Frost

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If you were  here, you would absolutely feel winter looming around at you while you were out and about. There are sure signs that the deep, dark cold is almost here. In the morning now I always put on a sweater, and the afghans in the living room are forever heaped on the chesterfield.  Fetching the paper this morning I could see my breath, and after having been fantastical all summer, the morning glories are gasping along in the desperate last days before the frost gets them.  Leaves crunch under my feet when I’m out, and pumpkins and squashes overflow at market stalls.   I have thought seriously about turning on the furnace at least twice, though it’s often in the back of my mind now.  (I’m waiting though.  I don’t want to be the first to fold-  it was only 3 degrees out this morning though, if it hits zero or snows I’m out of the game.)  It’s dark by suppertime, soup is all I want to make, and the surest sign is right here on the blog. Mittens, hats, scarves…. all I want to knit is quick little winter insurance policies that my family will be warm.

After Meg got her hat, Samantha bellied up to the bar.  We spent a good long time looking at hats.  Cabled hats, cute berets, hats with colourwork, hats with lace, hats with brims- and after all of that, Samantha said that really, she just wanted a plain good hat, with ribbing and a part that folds up to be cozy over her ears.  The only catch?  Blue.  It should be blue and soft, and maybe sparkly, but not too sparkly. She’s sixteen.  The degree of sparkle is pretty sharply defined.

I poked through the stash and didn’t find the right yarn, but did spot perfect fibre.
I had two batts of "natural turquoise" from Enchanted Knoll Farm (I love her batts.  It’s a disease.  They’re full of all sorts of wool/silk/recycled sari silk/sparkles  and you wouldn’t think that I would love them, but I do.  It might be the sari silk. Every time I come across a little bit of it I’m thrilled, watching those threads incorporate into the yarn is really, really exciting.  (That makes me sound like I’m also interested in watching paint dry, but I swear it’s cool.)  I should  play around with it and try to get it out of my system. Darn Good Yarn (fair trade, neat project, have a look)  donated some yarn to the silk retreat the last go around, and  Judith MacKenzie showed me how to unspin then respin it to get more choices and it’s very, very, very cool. I’d never thought of the balls of yarn not just as yarn, but a fibre source, but it works. See? Obsessed.) I found these batts, sat down to spin, and in no time flat had a perfect two-ply hat yarn that passed Sam’s strict quality/coolness control standards. 

From there it was a simple thing.  Two by two rib, knit long enough to cover her ears double, using up every scrap of wool.  The hat got a little wash, and was neatly placed on the head of the nearest hatless pretty girl who was starting to look a little cold.

It reminds me of frost, and the deepest, coldest winter, when the sky is so blue and the snow is so sparkly….
 
I better make some mittens.  Apparently those should be purple.

234 thoughts on “Frost”

  7. Two great hats in a row. It is neat to see how different the styles of siblings can be.
    Now that the mornings are cooler, I find knitting more fun than ever, looking forward to actually needing warm hats, etc.
    My favorite thing is knitting fingerless mitts for indoor use, since we keep the heat set at 62F or 16C during the day. Typing in them is so cozy!

  11. Just beautiful – hat and daughter!
    I envy you your wintery beginnings. It has been in the 80’s (F) here, and I have newly knit sweaters that I cannot wait to wear! 🙂

  17. Love the stories you tell about yarn…the colors, the feel, the process…makes me look at it a whole different way…and I love the color of the hat…

  19. Matches her eyes perfectly.
    Jealous of your weather, though – it’s due to be 35C here today, and it just doesn’t feel like fall should feel. (Since I’ve lived here all my life I’m not sure why I feel that way, but I need changing leaves and frost on the punkins, dammit.)

  20. I got one batch of sari silk fiber from Enchanted Knoll- I LOVE IT! It contained 2 of my favorite colors, gold and burgundy. I only wish my spinning had been as excellent as the fiber I was working with.
    I love the colors in your batt too. Good on you for getting it spun and knitted right up!

  24. You are so skilled, amazing, and fast! It would take me weeks to accomplish all you did so quickly. Well, years actually. I don’t know how to spin and I’m fairly new to knitting. You inspire me everyday to not give up on learning, learning, learning!

