About That Entrelac Hat...

This post is to answer Ruth's question, asked in the comments of the post Et Voila.

Use US #2 double points. Cast on 120 stitches. Work ribbing for about a half inch.
Set up base triangles: work the base triangles following your favorite entrelac tutorial. You will be making 15 base triangles, 8 stitches each.

When you get to the end, begin making squares, heading back over the round just completed, the opposite direction. Again, consult your favorite entrelac tutorial.

Note: it really helps to teach yourself to knit backwards, that is, with the right side always facing you. It will feel awkward for a short while, but save you a ton of time in the long run.

Make three full sets of squares.

Make a round of triangles to fill the gaps. When you finish with all this, you should still have 120 stitches.

I wanted the top of my hat to lie fairly flat. I knit 2 together, 12 times evenly around, every third or fourth round. I staggered the placement of the decreases to minimize the effect of spokes. When I got to 12 remaining stitches, k2tog around leaving 6 stitches. Break yarn, leaving a 12" tail and use tapestry needle to pass tail through last 6 sts twice. Draw tight and secure to inside.

I blocked by draping damp hat over a medium sized plate positioned over a small pitcher. The plate held the top flat and the entrelac section just hung dry.

Those with smaller heads could try making 13 eight-stitch squares instead of 15, casting on 104 sts.

Happy knitting!

Some Pictures

The vacation sock. This pair will probably be for my dad when done. It's a Regia yarn I bought on deep discount somewhere.


This is some yarn I spun this summer. I'm not entirely happy with it, but the worst flaws don't show in this picture. Coincidentally, the colorway is very similar to some roving I got in a swap earlier this summer, but I believe they are from different sources.


This is our top secret swimming place in NH. It was a gorgeous hot afternoon when I took this, yet we were the only ones there. Of course, right after I took the picture, a bunch of other people came.

Playing Catch-up

Well, the vacation is done. Some highlights include meeting Poops, swimming in our favorite top-secret pond, seeing my parents. Some low points include cleaning up kid-barf twice, getting up at ungodly hours both to go there and to come home, and trying to referee nasty behavior between my kids while we were there.

I only took a couple pictures and wasn't too thrilled with the few I took.

While there, I made many inches of progress on a sock, including the part that has the heel, and some progress on a cardigan for the Mister.

Since we've gotten home, I've done some spinning, a bit of knitting, a lot of yelling at my kids, got both kids' school registrations settled, and have mostly been ticking down the time until the morning of September 1.

Public Service Announcement
If you are within a half a day's drive of Madison and could welcome an adult cat into your home, please let me know. A friend of mine suddenly needs to re-home her cats on short notice.

And a slightly amusing non-sequitor...
I phoned our family doc's office today to schedule well-visits for both boys. I've been flaky about this and they are both overdue. The receptionist told me that they were booking quite far out. No surprise: she's a popular doctor. I mentioned that the appointments didn't need to be together and in fact, would prefer them to come separately. She offered a date in late October for Owen. I said fine. Then she offered another date a few days later for the little guy. I said fine, and wrote that down. Then she thanked me for being easy! She said usually the caller wants appointments for next week, and they have five kids, and they want them all seen on one visit. She was really genuinely tickled to deal with someone who said, "October 21? Great!"

Leaving, On a Jet Plane...

Tomorrow a.m. (at an obscenely early time), my kids and I are flying to NH for a visit with my folks. I'm not sure if I'll post from there. I'll be back on the 21st.

Mr. SABLE will hold down the fort here, feeding the cats, the fish, the gerbil, and the hermit crabs... did I forget anyone?

Be good for Mr. SABLE while I'm gone: I don't want any bad reports of mischief!

Et Voila!

Well, I might become an entrelac convert, but only in a limited way. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, first attempt at a fiddly new technique and all.





I don't think I can stand to write a pattern for this because I sure don't want to talk anyone else through Entrelac 101. And in the round, at that. But if you already know how to do it or can handle looking up a tutorial on your own, I'll probably make a rough guideline to making a similar hat. But not a word-by-word pattern. Because I surely don't want to hear about it when it goes wrong, which it's likely to do!

Some Details
Yarn: Mini Mochi, 1 50 gram ball. I can't find the ball band for the colorway right now.
Needles: US #2 double points.
Size: pretty darn big: it fits my head!

Never Say Never

There's one knitting technique I have always said did not interest me. I didn't particularly like the result most of the time and the effort involved seemed way too fiddly for my taste. Well, after 20 years of saying I'm not going there, guess what?

I'm going there.

I think it's going to be pretty sloppy, but it's my first time with entrelac and in the round, too. It's all because of this darn Mini-Mochi yarn. Stay tuned.

In other news
The Gourmet Schmores Alt Knitting Camp was a rousing success! We had a few last minute cancellations and two no-shows, so our standing line was, "You're eating for 12!" And eat we did! The weather cooperated, the campers were in good spirits, the food was abundant, and the knitting progressed.

Kathy gave me this nifty little thing:


Inside view:


It's an Altoid tin she covered with polymer clay, then filled with all the knitting essentials! And she thought of everything! Little pen, little tape measure, stitch markers, darning needles, nail clippers, emergency yarn, and a little bitty knitting needle with a crochet hook on the other end that she made. I'm impressed! Thanks Kathy.

As we head through the rest of August, blog posts might continue to be sparse. I'm going to NH with my boys in a week or so, then we'll be careening into the school year! (YES!) But come September, lets hope I can get back into the spirit of it.