Thursday, March 13, 2014

Midterm Week and FO: Bad Yarn Kitty Hat

This week has been crazy.  It's midterm week at my college, which means progress reports and meetings and stressed out students (and teachers) as we all try to get stuff done before spring break starts next week.

I've spent a lot of extra time at my desk, grading, writing lesson plans and making lists, meeting with students, and generally trying to get as much done as possible so next week is less "catching up" and more "planning ahead".
When I'm not at school, I'm at the dance studio.  Our first big competition is this weekend for our groups, and I've been putting in extra time for not only rehearsals but getting props ready and logistics covered so this weekend runs smoothly.
I have a long duty day tomorrow at LSC full of meetings (where I'll hopefully finish Hannah's cowl!) and a long weekend both at the studio and at the competition, so I'm already looking forward to my break from classes next week.  Ideally I'll be visiting friends and relatives in the cities for some much-needed recovery time!
In the meantime, knitting is still chugging along slowly, but I have something to show for it at least!
Remember this debacle I mentioned a few weeks ago?

I finally finished the replacement hat for Scott after Maeby ate two large chunks out of the rim of his Fall hat.  Hopefully his Bad Yarn Kitty Hat will be safely tucked into a pocket or out of the reach of troublesome kittens!

Pattern: Turn a Square hat by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade 220 in midnight blue and Noro Kureyon in shades of blue-brown
Timeframe: February 26-March 12

Mods: I cast on the 96 stitches with size 7 needles and didn't do the increases as instructed.  That means when I set my stitch markers for the decrease round, I K24, pm, K24, pm, K24, pm, knit to end of round, and then followed the instructions per normal for the decreases.  It's what I'm starting to do more often for this pattern, and I like it for knitting a guy's hat.  For a lady, I'll probably CO less stitches when the time comes.
Worst Part: Discovering that Maeby ate yet another piece of clothing and I would have to replace something yet again.
Best Part: Getting motivated to keep churning out these hats.  So easy, not too monotonous to knit with the switching colors, and pretty quick to finish.

I enjoyed using Maeby as part of the hat's photo shoot, and she enjoyed rolling around on the floor and rubbing her face all over the hat.  Now I have to make sure we keep this one out of harm's way, so I don't have to make another one...

2 comments:

nancy88 said...

Love this hat! I've been eye-ing that pattern for some time! I love your color choices.

The girls are gonna KILL IT this weekend! See you and your awesomeness there!!

~Nancy

Katie said...

Thanks, Nancy! :) I'm already getting nervous about this weekend, even though there's nothing I can do except lots of cheers and jazz hands once it starts :)
Also- definitely knit the pattern. I've made at least 5 now, and I have no plans to stop. The Noro is so much fun for colors!