  26. well, a hat in 2×2 rib isn’t exactly princessy, but still the picture of Sam in that hat evokes something along the lines of “Ice Princess” or “Snow Queen” or whatever 🙂 it seems like a perfect yarn/hat/wearer match 🙂

  27. Smart girl – the hat matches her eyes beautifully. And nobody ever gets tired of a good ole plain ribbed hat.

  31. A gorgeous hat, and look how well it makes her eyes pop! Definitely got the sparkle juuuuuust right. 🙂

  32. Gorgeous yarn! Looks like a toasty warm head. My #2 Son’s gf recently expressed a desire for a hat. She has settled on a pattern; now for color and yarn…

  33. Absolutely beautiful shade of blue and it matches her eyes. The texture on the hat is lovely. Perfect pattern to show off this soft beautiful yarn.

  35. How in the heck to you do it?!!! I mean find the time to not only knit your daughter the hat at a moment’s notice; but actually spin the fiber to make that totally cool yarn for said girl?? All I can say is that you totally rock. BTW, my ten year old daughter who is learning to knit is completely obsessed with all of your books. She has re-read many of them and quotes them to chagrin me. She adds that I have a long way to go to be to be a freakishly cool knit guru like you, ha. Anyway it is all my fault because I introduced her to your books and blog!!
    Sheesh. By the way, both hats are lovely and blue is such a enchanting color.

  37. When I started reading your blog, Sam was just a kid! She’s gorgeous! Don’t adolescents get acne anymore??? I NEVER looked that good.

  39. Lovely hat. Lovely girl. Wonderful Mom! But isn’t she 18? I thought she recently turned 18…

  40. I’m suddenly making all hats and mittens myself (though it’s still hot as blazes here in Louisiana). I don’t know if I will have time to cover all 4 children and one spousal unit with wool, but I’ll give it a go.

  42. Wow, that was fast.
    My husband, whose birthday is this Friday, engaged in his normal pre-birthday activity and bought himself a few gifts (books this time) yesterday. Problem is, I had already purchased books for him. To avoid having book overload, I am busily knitting him a new hat (same style as Sam’s, but an appropriate for him Shepherd’s Wool black tweed). I did not spin my yarn and I started knitting yesterday, but I’m still only an inch into the hat.
    Your speed is amazing!
    PS: Most of the books I bought will be held for Xmas. Let’s hope he doesn’t gift any of those to himself in the meantime.

  43. Oops…my bad. Of course you know how old your daughter is! I think I mixed her up with her older sister who maybe turned 19…whatev…

  44. Sam, that is such a cool hat! And it looks awesome. And it will keep your noggin warm this winter in the midst of Canada’s worst. Can’t wait to see the purple mittens!

  46. Blue hat and purple mittens? I remember one of your daughters remarking about your non-matching knitwear. Guess that wasn’t Samantha. 🙂

  48. What an awesome mum you are….spun and knit the hat,which although mentioned by previous readers already, really sets off those beautiful eyes perfectly.

  49. The hat is just right. Perfect color. Simple pattern. It’s the type of hat that becomes an old favorite. But it’s the furnace wars that I was thrilled to read about. Every fall I can’t wait to hear who in your extended family will win. I love hearing the plucky (and sometimes zany) lengths you will go to in order keep that thermostat in lockdown mode. So, please, please, more furnace war updates.
    Furnace disclaimer: We caved here in Salem, Oregon, just a couple of days ago. It wasn’t so much the cold that got to us as the damp. We were dumping out gallons of water from our dehumidifier, but still the house was clammy. In the Willamette Valley, we don’t freeze, we mold. And nobody wants that.

  50. Wonderful hat – congrats! Just to let you know, I tried out Judith’s unspin/respin suggestion on the sari silk yarn and it works amazingly well, even for a spinning novice like me. I think a loom for making use of the results is on my Christmas list.

  51. wowee – your girls grow lovelier by the day. I’m so glad you enjoyed spinning the batts – and reading your post has plastered such the goofy smile on my face that I will probably be foolish the rest of the day – LOL.
    I’m working on purple mittens for my dear Thing 1 as we speak:)

  52. Lovely! So, if you continue apace, we can expect to see Amanda’s hat tomorrow, right?

  58. You sure do make pretty babies. Which of the girls was it that decided a while back that she could make her living modeling (socks?)? Which ever one it was, her sister is going to give her a run for her money.

