process, but you can find my complete project notes here.

I started knitting the doll at the base of the neck. Once I was at the level of the eyes, it was time to start the mouth. I basically treated the mouth area like an afterthought heel. I evenly put the mouth stitches on the circular needle before cutting the stitches between. I knit the mouth in black, and then decreased the sides of the mouth exactly like the toe section of a top-down sock. To finish, I grafted the leftover stitches together. (I added the KAM snap buttons before deceasing for the head after knitting the head for a few more rows.)

After the sockboy's body was knit and connected, I knit the legs and arms, attaching the 20 mm doll joint screws through the middle of a stitch before decreasing and binding off the limbs. They were snapped into place before stuffing the body.

The neck section proved difficult to support properly against the weight of the brown sackboy head. I ended up adding a pen to serve as the spine bone. Then, I stuffed the sackboy as much as I could without him looking like it was time to start a weight watcher's diet.

 

I choose a small inexpensive zipper and cut it to size and then hand-sewed it to the open chest cavity. Even a sackboys needs a heart, so I cut a small one out to place inside his chest! It's not practical to have the zipper freely zip up and down with no barrier between it and stuffing, so I sewed underneath the zipper with some thread so it was no longer functional.

The finishing touches were adding faux sewing accents and hot-gluing a tongue inside the mouth. I attempted to sew the black mouth parts into the stuffing to give the open mouth less of a bloated look, but was a bit unsuccessful. Overall, I was unhappy with the water the face came out, which is why the next one I made had a closed mouth.

Project Notes

Pattern: Sackboy by Alan Dart, heavily modified

My Complete Brown Sackboy Notes

 

Brown Sackboy Materials:

Needles: US 6 - 4.0 mm

Yarn: Patons North America Classic Wool Worsted

1 skein = 210.0 yardsin in the color Brown for the body

A handful of yards of Yarn Bee Must Be Merino in the Colorway 7 Black

20 mm Doll joints, stuffing, zipper, red felt for tongue/heart & size 20 KAM snap buttons

 

Tan Sackboy Materials:

Needles: US 4 - 3.5 mm 

Yarn: Can't find the label. It was sport weight yarn that was really smooth from Hobby Lobby. I wrote down "Symphony Yarn," but can't seem to find that online.

20 mm Doll joints, stuffing, zipper, red felt for heart & Size 20 KAM snap buttons

I'm not crazy about how the mouth panned out, so sackboy #2 was a big improvement, in my opinion:

Even he has a heart!