Cupcakes, Cupcakes, and more Cupcakes

I finished 4 cupcake hats.  I tried a new way of doing the icing and I am pretty happy with the results.  Here are pictures of the 4 hats I made.  The original pattern can be found here.

I tried two different ways, but the one I was the most happy with and can be seen on the bottom three pictures.

When you get to the part where you change to the icing color cast on with the e-wrap.
1. Knit over
2. Knit row
3. Purl row
4. yo, k2tog
5. purl row
6. knit row
7. purl row
8. Bring up like a brim and knit over.

9. Continue with garter stitch for the rest of the hat.  Purl a row and then knit a row.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Finished Projects

In my last blog post I wrote about  having a bunch of projects going all at once.  With my monkey brain this has been really difficult to get anything completed.  I spent all day yesterday working on getting a hat that I made using a long loom and a hat that was on my purple loom completed. 

Here is a picture of a cute ear-flap hat.  I used a long loom to make this.  I like to use the long looms to make ear-flap hats, so that you can make the ear-flaps right across from each other.  I also used loom clips so that I could do a decrease on the crown and I love the way it turned out. 

The other hat I finished was my favorite knit hat made with Wool-Ease yarn. I made it on the purple loom.  The color is a darkish red/maroon color. I think it is the perfect fall hat. 

I still need to finish a cupcake hat that is already started on my green loom.  I will not start anything else until it is complete.  The cowl and the wavy scarf are projects that I am working on a little at a time.  

If anyone is interested in the steps to make ear-flaps on long looms just let me know.  I will be happy to do a post with instructions.  

My Looms are Full

Normally I only have one project going at a time.  Right now, I have 5 projects that I am working on.  I have been trying to get cupcake hats, some hats for teens and adults, cowls, a scarf, and a cocoon made.  

I have spent the last few days working and experimenting with my cupcake pattern.  I am trying to figure out other ways to make the brim part of the icing.  So far I have tried 2 different ways to make it and I am happy with both.  I like the way that the icing looks on my original pattern, but felt like there was a way to make it look more uniform.  I will be posting pictures soon with my new and improved icing.  


I am also working on my favorite knit hat.  I am using a wool blend this time and I am very happy with the way it is turning out.  I love the nice fall color that I picked out and I like the way it looks with my pattern.


I plan to make a cowl with the same wool blend I am using on my favorite knit hat.  I have to finish the hat first though, because I would like to use the yarn that is left over.


The scarf that I am working on is a pattern I have been wanting to try ever since I got the pattern from this blog.  It is a ruffle scarf and I am loving the way it is turning out. I will post pictures of my finished scarf once it is complete.  


I went to Jo-Ann fabrics yesterday and picked up some new yarn.  Vanna's Choice yarn was on sale.  I have never used this brand of yarn before, but could not pass up the deal and the great fall colors.  


I have plans to make an acorn hat and some pumpkin hats for the fall.  I will be keeping up with all my new projects here, so my blog will be updated more now that I am back to knitting again.  :)

Lace Hat Pattern

I wish that I was a little more creative and could come up with some great name for this hat, but that just is not the case.  The hat is made using lace stitches, so it will be the Lace Hat for now.  If anyone has any suggestions for another name, I am totally open to hearing them.  

The hat did not take too long to knit.  An important thing to remember is using a yarn that has a little stretch and making sure to not let your stitches get too tight.  There is a lot of moving yarn from pegs to pegs and if your stitches are too tight it will make it very hard to complete.  

                                                                        Lace Hat

                                                                                                                                                          

You will need:  a loom with multiples of 6,  loom hook, stitch markers, and yarn with some stretch. 

 

Skills you will need to make hat: e-wrap,  knit (k), purl (p), yarn over (yo), and knit 3 together (k3tog).

Notes:  Stitch markers are not necessary, but they do make it so much easier to keep up with your pattern.  I started using stitch markers earlier this year and I really can't believe it took me so long to use them. 

I used Caron Brand Simply Soft in Victorian Rose.  I think it is obvious by now if you have read through my blog that Caron Simply Soft is one of my favorite yarns.

I was able to use the green Knifty Knitter with 36 pegs.  I normally cannot use the green loom for adult hats, but this hat has such an open design that it will stretch and not look silly on an adult. 

I used two strands of yarn held as one.

I used the u-wrap for the knit stitch.  This helps to make sure the stitches are not too tight.

Yarn Over - you will need to move the loops that are on this peg, so the peg will be empty.  Take your working yarn and just lay it in front of the peg.

Knit 3 Together - You will be taking the yarn that is on the pegs before and after the peg and put it on the peg.  You will then lay your working yarn on top of the peg that will have 3 loops on it and knit over.  This can be tricky.  But, if your stitches are not too tight it is possible.  I also found that if I just knit them over one at a time this worked well.

Now finally the actual pattern of the hat.  :)

1.  If you are using stitch markers split your loom into sections of 6.  

2. Cast on using the e-wrap.

3.  I made a ribbed brim by doing p2, k2 * repeat this around the loom.  Continue doing this for a total of 8 rows.

4.  YO, K3tog, Yo, P, P, P * repeat this pattern around the loom.

5.  K, K, K, P, P, P *repeat

6.  P,P,P, YO, K3TOG, YO * repeat

7.  P,P,P,K,K,K * repeat

8.  Repeat patterns 4-7 until hat reaches the desired length.  I had to do the pattern for a total of 8 times.  I probably could have done it 7 times, but I like for my hats to come down over my ears.  

9.  Once your hat is big enough, decrease your pegs by half.  Take yarn on peg 1 and move it to peg 2.  Take the bottom yarn over the top yarn.  Continue moving all the yarn on  odd pegs to even pegs.

10.  Finish by gathering the hat in whatever way you like.  

I hope you enjoy this pattern.  If you need any help with hat, please leave a comment.  If you make a hat using this pattern I'd love to see it.  Please leave a comment with a link to your picture.  Feel free to share this pattern, but please include a link to my blog. 

 

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Penguin Hat

I have been having all these ideas of things that I want to make, but do not have enough time or looms to make everything that I am thinking of.  I have decided that once I sell 3 hats on etsy  I am going to buy myself a fancy loom.  I haven't decided yet which brand to go with.  If anyone that reads my blog and has any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment with the loom that they like.

A week or so ago I signed up for a craft show.  I have a great collection of hats already made, but I wanted to have some new things made.  I came up with a penguin hat.  I looked on-line to see if there was already a pattern that I could follow.  Nothing was out there for knitting on looms, but there were a couple of ones for needle knitting.  I was unable to use the pattern though, so I came up with my own design.  I had to make it in a few parts.  I needed a white belly and an orange nose. I added white buttons for the eyes.  

I think he is cute.  I am pretty happy with the way he turned out.  I made the white belly part first to make sure that I would be able to get the shape that I was wanting.  I made the first one too big, so I think I will make an adult version of the penguin hat.  

I had the looms out again today and worked on another hat.  I made a hat using lace stitches and it came out really nice.  It is very different from anything else that I've made.  I am hoping that I get a chance tomorrow to post a blog with pictures.