  59. Girl, you are a hat-making fiend! Loving both of them; so I presume hat #3 for daughter #3 is in the works?

  61. Now we know why you had 3 daughters – you needed handknit models who work for free. Your girls are beautiful – they put the Rowan dreamy yarn pictures/models to shame… love the blue!!

  64. Gorgeous yarn!
    I took my five-year-old daughter clothes shopping last week. It was the first time I hadn’t simply picked out her clothes for her. I gave her some guidance (no Hun, sundresses are NOT warm enough for Fall in New England…) but colors and such were all up to her. I was amazed at the stark difference in our tastes! LOL! She looked horrified when I tried to talk her into a nice chocolate brown winter jacket! Are you telling me that it gets worse????

  66. You are a lucky mother that your children are so agreeable to posing for their finished object shots! Great pairings for both girls. These blogs are making me a little sad it’s going into the lighter half of the year down here – mittens! hats!

  68. Love, love, love these posts. Beautiful pictures. Lovely knitting, lovely daughters. Family and knitwear is very warming.

  69. Beautiful hat, the yarn not only matches her eyes but the color of her hair too. Brilliant!

  71. Wishing that it was going into winter down under, but alas, I’ll have to wait a bit longer before I can follow through on all this hat and mitten mania I’m seeing and lusting after. I love how game your girls are to have their photos taken to show us the finished items – and the camera is quite nice at doing it’s part too!

  72. Oh, that hat is all my favorite colors! Too bad it is 93 degrees F here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I can’t even think about knitting!

  73. Omigawd! The colour of the yarn matches Samantha’s eyes PERfectly! How gorgeous. (Both Samantha *and* the hat.) ; ) m

  74. Your knitting is almost as lovely as your beautiful daughters! Can’t wait to see the third hat!

  75. Beautiful hat and daughter. Now, please send me some of your weather. It was in the mid 90’s here yesterday.

  79. Lucky girls! Go ahead, turn the furnace on. We broke down about 3 weeks ago before last week’s heat wave.

  82. Lovely hat! I’ve been on a scarf kick, though it’s not quite as cold here (yet.)
    I was wondering if you could show us a picture of the top of the hat. I never seem to be satisfied with the tops of my 2×2 hats, whether top-down or bottom-up, and I’d like to get your take on how to increase/decrease in a way that makes sense with the ribbing. Thanks!

  83. Your girls are incredibly lovely. The photos of them the past two days have been stunning. Your knitting is not too shabby either. All around good work!

  84. Nothing wrong with watching how the spun yarn comes out – a harmless passion don’t you think?
    Lovely hat, and with her long hair she won’t need to worry about ‘hat hair’.
    Subtlety is everything.

  85. You have beautiful daughters, Yarn Harlot, in every way. I hope that when it’s my time to raise children I can be half the mom you are.

  86. Gwen@2:15, Chesterfield to the YH is a couch/sofa to the rest of us (well, most of the rest of us – some yanks also call it a Chesterfield)
    And when did that beautiful young child turn into a beautiful young woman? It seems like yesterday she was 10!

  87. Your daughters are gorgeous. and, yeah, the hats are nice too!
    Is Enchanted Knoll Farm is at Rhinebeck, I’m going to fold and learn how to spin just so I have a reason to buy that beautiful stuff you turned into yarn.

  88. Wait a minute. Aren’t the mittens supposed to match the hat? Does she want to look like a knitter?!

  89. You spun the yarn, and then knit a complete hat? Just like that?
    I am the turtle to your hare…

  92. P.S. And Sam needs a hat made in snow white with touches of silver for her coloring and those amazing eyes

  93. You are like the coolest mom ever! And seriously, you could not have match the fibers (sorry, US spelling) to her eyes better. Gorgeous!

  96. How do I get adopted by you without offending my mum? I want a pretty hat too! (But I’m absolutely not allowed to start another project until The Good-Gosh-Darned Blue Cardigan of Sisyphus is completed.)

  98. My goodness those girls are gorgeous
    the hats are pretty too, love that brioche stitch but the second hat is the one I’d want!

  99. Beautiful photographs in this post! It is still decidedly autumn here, but the hat makes me think that winter might be okay.

  103. Both hats are beautiful and so are your daughters.
    I’ll take the younger one for my sixteen year old son.

  104. She certainly knows what suits her! That shade of blue with those lovely blue eyes is quite striking.

  105. blue hat, purple mittens. So she’s given up her belief that “real people” have matching hats and mitts?
    Great hats.
    We’ve had a couple of frosts up here. This morning there was still frost on the ground at 9 a.m.

