The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Let’s start with the WIN, shall we?

Entrelac Beret WIN!

I knit this Entrelac Beret back in August after I sent Lion Brand off my sample. This is my Entrelac Beret knitting pattern I designed for Lion Brand’s collection of free patterns.

Cute From the Back, Too!

I was in Minneapolis when I knit this hat, and Michael’s is a lot closer and easier to get to from my Minneapolis apartment than JoAnn, and they didn’t have Lion Brand Wool Ease. Instead I used their brand, Loops & Threads Impeccable. It had a slightly bigger gauge than the Wool Ease, so I cast on 70 sts instead of 80. It worked out great!

Then there is the Entrelac Beret FAIL.

Entrelac Beret FAIL

Just when I think I’m finally getting good at knitting, I stop being able to think and make a gigantic mistake. Like trying to sub in DK weight yarn and NOT CHANGING MY NEEDLE SIZE. This is the hat I was working on a couple weeks ago that looked so awesome.

I subbed in Knit Picks Merino Style, a DK weight yarn, because I had a lot of it and wanted this to be a stash-buster. I should have taken my needle size down to 7, instead of sticking to the size 9s. But I didn’t.

So pretty! So Worthless

So this beautiful hat is pretty much completely worthless. I’ll pull it out when it stops hurting so bad.

And I feel like there has been a whole lot of MY FACE on the blog lately. I’m going to try to tone that down a little bit. I’m not promising anything, though!

Pattern: Entrelac Beret by ME!

WIN YARN: Loops & Threads Impeccable in Blue and Lion Brand Amazing in Glacier Bay

FAIL YARN: Knit Picks Merino Style in Fedora and Lion Brand Amazing in Glacier Bay

Needles: Size 9 16″ circular and double pointed needles

WIN Ravelry Project Page

FAIL Ravelry Project Page

Things are still pretty out of hand around here. I had six work in progress projects last week, and I’ve still got SEVEN this week. And most of them are new!

From Norway With Love

First up is a project you don’t see very often around here – COLOR-WORK! I’m knitting up the Pickles From Norway With Love hat for my sister in law Emily for Christmas. It’s a stranded heart stocking cap and I’m in love with it. I’m using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in three different blue-ish heathers and as much as I hate stranded color-work, this hat is flying off my needles. It must be the hearts!

Mary Jane Slippers

I taught my Mary Jane Slippers class last week, so I got started on another pair of these adorable slippers. I made a pair for myself this summer and knew they would make an amazing Christmas present for a friend. I’m using the left over yarn from my #25 Rib Yolk Topper, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Tweed, so they look crazy-similar to my pair! They crochet up super fast so I’ll be done with these in no time.

Striped Something Something

Super abstract shot of something else I started this week! More on this later.

Entrelac Beret

And another amazing hat project! Remember my Entrelac Beret pattern I wrote for Lion Brand? I’m teaching a class on this hat this week so I’ve got one on the needles. Oh entrelac! I love you! Knit Picks Merino Style and Lion Brand Amazing are two peas in the pod of this hat.

Granny Squares!

Another mystery project: I’ve been granny squaring my little heart out all weekend and it’s going to be awesome! More later.

With all these projects working overtime, I haven’t touched my Ruffle Rose Pillow in a week, but it’s on the mind grapes. And, naturally, Aidez is happening, too.

Is it knitting intervention time?

The best part of Renegade Brooklyn in June was meeting the friends from twitter, facebook, blog readers, and the blogs I read that I have never met before. One of these people was Jess from the Lion Brand Yarn twitter account. Despite having over 10,000 twitter followers, she knew who I was and, naturally, we chatted about yarn and knitting. That meeting lead to her asking me to design a couple patterns for the Lion Brand Yarn YarnPlay newsletter, which came out Monday.

Entrelac Beret

First up was an entrelac beret I’ve been wanting to knit forever! Styled here by Lion Brand, it’s more of a winter hat – flopsy, warm, and totally cute.

My Hipster Styling

I took some pictures of it before sending it to Lion Brand and wore it back on my head a little more, making it super flopsy and more of a hipster hat. … whatever that means.

Amazing Yarn!

The main yarn here is Lion Brand Wool Ease Worsted and the contrasting color is Lion Brand Amazing, which I’ve never used before this. It truly lives up to it’s name! It’s verigated, but with S L O W changing colors, so when you are working the entrelac, you’ve got quite a few blocks per color, so it makes the entrelac look even more interesting. I loved it.

Kinda Pretty, Right?

You can see the beautiful Amazing yarn work it’s magic in this shot of the back of the hat. Cool, right?!

Pattern: Lion Brand Yarn (ME!) Entrelac Beret

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease in Indigo and Lion Brand Amazing in Glacier Bay

Needles: 16″ size 9 circular, size 9 DPNs

Ravelry Pattern Page

Striped Stocking Cap

I also came up with a striped crocheted hat pattern to be unisex. Lion Bran styled the stocking cap version of the pattern here on a girl. I think it’s really hard to come up with a pattern that both boys and girls will like and wear, and since I’m not a stocking cap or beanie wearer, I just wrote a simple, fast, fun to crochet pattern.

Beanie Version!

I asked PT to model for me! Here you’ve got the beanie version of the hat pattern. I like a versatile pattern, and my pattern tells you were to stop in the stripe pattern for a beanie sized hat AND a stocking cap hat.

Stocking Cap Version!

And here is the longer, stocking cap hat – long enough for you to flip up. I think it’s a great, simple, versatile pattern you could knit for pretty much anyone!

Stocking Cap and Beanie!

The yarn I used, Lion Brand Tweed Stripes, is really fun! Just like Amazing, Tweed Stripes has a really slow variegation so it looks like each stripe in the hat is a different color, especially with the contrasting color – Wild Fire. It’s squishy and soft and I need a million Chunky Cabled Cowls in this beautiful yarn!

Pattern: Lion Brand Yarn (ME!) Striped Beanie and Stocking Cap

Yarn: Lion Brand Tweed Stripes in Tundra and Wild Fire

Hook: Size J

Ravelry Pattern Page