#52

I finally finished the hat I started in December.  The pattern is Seaman's Cap by Brenda Zuk.  It is a great basic pattern, simple and straight forward.  I used Cascade 220 superwash for the ribbing and then switched to Liberty Wool for the main part of the cap.  I have a lot of Cascade in my stash so it is a good way to make my Liberty Wool stretch further and I like the way it looks.

I have slowed down my hat knitting and am focusing on knitting some other projects.  But I am in training for the Ravellenics.  We have Team Hats for Sailors and I am on the Team.  During the London Olympics, I knitted 7 hats.  I plan to exceed that number this year.  It will be a little bit more complicated.  During the London Olympics, I could knit the same, simple pattern over and over again.  This time I need to knit a different pattern each time which will slow me down.  I am currently mulling over my pattern choosing strategy.  Do I choose simple, quick patterns that are basically the same hat?  Do I choose only patterns that have been sitting in my queue?  Do I choose patterns that are interesting and keep me going?  Do I choose them all in advance and just live dangerously and choose one at a time?

How ever I decide to approach it, I really have to tamper down my eternal knitter's optimism and be realistic about what I can accomplish.  I have to admit that I can't just whip out quickly a very complicated cable pattern with a 12" brim!

If you aren't already on Team Hats for Sailors, think about joining us.  Your goal can be anything you want it to be.  All we ask is that it be a hat for a Sailor.

#50

We now have a web site Hats for Sailors.  It is still under development, but that will be the new place to go for information and news in addition to our Facebook and Ravelry pages.

We have a great KAL on our Ravelry site.  Each month we will knit a different hat pattern. We are still looking for volunteers to lead KAL's throughout the year.  No experience necessary.  Just pick a pattern and invite our members to knit along with you.  Easy Peasy!!!  Check Ravelry to sign up.

I have passed the midway point in my quest to knit 100 different hats from 100 different patterns.  The month of December was chaotic and hectic and I was not sure I was going to make it.  Somehow my knitting brain (that thinks I can do amazing things in no time at all) seeped into the rest of my life!  I planned and hosted a Christmas at home in California and then flew to London with my husband and sons to meet my daughter for another Christmas.  No problem, I can pull off two Christmas's in two countries.  And all that extra time to knit on the airplanes, I can make even more gifts than I had planned!  I had to finally admit that my plans were too ambitious and I needed to scale back.

It is funny that even though I scaled other things back, I was able to meet all my knitting goals (sometimes only by minutes)!  Maybe being confined on airplanes for long periods of time with nothing to do helped.

My hat goal was to finish #50 before the end of the year.  I had posted a picture last month of #50.  That hat still isn't finished, but two other hats skipped in front of it.  They are both watch cap patterns and very similar, so it was interesting to knit one right after the other.

Both are great patterns and easy to knit.  The length was determined more by the amount of yarn and time I had than exactly what the pattern called for.  In both cases, I was sure that they were long enough and tested them others to be sure.  I would happily knit either pattern again and they will be my "go-to" patterns for watch caps.  I used the same yarn for both hats, Cascade 220 superwash.  Lorne's Hat was knit on size 4 needles and Sandoval Hat was on size 6 needles.  Lorne's hat was tighter, more dense and probably a little warmer.  Sandoval Hat was wonderfully squishy, stretchy and soft.

One pattern was Sandoval Hat by Robyn Devine (#50)

The other pattern is Lorne's Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee #51

After all the chaos, I came down with a horrible case of the stomach flu right after I returned home.  I am so lucky that I could recuperate at home in my own bed!  But now I'm a little behind on my 2014 hat knitting.