  110. It’s so nice to know that girls love hats now. Not that many years ago most girls wouldn’t wear them at all and freeze in the process. It looks perfect on such a lovely young lady. Apparently both your girls are blue lovers like me ,and home spun yarn to boot. How lucky they are .

  111. Hmmmm, here is where we see the differences of CA and Florida. You are debating whether or not to put the furnace on and I’m sitting with a high of 88 today. A cool front is coming thru so by the wknd we’ll be only a high of 80. Makes me want to knit more socks. No, really!

  112. *GASP*
    Those eyes!
    Her new hat made by her mumma is a hit!
    Good ‘erk Stephanie!!!
    Very GOOD ‘Erk!

  113. I was just sitting on my patio, sweating, and had to come back inside for the AC.
    I too like to watch for the little slubbies of silk or angora fuzz while I’m spinning. I just love to watch the fiber go through my hands while spinning. Paint dries pretty quick down here, don’t turn around or you will miss it.

  115. What is it with you? Beautiful kids, beautiful spinning, and beautiful knits. You are living right it would seem. 😛

  120. The hats are lovely. Also, I have to agree with others, you and Joe produced some very attractive offspring.

  121. Lovely hats, lovely daughters! We had a pretty solid frost this morning. The veggies are definitely done. Mittens are coming along nicely…it still surprises me how 2-color knitting seems to move along faster.

  122. Just lovely (both the daughter and the hat)! And I love how you make it all look so easy – “Look, I found the perfect fiber in my stash, et voila, it’s yarn! Don’t blink, now it’s a hat! See how pretty!” I just love it – it reinforces my belief that yes, people DO finish projects! Not me, of course, but other people do it all the time! Thank you for restoring my faith in knitting!

  124. When people see me knitting I ALWAYS clarify my ability by saying, “Yes, I knit, but I am not a knitter.” Knitters are amazingly talented people that can look at yarn (or in this case a batt) and know what it wants to be when it grows up. Sigh. I am a person who looks at patterns then decides on the yarn. AND I only purchase one project/yarn supply at a time – no stashing – because I knit, I am not a knitter. However, seeing your beautiful girls and their mommy gifts makes me want to knit for my away-from-home-college-living-girl immediately and there are no yarn shops open! Maybe I had better start keeping a little tiny bit of something in the house…you know, just in case…

  125. gorgeous yarn, fabulous hat! as for the cold, come down here to Florida for the winter. you can’t bring yourself to turn the furnace on, I can’t bring myself to turn the AC off. Plus you can ride your bike to the beach from here, no worries!

  130. Ok, I have to ask. From starting spinning to binding off, how long did it take? Are you the worlds fastest person and it take a day? (as you can tell I am turning green with envy) 8)

  131. I love 2×2 hats, I knit a lot of them for a children’s charity, and I’m constantly looking for just the right crown decreases. I’d love to know how you do yours. Of course, I have to buy my yarn, not nearly as talented as you.

  132. The yarn is lovely, the hat is cute as can be, and the girl is beautiful. However, I am shocked as can be that Samantha wants purple mittens, which means she is willing to dress like a knitter. I always remember she when she was adamant that she needed a matched set!

  133. You are just the coolest mom ever, even if your lovely daughters don’t know it yet. Perfect hat!

  134. I was wondering, when making hats or anything in round patterns such as this (not including socks), do you prefer double pointed needles or round needles? Honestly, which would be easier?

  137. Love the hats 🙂
    We’re right there with you on the cold…. it was a whole 31 degrees F here in upstate NY when I left my comfy warm bed to go and take my son to school at ungodly o’clock (any time that requires an alarm clock is “ungodly o’clock” in my book! LOL!)
    And to think I moved south to avoid the winters in Maine!

  138. it matches her eyes perfectly!
    I have trouble spinning fibres with courser bits in it – like sari silk or even glitz, or clumps of angora… need to practice more cos yours is beautiful!

  139. Gosh, your daughters are beautiful. Well done on the spinning and hat. Can’t wait to see what you come up with for mittens.

