This past weekend (Oct 21-23), I spent away at the Snohomish Knitters Guild Fall Knitting Retreat at Camp Huston in Gold Bar, WA.  We had 35 women gathered in one lodge to knit and share.  I took a few photos Saturday night of everyone knitting, crocheting, spinning, talking and generally having a great time:

I liked the combination of the colour of April's shawl and the colour of the skirt she was knitting:



And I just loved the colorway this woman was knitting with:

I wanted to make something special and fun to stand out from the Christmas gifts my nephew Harry will be receiving two weeks before his third birthday, which is January 6th. I found a cute, fun pattern by Evelyn Clark called Sock Monkey Scarf.


Copyright © 2007 www.evelynclarkdesigns.com

The moment I saw it, I knew that was the gift I needed to knit for Harry.  I purchased the PDF pattern a couple of weeks ago and went to Seattle Yarn last week to pick out some good machine washable yarn.  With the help of the clerk, I decided on Berroco Vintage yarn, a blend of 50% acrylic, 40% wool and 10% nylon.  The wool will help keep Harry warm while the acrylic and nylon means the scarf will be able to be machine washed multiple times.  I selected chocolate brown, golden brown and brick red as colors that would look good on Harry and look something monkey-like.

On Thursday, I cast on the scarf and I finished knitting it Saturday night while on the Snohomish Knitters Guild's Fall Knitting Retreat.  Almost everyone at the retreat admired the pattern and thought it adorable.  Now I need to sew the facial features and a button on the pocket, and the scarf will be ready for wrapping.

I frogged (knitting slang for completely ripping out a knitted project) the first Bobbi hat while reknitting it on a smaller needle.  The density and sizing of the hat looks much better.



The sides are shorter so I don't know if they will cover Lizzy's ears, but at least the hat is finally done!



The pattern had called for a heavy worsted weight yarn and I think the Cascade 220 knits up more as a light worsted weight yarn.  If I finish all my other holiday knitting projects and can find a heavy worsted in light blue, I might knit the hat again.  But don't count on it.

In April 2010 when George's brother Mark was visiting us, I had him good through my books and pamphlets of hats to select hats for him and his wife Lizzy.  Mark said that Lizzy had had a light blue hat with bobbles that had been her favorite and she had lost it.  After going through my books, he selected "Bobbi" from Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron.

Last week I bought some Cascade 220 Superwash yarn in a light blue that I though Lizzy might like.

I cast on the hat on Oct 8th using the recommended size 5.5mm needles and finished the large version of the hat on Oct 9th, a full two-days of knitting.  The hat was of course big on me.  Then I washed and blocked the hat.  It grew and became lacy in appearance. 



Not a good thing in a hat meant to keep someone's head warm in winter.  I plan to rip out the hat now that it is dry and reknit it on a smaller size needle.  Let's hope that takes care of the problem.  I do have the tendency to knit some things a little loose.

Over a year ago, I came across a pattern for a stroller/carseat blanket that had sock monkey faces knitted on it.  The pattern was Sleepy Monkey Blanket by Mary Ann Stephens.


Copyright © 2009 Twist Collective

I decided to knit it for my niece Hannah.  I bought several colours I liked in Cascade 220 Superwash and cast on in February.  I knitted about an inch and then got distracted.  I started knitting on it again in September, and finished the front and back this month.  The front and back are both knitted as tubes and then cut open in a process called "steeking".

Unsteeked back outside:


Unsteeked back inside:


Now I need to steek the front and back parts, and then wet-block them before picking up stitches for the border.

I've been wanting to knit the Selbu Modern Beret, a free pattern available on Ravelry, for several months and now that cool weather has finally arrived, it was time to do so.