#96

One of our members dyed yarn for a hat using KoolAid.  I loved the way it looked.  I have a lot of white yarn in my stash and I never knit hats from it because I always think it may not be the best color for a Sailor.  I decided to experiment and dyed this yarn using two colors of KoolAid.  I really like the color.

#95

I was able to squeeze one more out of the Ella Rae Chunky Superwash that I had in my stash.  All chunky yarn is gone now so I am down to Aran weight yarns.  I have already planned out the next 5 and 4 of them are from Aran weight and one is worsted weight.  I am hoping I can finish one per day and have them all done by Friday.  I can't wait to get to other knitting and that is keeping me motivated.  I would also be happy to have finished 100 hats from 100 different patterns in less than 100 weeks.

#93 and #94

Getting closer...six more to go.

#92

I am making fast progress partially because I am using larger needles with thicker yarn.  I ordered this Ella Rae Chunky Superwash when it was on sale recently.  I only have enough for one more hat and I'm now wishing I had ordered more!

#91

I am not allowing myself to knit anything except Hats for Sailors until I reach 100.  My goal is getting so close.  I am definitely motivated now!

#90!!!

After my last post, I decided that I really had to focus entirely on hats and producing them as quickly as possible or I had no hope of reaching 100 by the end of the year.  I also figured they had to be concentrated up front.  Things will pick up soon around here with the deadline for hats approaching.  I LOVE this whole process but it is time consuming.  Packages need to be opened, hats counted and sorted, repacked and sent to the ships.  And it all takes much longer than it should because I can't help but look at all the hats.  I do it every step along the way.  It all reaches a pinnacle when Lynne comes over to pack them up.  We both spend so much time admiring your work and it takes longer than it should.  But that is what makes it so much fun!

Since October 24th, I have finished 10 hats.  I haven't knit anything else and my Christmas knitting is quickly backing up but I really want to finish 100.  I am confident that I will.  I will begin counting each hat on the blog until I get to 100, so check back to see my progress.

Momentum in My Library?

I have lost my momentum again.  I had an incredibly fun, but busy summer and fall.  It changed my habits and I don't reach for my knitting needles as often.  I have finished hat #80.  To reach my goal of 100 hats by the end of the year, I need to change my momentum.

I mentioned months ago about organizing my queue, which has helped.  Although I still love those patterns, I needed something new to get me back on track.  This time I turned to my Ravelry library.  Did you know you can search your own library?

Included in my library is every pattern I have purchased or downloaded along with every book I own.  Keeping it up-to-date has helped a lot when I am trying to figure out where I have seen the pattern before and if I have it somewhere.  But now it is bringing me new ideas for hat patterns.

If you go to your library page and scroll down a little bit, you see "search patterns in library" in the lefthand column.  I clicked on accessories, which brings up more patterns than I want.  To narrow it down to hats, I click on the check for all accessories to make it disappear and then click on the "hats" box to check it.

Now I can look at every hat pattern that I already have.  I can narrow my search further by many options - age or gender - yarn weight - yarn yardage - hat characteristics like cables or color work.  It is a great place to look for inspiration or to find something specific in patterns you already have.

Stay tuned.  Do you think I will make it to 100 by December 31st?  I'm not so sure.