  140. Yesterday I finished my plain (plum colored) socks.
    And I’ve promised my husband a pair of plain gray socks. There are two vintage cardigan UFOs calling my name, but I’m sticking my fingers in my ears and la-la-la-ing all the way…
    I’m cooking with apples, though (see my blog). We went apple picking last weekend!
    You’re right about this weather. It’s still slightly warmer here, though. My husband has already turned on the heat *eyeroll* but it was 3 degrees above freezing this morning, I’ll give him that.

  142. The combination of Sam and that hat are lovely. The hat makes her look as innocent as a kitten (before said kitten is caught climbing the curtains or shredding the box spring).
    And I loved this line: “…all I want to knit is quick little winter insurance policies that my family will be warm.” So what are you knitting for Joe? Since he’s not exactly Lillputian, all I could think of was a nose warmer. . . .;-)

  143. Your daughters are so lovely, and their eyes are so full of personality! You done good, Momma.

  144. Oh how I wish it was getting cold here in California. Today it was 90 degrees. I’m in denial though so I’ve started a Pretty Thing.

  147. I love it when there are family requests for knit items! Your hats came out beautifully and I can tell they are appreciated by your girls who are lovely!!!

  148. The fact that the mittens should be purple amuses me as that is not matching but kind of is at the same time. Either way both colors = love from me.
    Great job on the yarn. I am not yet to the point that I am making my own. I just go with others come up with and curse it when it does not match my needs.

  149. Pretty yarn, cute girl, lovely hat! At my house I must be a bad mom, because my kids who want hats just make their own. LOL! They are great knitters and like making their own hats, though. (18 and 21 now). They never get homespun yarn, though, because none of us knows how to spin.

  150. Gorgeous fiber, gorgeous hat, gorgeous girl!
    As a Canuck now living in the US I get a special warm fuzzy reading your blog – when i read ‘chesterfield’ I grinned all over 🙂

  151. Lovely hat on a lovely looking young lady.
    Today was a big day for my daughter too. At the age of 8 she finally remembered to bring her handknit hat home. I was starting to think store bought or acrylic if she lost another hat but today saved me from that terrible thought.

  153. Lovely hat, and it matches her eyes. But for two seconds while I was putting on my reading glasses I thought the first photo was a waterfall. 🙂

  154. My goodness, what show-stoppers your children are, simply beautiful. That hat goes with her gorgeous eyes too. She looks on her way to warm.

  155. What pretty girls you have there. The frost hat is a perfect match to your daughter’s eyes. Just lovely.
    Happy belated Canadian Thanksgiving. The photos all look so golden and happy.

  157. I can’t believe it’s fall already and winter is coming. Time flies even when we aren’t having fun! Gorgeous fiber and hat. How wonderful it must have been to knit it. I love beautiful fibers. It makes knitting time just fly!

  160. The color of that hat is just beautiful. It really brings out her eyes in that first shot. What a lovely thing to make for your baby, even if she is 16.

  162. I was just going to say how amazingly the hat matches her eyes and that both hat and daughter turned out gorgeous. But I soon realised I would be the gazillionth person pointing that out (just in case you hadn’t spotted that for yourselves already). Sheepish grin…..
    Oh well….It’s true, innit?

  163. Oh my, she is pretty. So is the hat.
    So are we into the furnace wars yet? Will there be reporting from the front line? I have to admit I have caved and put the heating on a little bit in the morning, but I am further north than you and it’s getting dark in the morning, and I don’t want it to be any harder to get out of bed.

  164. Great hat! The color of the the hat matches Sam’s eyes. It’s the perfect color for her! I bet you grabbed those batts for just that reason. (Or not, but you can always tell her that you did!)That’s my favorite type of hat to wear. It’s warm and serviceable, and it’s a hat that means business. It’s definitely a hat that will keep both you and your ears really warm. Plus it’s a fun and easy to knit hat. That reminds me that I need to get moving and knitting hats too. Christmas will be here long before I’m ready for it. Unfortunately, I’m no where near as fast a knitter as you are. Boy do I wish I was!!!!

  165. The color really brings out her eyes. My husband will only wear this style of hat – simple and it does the job of keeping him warm.

  166. Your daughter has the same colour hair as me! I love her hat. Here in Sydney today was a little warmer, the washing dryed much faster, my kids went swimming in the neighbours pool across the road, and the promise of a hot summer was in the air.

  169. 2 for 2
    Two perfect hats match girls perfectly.
    What’s the next one like?

