Lesson Learned

When it comes to knitting hats for The Preemie Project, I rarely use patterns that require seaming. No reason, really. I just like that when I'm finished knitting, I'm finished with the hat. But, I wondered if I was missing out on some great patterns. I was! Here are a couple.


Both the hat and the booties are knitted flat and seamed.

Hat Pattern: Denny's Heather Hat (there's a sweater pattern too!)
I used sport weight yarn (Red Heart Soft Baby) and US 5 needles. Next time I may make it a little bit shorter. This hat will fit a 3-5 lb baby.

Booties Pattern: Easy and Quick Booties
For these, I also used sport weight yarn and US 5 needles. I'm adding this pattern to my favorites list! Finally, another pattern for booties that works up quick, easy and cute. I don't know why it took me so long to try it.



Pattern: Denny's Broken Rib Hat
This is the hat that I tried to knit in the round and ended up with the Preemie Spiral Hat. This time I knitted it flat, but changed the yarn (sport weight), the needle size (US 5) and the number of stitches cast on (55sts) to get a hat that will fit a 3-5 lb baby. I decided not to turn the cuff, so I knitted the ribbing for only 1".

From now on, I'm not going to let a little seam keep me from trying a new pattern. These hats are so small that it doesn't take much time for the sewing and the seams aren't even noticeable.

New Pattern

PREEMIE SPIRAL HAT

Yarn: DK weight or Sport weight baby yarn
Needles: US 5 dpns
Size: 1-3 lbs (3-5 lbs, 6-8 lbs)

Cast on 48 (56, 64) sts.
Divide stitches on three needles. Join in the round, being careful not to twist.
Work 1x1 ribbing for 1".
Increase one stitch at the end of the last round of ribbing. 49 (57, 65) sts.

Spiral Pattern:
This pattern is formed by working K2, P2 continually from round to round until hat measures 3 1/2" (4", 4 1/2") from cast on edge. Just in case you need to see it written out, here are the details...

Rnd 1 - *K2, p2, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Rnd 2 - K1, *p2, k2, repeat from * to end of round.
Rnd 3 - *P2, k2, repeat from * to last stitch, p1.
Rnd 4 - P1, *k2, p2, repeat from * to end of round.
Work these rounds until hat measures 3 1/2" (4", 4 1/2") from cast on edge.

Decreases:
Rnd 1 - K2tog around until last stitch, k1.
Rnd 2 - K around
Repeat these 2 rounds twice more (6 rounds total).

Finishing:
Cut yarn 6" long and pull through remaining stitches.
Pull tail to the inside and weave in all ends.
If desired, add pom-pom or other topper.

Additional Notes:
The yarn used for the hat pictured is DK weight Little Lehigh by Kraemer Yarns (45% cotton, 55% acrylic). It is made from the 3-5 lb size instructions. I have not tested the other two sizes yet.

I did not try to figure out how to continue the spiral pattern through the decreases, but it would give the hat a nicer look and shape. Feel free to experiment with this.

This pattern is for charity and personal use only. My hat will be donated to The Preemie Project.

This Is Texas

We were in Palacios, Texas on Saturday to watch Needville High School perform their play for the UIL One Act Play Competition. Palacios is a small town on Matagorda Bay about an 1 1/2 hours from my house. The Texas Hill Country is famous for it's fields of wildflowers this time of year. Though this is not the Hill County, we were able to find a few flowers in bloom.


The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas and one of my favorites.


By the way, Needville's performance of The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail was awesome! Of course, I could be biased since my son is in the play, but the judge agreed too and advanced it to the next competition. Congratulations to the cast and crew!

Two Green Hats, A Pair of Booties and A Nice Surprise

The Preemie Project is expanding. Not only we will be supporting our original hospital in Iowa, but we will also start supporting two hospitals in Michigan. Jan is the coordinator of the Michigan Chapter. She and other Michigan volunteers have been knitting and crocheting up a storm to get plenty of hats and booties made in time for the first official donation in April. All national volunteers have been asked to help out too, so these two hats and the others I've made recently will be sent to Michigan.

It's been a while since I made the hat on the left. It's called Lots of Eyelets Preemie Hat. I followed the pattern as written except I made it a little longer. It will fit a 3-5 pound baby.

The other hat was an attempt to convert this pattern, which is knit flat, into one that is knit in the round. I believe I came up with something totally different. Just to be sure, I'm going to knit the pattern as written. If the one I made is different, I'll write up the instructions and publish them here later. So check back next week, if you're interested. This hat will also fit a 3-5 pound baby.

Both of these hats and the booties were made with my new favorite yarn, Little Lehigh by Kraemer Yarns (45% Cotton, 55% Acrylic).

