This reminded me of a Christmas tradition my sister and I shared - I live in California and she in North Carolina so we are at opposite sides of the United States. Each year we would ship a batch of Victorian Christmas romance novels to each other (cheap book rate) for the season. We sometimes exchanged the same books back and forth on alternate years but after two years who can remember what they read, especially during the busy Christmas season and with young children populating the scene? Somehow the tradition faded into oblivion. I decided to resurrect it. I sent her five romance novels by Brenda Novak that I had read and liked. They did not have a Christmas theme, but close enough. I had read them and enjoyed them.
I also printed out my blog post review on each and enclosed it in the package:
#1: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2017/12/ponder-post-finding-our-forever.html
#2: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2017/11/ponder-post-no-one-but-you.html
#3: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2017/11/ponder-post-until-you-loved-me.html
#4: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2018/02/ponder-post-right-where-we-belong.html
#5: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2019/05/ponder-unforgettable-you.html
My sister got the books on Monday July 8th and texted me at 5:23 PM.
She laughingly challenged me to a race. "I bet I can finish these five books before you finish those five hats!" She had thrown down the proverbial gauntlet. "You're on!" I countered back. Surely I would win. After all, I was on Santa Hat #2 having started two days before she even got the books. But I digress. DianeLoves2Quilt is a crafting blog so here is how the knitting part began.
I also printed out my blog post review on each and enclosed it in the package:
#1: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2017/12/ponder-post-finding-our-forever.html
#2: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2017/11/ponder-post-no-one-but-you.html
#3: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2017/11/ponder-post-until-you-loved-me.html
#4: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2018/02/ponder-post-right-where-we-belong.html
#5: https://wanderorponder.blogspot.com/2019/05/ponder-unforgettable-you.html
My sister got the books on Monday July 8th and texted me at 5:23 PM.
She laughingly challenged me to a race. "I bet I can finish these five books before you finish those five hats!" She had thrown down the proverbial gauntlet. "You're on!" I countered back. Surely I would win. After all, I was on Santa Hat #2 having started two days before she even got the books. But I digress. DianeLoves2Quilt is a crafting blog so here is how the knitting part began.
Saturday, July 6, 2019: Santa Hat #1
I was concerned that since this larger size had not been included on the label, the kit might not have enough yarn to complete the hats. When I had made the Lion and Elephant hats with 60 stitches, they fit on three size 8 double pointed needles, 20 stitches each. When I cast on 72 stitches instead of 60 on three size 9 double pointed needles, the fit for 24 stitches was more squashed together and it was more likely I would drop stitches off the ends. Although it was convenient to have those white markers midway, the risk of losing stitches outweighed the reminder of midway markers. I decided it would be better to share the stitches among four needles instead of three.
Sizing re-adjustment came first. I learned that the Elephant hat had fit the 3 year old quite well but the Lion hat had been a bit small for the 6 year old. I had made a size that cast on 60 stitches and had used size 8 knitting needles, smaller than the size 9 recommended because I tend to knit loosely. The instructions on the the label were for an infant and a child size. My grandchildren's ages as of December 2019 will be 7¼ and 4½, and 5⅔, 3⅔, and 1⅔. For these Santa Hats, I went back to the size 9 needle recommended and cast on 72 stitches as specified in the free instructions for a small adult size downloaded from
https://www.dmc.com/media/usa/Top_This_Alternate_Size_Instructions.pdf.I was concerned that since this larger size had not been included on the label, the kit might not have enough yarn to complete the hats. When I had made the Lion and Elephant hats with 60 stitches, they fit on three size 8 double pointed needles, 20 stitches each. When I cast on 72 stitches instead of 60 on three size 9 double pointed needles, the fit for 24 stitches was more squashed together and it was more likely I would drop stitches off the ends. Although it was convenient to have those white markers midway, the risk of losing stitches outweighed the reminder of midway markers. I decided it would be better to share the stitches among four needles instead of three.
I switched to four double pointed needles with 18 stitches on each needle, with white markers counting off every 12 stitches. This configuration was roomier. Although I did not need the markers until the decrease rounds, they made a nice visual as a check that I had not dropped any stitches – 6 stitches on one side of the marker, 12 on the other side.
The hat started out as red but quickly rotated through the red and silver/whit two tone and then the black. After the 16 rounds of stockinette stitch after the 12 rounds of ribbing, the yarn change from solid red back to the alternating red and silver/white. I eyed the ball of yarn wondering if I would have enough. My backup plan if I ran out was to finish off the tippy top with black or white or red yarn of my own.
For the second hat I guessed better at how much yarn I needed to cast on and the residual tail is much shorter. Also in this hat, the yarn ball began with the red and white/silver alternating yarn, not the solid red. Only five rounds into it, the black yarn entered the picture.
The yarn still followed the same sequence with back unfurling before the solid red followed by the red and white/silver alternating portion. I found these balls were best unwound from the outside rather than from an inner core and a wooden salad bowl provided just the right container to keep it from rolling away.
After twenty-one rounds of stockinette stitch, the black made its appearance again. In Santa Hat #1 there was only a small black patch at the very top. This Santa Hat #2 has a second black stripe.
Here is the completed striping pattern for Santa Hat #2. Confident now that I would have enough yarn for each hat in the supplied ball, I no longer felt compelled to document what yarn remained.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019: Santa Hat #3
The yarn ball for the third hat started with red but this time a lesser yardage than Santa Hat #1 so the two tone section began sooner .
Curious to see the striping pattern, here is the pattern forming after 12 rounds of ribbing and again after 21 rounds of stockinette stitch before starting the decreases.
The hat has only one black stripe unlike hat #2. At the top of the crown of the hat there is a black area. The contrast will show up the Santa head very well.
The yarn ball for the third hat started with red but this time a lesser yardage than Santa Hat #1 so the two tone section began sooner .
Looks like Santa Hat #4 will start with the two tone yarn, like Santa Hat #2 did. Most likely it, too, will wind up with two black stripes.
I actually started this hat on Friday July 12th but had other commitments besides knitting so I did not complete it until Saturday. (A phone call from my sister had alerted me that she had finished reading book #4. She did admit that she had stayed up until 4:00 am and that her eyes were burning. The race was neck and neck.) By the starting sequence with which the ball of yarn had been wound I knew the starting ribbing would be red and that the hat would have only one black stripe.
Again I document the progress after the ribbing is completed at round 12 and after the straight stockinette rounds are completed after an additional 21 more rounds.
Sunday, July 14, 2019: Final Photos
I wanted a picture of the five Santa hats sort of plumped out as they would be when worn and here it is. I put the hats on bowls to fill them out. Don't they look like an adorable crew? I almost hate breaking up the gang.
I now have five Elf hats to complete but I am taking a break for a while. Those 4th of July decorations are not putting themselves away. Maybe Christmas can come again in August bringing with it another incentivized challenge for knitting five Santa's helpers. I am linking up now with Main Crush Monday MCM#160 at Cooking Up Quilts.
I sent you those pics of I in his Elephant hat, right? He LOVES that thing, and I am sure he will love a Santa hat too! That's a great story of a great race - I do wonder if you would have won without the head start, although the terms agreed to are the terms agreed to ;-) I love how each of the hats turned out unique despite the unifying elements, and your photography setup cracks me up too - it looks hilarious, but it's pretty clever! I'll admit I want Fall to be long and relaxing before Christmas overtakes us this year. But those Santa hats certainly give me something to look forward to come the season of yule!
ReplyDeleteI dare say setting up for photography was almost as much fun as the race with my sister and knitting the hats.
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