omg, omg, he made me a hat
Knitters, look! My spouse-man made me a hat for Valentine's Day!
Here's the story. In November, Bill asked me to teach him how to knit. So I found a random yarn from the stash with a sort of manly look and figured out how many stitches it might take to make a hat in man size. i showed him how to cast on and how to knit and got him started knitting in the round.
I love a hat with a rolled edge and I think this type of project is a perfect beginner knitter. There's a long cast on, longer than a scarf, which gives them a fighting chance of remembering the motion later, and a good long section of Nothing But Knit. Ok, there's a bit of trauma at the end, but the finished product makes up for the drama.
By the time the hat was done, Bill had practiced
The only kvetching came in the last 6 rounds when we had to switch to DPNs. Yes, it's true, I made my husband knit on DPNs for his first knitting project. Not only that, but I concealed the looming inevitability of DPNs from him for, lo, five full inches of knitted hat. He was a bit honked off about those size 9 sticks, and let's face it, they are awkward at that size, but he pushed through and made perfect decreases.
Somewhere around the stripe we figured out that the hat would not turn out man sized, after all. Like everyone else in this family, Bill turns out to be a tight knitter... at least for now. He says when I handed the needles back to him after fixing something, it always felt much looser. Anyway, tight gauge means a smaller hat, which means I win!
Since it was clear by now that the hat was for me, what better plan than to finish it up for Valentine's Day? Bill ran the finishing yarn through the last stitches on Saturday after the monthly gathering of spinners. After conquering the final decreases on DPNs, he threaded his needle & wove in the ends. Ta-dah!
The hat is a tad small on me, but I love it, of course. After all, the yarn came from *my* stash, right? And who doesn't love a hat knit by the spouse??
Bill and I did the calculations for a mirror image hat - orange with a thin blue stripe - in his size on Saturday, but he hasn't started yet. Next time you see him, ask him how his own hat is coming along!
Big smoochies, dahlinks, thank you for the hat!
Here's the story. In November, Bill asked me to teach him how to knit. So I found a random yarn from the stash with a sort of manly look and figured out how many stitches it might take to make a hat in man size. i showed him how to cast on and how to knit and got him started knitting in the round.
I love a hat with a rolled edge and I think this type of project is a perfect beginner knitter. There's a long cast on, longer than a scarf, which gives them a fighting chance of remembering the motion later, and a good long section of Nothing But Knit. Ok, there's a bit of trauma at the end, but the finished product makes up for the drama.
By the time the hat was done, Bill had practiced
- long-tail cast on
- knitting in the round
- changing colors (when we figured out that the yarn would run out before the hat did)
- slip-slip-knit decreases
- using double pointed needles
- threading a needle with yarn (HINT: fold the yarn over the eye of the needle & pinch it tight. Slip the needle out and you have a nicely folded sharp edge which should go through the eye easy as pie.)
- and weaving in ends
The only kvetching came in the last 6 rounds when we had to switch to DPNs. Yes, it's true, I made my husband knit on DPNs for his first knitting project. Not only that, but I concealed the looming inevitability of DPNs from him for, lo, five full inches of knitted hat. He was a bit honked off about those size 9 sticks, and let's face it, they are awkward at that size, but he pushed through and made perfect decreases.
Somewhere around the stripe we figured out that the hat would not turn out man sized, after all. Like everyone else in this family, Bill turns out to be a tight knitter... at least for now. He says when I handed the needles back to him after fixing something, it always felt much looser. Anyway, tight gauge means a smaller hat, which means I win!
Since it was clear by now that the hat was for me, what better plan than to finish it up for Valentine's Day? Bill ran the finishing yarn through the last stitches on Saturday after the monthly gathering of spinners. After conquering the final decreases on DPNs, he threaded his needle & wove in the ends. Ta-dah!
The hat is a tad small on me, but I love it, of course. After all, the yarn came from *my* stash, right? And who doesn't love a hat knit by the spouse??
Bill and I did the calculations for a mirror image hat - orange with a thin blue stripe - in his size on Saturday, but he hasn't started yet. Next time you see him, ask him how his own hat is coming along!
Big smoochies, dahlinks, thank you for the hat!
posted by spinnity at 2/18/2009 12:44:00 AM
6 Comments:
He not only made you a hat, he made you an awesome hat. What a guy! It's beauteous.
Congratulations to your husband! I'd love to see my boyfriend knitting...only try it, not even finish a garment ;)
Love it! And I still stand by the "need to know" aspect of dpns. Why mention it early on in the project? The brain and hands are busy with new movements and concepts. I didn't interpret it as you concealing the inevitable dpn switch over. But hey, he has experience with them now, right? So what's after the mirror image hat? Socks on dpns? ;)
Gorgeous! You know, Randall knit me a hat as his first project too! I still wear it all the time! It's big on me, so it keeps my ears nice and warm, with its nice rolled edge brim!
way to go Bill! Very impressive, especially the dpn bit. I still have dpn phobia. Mom
That's the coolest thing I've ever heard!
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