It's Crochet, Knit & Natter 9: So Many Projects, So Little Time. (Oh well - I almost made it rhyme!)

[Fairislefandango]

A thread for woolly crafters of all types and levels.
Previous thread here

That looks great @QuantumWeatherButterfly

How are you now @WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally

Can anyone help me out with a hat for DH? He has a 24 inch head which is much bigger than most hat patterns it seems. I found one for 24 inches but it's still too small. It says it's easy to adapt for smaller sizes but doesn't say anything about bigger and I couldn't see a simple way to do it today. Does anyone have a really big head hat knitting pattern for chunky wool with a fold back bit ( a brim maybe? Very tired today!?) Or an easily adjustable pattern? I have seen some without a brim but I don't really like them.

@MerylSqueak I’m only a little further along. Sleep has been rough this week and I’m behind in getting ready for Christmas. My evenings have gone haywire so not managed much in the evenings either. Today is my non working day so I have DD all day so I’m not going to be able to do anything until this evening but it’s 5.40 and I’ve had about 3 hours of sleep so I’m not hopeful about my enthusiasm this evening.

What sort of hat, @MerylSqueak? A beanie?

The one I started was this one

Ravelry link

but just a beanie with a turn up brim really. And a quick knit with chunky wool. It's for Christmas!

Speaking from experience here, as my DH has a massive head, the easy answer is to find a pattern that uses 2x2 or 4x4 rib all over @MerylSqueak as that will make it stretchy.

The pattern I used to use is no longer available, but something like this should work

www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ribbed-watchmans-hat

Loving the thought of all these massive headed DH’s!

I’ve finally finished work for Christmas so am just starting to relax. We only have the three adult DCs this year so that makes things easier although we are going to PILs for the day on Boxing Day as they can’t travel any more. DH is happy to drive the 4 hours each way but I hope there isn’t loads of traffic and that the DCs don’t regress and start fighting in the back.

The only thing I’m working on at the moment is my temperature blanket. It looks good but it’s huge so I’m not sure what to do with it once it’s finished.

I was looking at this one, @MerylSqueak

sarahmaker.com/easy-crochet-beanie/

But from the reading I've done, you just need to make a ribbed rectangle that is wide enough with the rib vertical to stretch comfortably on the head, and long enough to fold back, then seam it up.

I've done quite a lot of reading on this as I'm a habitual planner and apparently you need to allow around 3 inches of negative ease for the width - so if the head than hat needs to fit is 24 inches, you need a diameter of about 21 inches, as long as yours working with a stretchy stitch.

My own recent experience of this with my twisted wear warmer would back this up.

Right, presents are wrapped, pets deposited in kennels and cattery, and my (massive-headed ) dh and I and the dc are heading down south early tomorrow morning, staying for 3 nights at PIL's. Can't wait! Knitting is packed, obvs. I'm wondering if PIL will have got me something knitting or spinning related for Christmas - they often do, bless them!

Looking forward to a photo of your temperature blanket when it's finished, @StillNiceCardigan ! I've always fancied making one, but I really don't need any more blankets!

Sadly no yarn for me according to this list.

I get yarn!

i am currently playing with making granny squares to make a blanket from at some point.

I get yarn too! Please may I have some time to knit it too?

Thank you for the beanie recommendations. I haven't had time today so I suppose it won't be ready for Christmas now but the suggestions look good.

No yarn for me either apart from what I full well know is wrapped up in the bottom of DH
's wardrobe because it was me that answered the door to the courier

It was my birthday yesterday so I got some power tools for making spinning related stuff and a massive bucket for washing fleeces in. Quite thrilled with them but the children have commandeered the bucket and are rolling around the house in it like a hamster wheel

Happy Christmas to everyone!

Belated happy birthday, @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound - sounds like a good haul! I'm intrigued by the 'power tools for making spinning-related stuff'! What kind of stuff?

Thanks Well, I got hold of a couple of old books with detailed wood working plans for combs, hackles, even a spinning wheel, drum carder and a floor loom. So mostly spinning related! But you can never have too many power tools anyway

The instructions are so detailed I reckon as long as I read them carefully and follow them then it’s all manageable. I don’t need a spinning wheel now but the rest….

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound happy belated birthday!

I don’t get yarn but I bought my own yesterday while in town. I went into the yarn shop wanting some cotton aran and 99% they only had cotton DK and that I’d leave without something (or two things) I didn’t need.

So I finished the main bit of my mum’s blanket. I’d sewn the ends in and joined all the squares together. It was looking good… until I’d realised I’d joined two panels on the back side and two on the front side. It’s obvious. Even DH could tell what I’d done so there’s no way I could give it my mum who knits and quilts and you can see on the photo it’s pretty obvious. So I’ve unpicked the centre seam and hoped it was just a case of flipping it over… but I’ve attached my last two panels in the wrong order, so the left one is one the right and vice versa.

You never know, I could go downstairs in the morning and there’s been a Christmas miracle and the panels are miraculously on the right side. Or, the more likely situation, I have to decide whether to unpick another seam or whether to forge my own layout. There are 3 possible layouts which mean I don’t have to unpick another seam - the large green squares together but I’ve discounted this one as my mum isn’t a big green fan and so I think spreading the green around might be best and I’ve attached the other two options. It’s basically the four big squares with light pink on the outside together or two big squares with light pink next to big squares with green on the outside. I’m leaning towards the pink squares together.

Eek! Whatever you decide, I'm sure your mum will love it. But I hope the miraculous Christmas elves sorted it out in the night

Merry Christmas to all on the thread who do Christmas! I'm up earlyish with MIL, who's wrestling with the turkey! Everyone else is still in bed. I'm waiting impatiently for the dc to get up and open their stockings - how different from when they were little and woke us up with them at some ungodly hour!

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound - I'm in awe! I'm ashamed to say that I don't own a single power tool, and that making any of those things myself sounds about as possible as flying to the moon .

Merry Christmas all!

Finishing my WIP blanket by Christmas very much didn't happen. Pup is on restricted exercise and so she's regressed to full on puppy behaviours which makes crocheting impossible. Hoping to get some done over the Christmas holidays.

No yarn for me but I truly don't need any. Have promised myself a new big hook for a scrap yarn basket once I've finished this blanket.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

@WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally blanket looks great whichever you decide!

Merry Christmas!

I can’t face undoing even more of the blanket so when I pick it up again, I’ll probably put the pinks together. Since taking up crochet I have an endless supply of Christmas presents, I used to be really hard to buy for. MIL bought me some pattern books I wanted. One is Mabel bunny and co and I picked it because DD loves bunnies. I’ve read it today and the pattern calls for super chunky merino wool 🤦‍♀️ so it’s going to cost me a bloody fortune to make her a bunny! I need to either find a substitute (the recommended yarn isn’t on yarn substitute) or it looks like my birthday money in February will be buying that wool for DD!

Merry Christmas everyone. Despite my name not being on the list I did get yarn. My mum is the best!

Yay your mum!

I sat down to knit after lunch yesterday, thinking I felt fine after a couple of glasses of wine. Did about a dozen stitches and realised not only that I'd messed up the lace pattern but that I was also knitting the wrong row. Face palm.

Glad Santa came for everyone, whether he was bringing wool or not!

That sounds like a good plan @WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally, that must have been gutting to realise!
Bernat do some super chunky that’s not bad, I imagine super chunky merino in a childs toy will just pill like crazy!

I’ve frogged a jumper for the mutter mutter 4th time. I’m having such a job pairing wool to a pattern and it was so expensive I want to make sure it’s going to be something either visually impressive or that I wear a lot! Or both 5th time lucky…