Hat - Brown Hat (for the lack of anything better to call it)

Hat is knitted top down.
Brown merino waterspun wool
5mm Double pointed needles
3.5mm 16" circular needles

Using 5mm double pointed needles:
CO 6 stitches and divide over three needles. Join and knit 1 round.
R2: Inc 1, K1 to end
R3: Knit
R4: Inc 1, K2 to end
R5: Knit
Even rows: Inc 1, knit 1 more to increase 6 stitches each round.
Odd rows: knit
Until you have enough to fit the top of your head. Mine came to 72 stitches.

Next row, purl 3 rows straight.
Change to 3.5mm needles and knit 3".
Purl 2 rows
Row 1: Mock cable twist (knit into second stitch, without taking the stitch off the left needle, knit into first stitch and take both off)
Row 2: K1, Mock cable twist
Do rows 1 & 2 four times
Purl 2 rows
Knit another inch.
Change to 5mm needles and knit 1 more round.
I-cord bind off (Knit 3 stitches, slip the three back onto the left needle with yarn in back. Knit the first 2 stitches and slip first stitch over the second stitch. Knit the third and fourth stitch. Slip the three stitches back onto the left needle and repeat.)

Weave in your ends and that's it. It may need a bit of blocking for shape.

Dropped Stitch Moebius Cowl

Dropped Stitch Moebius Cowl

1 ball Noro Keuryon (or whatever yarn you might want to use)
1 set 6mm straight needles

Cast on 30 stitches, using provisional cast on.
Row 1 & 2: Knit (garter stitch)
Row 3: *K1, YO twice*, repeat ending with K1
Row 4: *K1, drop the 2 Yarn overs*, repeat ending with K1
Row 5, 6, 7: Knit (garter stitch)Repeat Rows 3 - 7 until you reached the length you want.

For the last set, knit only 2 rows of garter stitch. This will match up with the first two rows when you join the ends together. Every so often, as you're knitting, give your work a gentle pull to straighten out the rows.

To Finish:

Give your scarf a half-twist so the opposite ends meet. Put the stitches on the provisional cast-on onto a needle and graft together. If you use the Kitchener stitch, the finished piece will look seamless.1 Ball was perfect for a short cowl that just fit my neck. You can make it longer and cast on more stitches for a shawl. Just leave enough yarn at the end for grafting. I usually allow for ~1"per stitch.

Much thanks to Elizabeth Zimmerman who is truly a Goddess of Knitting!

Wrap #1

I did about 3" of this wrap in the Pakucho cotton. Beautiful! Unfortunately, it wasn't what I wanted at this time. I needed something that would use 4 skeins and knit up much quicker. But I didn't want to forget this pattern.

Cast on 80 stitches on 6.5mm needles loosely. Switching to 5.5mm needles, knit 2 rows. Start pattern.

Pattern as follows: K1, *YO, K2tog* repeat ** to end with KI. Repeat for all rows until shawl is the length you want or you run out of yarn.

This pattern makes a nice criss-cross pattern that twists to the side of the piece. It is absolutely reversible with both sides identical. Perfect for mobius cowl. This stitch pattern came from one of Barbara G. Walker's book.

Knitted Shopping Bag

I've always wanted one of those string shopping bags but hated the nylon feel of them. So I made one with some heavy navy blue cotton I had in my stash. I showed Rick the results and his response was: "Oh good. And this shopping bag cost, what, $30.00 in materials?" He completely missed the point here. I tried to take a picture of it but the camera is full. E is using the camera taking plant pictures for his school project and hasn't downloaded his pictures. So my camera is full. Funny that when I bought the camera, both R & E thought it was a bad idea. And now I hardly get to use it. Anyhow, here's the direction for the bag:It's knitted with the drop stitch pattern to give it a netting effect.Cast on 30 stitches, using 6.5mm needles. Garter stitch for 20-30 rows for the base. How many rows you do depends on how wide you want your bag. Using circulars, pick up as many stitches that will fit across the width. Pick up 30 along the back. Pick up the same number as the other width down the last side. Place marker. Garter stitch 4 more rows. Row 1: *K1, YO twice* repeat to end.Row 2: *K1, drop YO* repeat to end.Row 3: KnitRepeat the three rows until bag is as long as you want it. Garter stitch 4 more rows. Bind off loosely 30 stitches, leave the width stitches on a holder, bind off another 30 stitches. Garter stitch the second set of width stitches until the strap is the length you want it to be. Graft the strap to the other remaining stitches of the width.