  171. Beautiful coloring with her eyes. Absolutely perfect. I’ve made soup twice this week and we’ve still got highs in the 70s (F) here.

  172. I know what you mean: the snow is never so sparkly as when it’s really, really cold. (This just triggered my first “winter is beautiful” thought this season. Hmm…)

  174. you really really need to read The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery. The part about not lighting the wood stove in the parlor because it was too early, and she didn’t want to cave in. Really.
    Every year you go through this. Crumbs, I’ll find a copy of the book and send it to you! And it froze here ages ago.

  175. If you had a love button, I would click it. Repeatedly. Gorgeous batts, gorgeous yarn, gorgeous daughter. Lucky you!!

  178. What a perfect color for her. Someone was telling her husband about me spinning cotton my mother had grown for me and his reaction was (like many muggles), why in the world would you do that when you could just go buy it. Well, this is the perfect justification. Get just what you want, the way you want it. Beautiful.

  180. Congratulations on your successful completion of a nearly-impossible series of accomplishments, spinning to meet strict quality/coolness control standards, quick knitting of an acceptable hat before recipient has changed her mind, and getting a smile from a 16 year old. After two fine hats for two fine daughters, I am nominating you for the Knobel Knitting Prize.

  181. Your girls are turning into the most lovely people..it’s been so much fun watching them grow up. And lucky you that they ask for knits..

  182. What beautiful daughters you have – and the hats are gorgeous too. Turning cold here in the U.K. too….time to start knitting hats and scarves for the grandchildren, I guess. Hope I can find some equally gorgeous yarn.

  183. Love the hats…tis the season and we are taking note. Not complicated does look very good on the second one…mmmm

  184. Your speed is scary sometimes. I would be intimidated by you if I didn’t know that you have problems with projects occasionally – like the rest of us!

  185. Really nice hat!
    Great choice of fiber.
    I can see you in that girls smile.
    Still wish I could click on photo and get a closer view.Still though,love your blog.

  186. You can’t turn your furnace on this early. It’s only October. I’m going to try to hold out until December again. Last year I broke down and turned it on at the end of November.
    Lovely hat. Lovely girl in hat.

  187. I am so envious. You did it all so fast. And you had it on hand to start with. Anything I want to knit for my DD involves a trip to the LYS. Which is very detrimental to my credit cards and ends with a slightly upset DH. As he wonders why I can’t just get what I went for and leave ….

  188. With such gorgeous models it’s no wonder you make great hats.
    At least you know in advance about the mittens. The last pair of purple mittens I made, intending them for me, got commandeered by a certain teenager before I even put the tapestry needle away.

  193. That first pic of Sam just knocks me out! She’s blossoming and I thank you for the glimpses. Hat’s nice too 🙂 I’m thinking my FIL needs one for Christmas, very plain, cotton, in a chocolate brown…off to the stash!

  195. Thank you so much for taking the time and sending me that video clip. I need to make hats for two of my grand-daughters for Christmas. Or at least that’s the plan. Thank you again!! Claudia

  196. Another pretty hat on another pretty girl. Just beautiful. Now, what are you going to make for Amanda?

  197. That’s your standard toque, right, with a shorter turn-up?
    Made one and loved it; planning another in the new Malabrigo Rios Azules. Soon as Sheri at the Loopy Ewe gets it to me. (Which will probably be today, their service is so blindingly fast. And another skein of sock yarn MAY have crept into that order; sock yarn is so sneaky that way.)

  201. your girls are fantastic models. they all have a very genuine, down-to-earth, real beauty about them. and they complement your knitting so nicely!

  202. What a beautiful hat! The color is simply stunning!
    I know winter is coming because I just willingly spent all day with the oven and stove running…and I was disappointed at the low level of heat that my food dehydrator puts out!

  205. So pretty! …the hat, too! Any more pictures of batts and I’ll be forced to learn to spin. It’s just too tempting.

  206. Dang! Another awesome hat. We’ve hit 0 here and yes, I succumbed and put the heat on. After all, right now I’m wearing a long john shirt, a sweater and a fleece. Sure – I’m warm now but that’s probably the wine, not the layers.
    Love the haats. I’m also in that mood and I can’t wait for SNOW. There’s a winter storm warning above 2,000 feet in our area (upstate NY) so I’m hopeful.
    (is this a mixed metaphor post? degrees C and height in feet? That’s what I get for growing up on the Canadian border.)