Last week I received a nice surprise in the mail from Jean.

Soon after this picture was taken, I filled this basket with my current knitting projects and some pretty yarn I have in mind for future projects. I love it!

Year One

The calendar says it's Spring and so does the weather here in Needville. If that's not the case where you live, it will be soon. Hang in there. The beginning of Spring has a special significance here at Wool Windings, because it means that this blog is now one year old. It's been a fun year and some good things have happened as a result of starting this blog. One good thing is that I learned about The Preemie Project and became a volunteer. If you are a regular visitor here, you know that knitting for the little babies is one of the joys of my life. Another good thing is that blogging has helped me develop my computer skills to the point that I am now able to work as a teacher for the Free Home Bible Study program. Before I started this blog, I didn't even know how to turn the computer on. Now I am using the computer to share the gospel with people all over the world. What a difference a year makes! And last but not least, I have developed some good friendships through this blog. This is a blessing I didn't expect. Thanks for taking the time to comment and encourage me through this first year.

Scatter seeds of kindness everywhere you go;
Scatter bits of courtesy
watch them grow and grow.
Gather buds of friendship;
Keep them till full-blown;
You will find more happiness
than you have ever known.
- Amy R Raabe

Happy St. Patrick's Day

If you're looking for leprechauns today and are in the Salt Lake City area, try here.

This is a great place to get a milkshake, but don't expect to drink it through a straw. You'll need a spoon. It's very thick--the consistency of soft serve ice cream. I really wonder if they add any milk to it all? And, they're huge! Bring an appetite or a friend to share it with.

We're back in Texas now. Got off the plane yesterday to be greeted by temperatures in the 80's and that familiar feeling of humidity. Time to pack away the sweaters, hats and mittens and bring out the shorts.



On our last day in SLC, I visited two more yarn shops. The first was Black Sheep Wool Co. where I found the greatest yarn for making hats for The Preemie Project. It's called Little Lehigh (Kraemer Yarns) and is a DK weight--45% cotton, 55% acrylic. It was a new yarn to this store and new to me. I also bought a cute gray wool sheep to add to my collection. It's made by Anne Carroll of Park City.



The next stop was Unraveled Sheep in Sandy. I bought some Jamison's Shetland Wool there. They had a large selection of colors to choose from. I don't think any of the shops in Houston carry this. So if I get hooked on it, I'll order some more from here. They said they would be glad to help with color selection over the phone. I think this is better than choosing the colors from a computer monitor. I plan to use the blue and off white I bought for a color stranded hat.

I received excellent help in both shops and give both a big thumbs up!



This is the knitting I did while on vacation (for The Preemie Project). The hats are all variations of this pattern. I tried this slipper pattern for the first time. It's okay, but this pattern for booties still cannot be beat. The variegated set and the off white set are both made from Caron Simply Soft. I found that the variegated yarn is not as soft as the solid colors. I don't know why that is. The green set is made from the Little Lehigh yarn. I can't emphasize how much I love this yarn! I would even make something for myself from it. It's a joy to knit with and is very soft and light weight.


A couple of final shots of my family and the mountains of Utah. This one is of me and my husband, John. We are both wearing scarves I knitted (a little hard to see).


Here is my son, Matt, wearing a hat knitted by my daughter, Robyn. She will be glad to hear he wore it the whole time we were there.

Yesterday's Adventure

Today will be a lazy day for me. The boys have gone on a guided fishing trip down the Green River and I'm left on my own. It will be a good day to do a little knitting and catch up on some blog reading. Yesterday we spent the day exploring the mountains. The morning started with sunshine and just a few clouds, but soon gave way to gray skies and snow. It was still a lovely day and we saw many beautiful sights.





We came down from the mountain and had lunch in Sandy at Crown Burgers. It was our first time to eat here. They serve pastrami on their burgers! I guess it's no different than adding bacon to a burger. It was good pastrami, but I ended up taking it off. I like my burgers plain, I guess. I also tried fry sauce for the first time. It's similar to Thousand Island dressing without the pickles. Pretty good.

Since we were in Sandy, we stopped by a yarn shop I knew was there.



This shop also sells antiques. They carry a small selection of interesting yarns. A unique little shop. I bought some unspun yarn that should be great for felting. I've never seen this before and at only $11 dollars for a huge cake, it was a great buy.



We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the countryside by car, ending up in Park City where we walked around the downtown area and stopped in some of the shops. All we bought was some coffee to warm us up. It snowed the whole time we were there.

As we headed back to Salt Lake City, John has us looking for moose. We finally spotted one, but it was far away. The only way we knew it was a moose and not a rock was that we could tell it had legs. I guess this counts as seeing a moose in the wild, but next time I hope to see one closer.

To end the day, we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the valley.