  207. color goes just great with her eyes! here in buffalo, ny my needles turned to mittens when the frost appeared.

  208. You’re hitting them out of the park, Stephanie! Two hats in two days, that’s real hat mojo.
    Frost, you say? We’ve got 95F here today, aka 35 Celsius. I’m trying to work on a wool sock, but it’s going slowly. . .

  209. gorgeous batt/yarn/hat! It’s been too warm for lovely cozy things the last couple of weeks, but now it’s starting to cool off. Yay!

  212. I just love seeing anyone knitting for their family & their family being willing to wear the product 🙂 Well done-the knitting & the raising of appreciative knitwear recipients!

  213. Dear YH,
    Yesterday, after reading your post, I could not for the life of me remember your oldest daughters name.
    Which I don’t feel too bad about, as I remember MY oldest (albeit only) daughters name and I really think I only have enough head space for a certain number of names (at this point its one in, one out!). As I was scouring archives to try and figure this out, I ran across the Dec 18, 2008 entry. Upon reading it, yet again, I damn near peed my pants. I don’t know whether my incontinence should be something to be proud of, but I feel compelled to say BRAVO!

  214. GASP! That is the exact color of yarn that I need for my daughter. I have searched. I have thought I found it. I have ordered the very wrong colours…not even coming close to the yarn that I need. All to no avail. And there it is. In all its perfect turqoisiness (is that a word) and it is handspun. And I can’t spin to save my life.

  216. The color is exactly the same as her eyes! Uncanny, but very cool.
    Megan’s hat is also a perfect color for her! Beautiful hat on a beautiful young woman.
    Good job! (Both on the hats and the daughters.)

  218. Today at the yarnshop:
    Lady: Ohh I just love yarn so much.. My husband calls me “the yarn harlot” !!!
    Me: Oh – like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee?
    Lady: ::blank stare::
    Me: You know.. the “Yarn Harlot” blog?
    Lady: ::blank stare::
    Me: Like the books: “Yarn Harlot: the secret life of a Knitter”
    or “Free Range Knitter: the Yarn Harlot writes again”
    or “At Knits End: meditations for women who knit too much” ?
    Lady: No – I’m pretty sure he made it up first.
    Me: Oh – ok.
    Sometimes even the glee of new yarn isn’t enough to keep my eye from twitching..

  219. Did you spin the yarn and knit the second hat in a day? I don’t know how to spin, but the knitting would have taken me a few days for sure!! WOW! Did I mention how pretty it is. I’m always amazed when I see hand spun yarn. The photos are beautiful and the gauge looks big. But knitted up it looks normal weight. It is very pretty.

  221. I wish my non-knitting pals would read this so they could see why I’m starting spinning lessons and setting aside money for a spinning wheel!

  223. AH! I LOVE that hat! For us non-spinners, do you know of a yarn (and color) which would be similar so I can make my own?? (pretty, pretty, pretty please?)

  225. now you really have me curious… how do you unspin and then spin yarn again. When I try that it is a disaster.

  227. Ha – here in CA it’s so hot we’ve had the AC on all week! Have been knitting a baby blanket but it’s rather miserable having that thing draped across my lap…

  228. Good day!This was a really impressive subject!
    I come from milan, I was luck to come cross your theme in bing
    Also I get a lot in your Topics really thank your very much i will come every day

  229. Beautiful. I love how it matches her eyes PERFECTLY. I must admit I enjoy your photos as much as I enjoy your knitting and writing.

  230. In Mount Isa (Queensland Australia) which is in the tropics on the edge of the desert where it reaches 37 celsius in winter we wait it out to see who is the first to fold and turn on the air conditioning

  233. I agree . . . the hat is the perfect color for Sam’s eyes, and it really sets off the lovely red in her hair. Perfect knit, Steph. :o)
    You’re having the very same kind of weather we’re having here . . . we’ve had frost the last two nights, and I’m watching my annuals succumb one by one. (Although I’m tempted to transplant the zonal geraniums and bring them in. They’re still standing with such courage . . . )
    You MUST tell us more about Judith’s unspinning yarn and respinning it. I’m so curious . . . I have some single-ply bulky wool that might be a good contender. I’m in love with the colors, but knitting with the single ply kills my hands. So, do tell!

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