The hat is ready for Japan

I finished the Ishbel beret but I haven't bothered blocking it.  I like the way it hangs at the moment (great photos, me!) and I want to push on with the matching scarf/shawl.  I've cast on and am working through a billion increases until I have a trillion stitches. I'm not worried about the angora in my eyes anymore, I'm pretty sure it's too much computer work that upset them so I'm trying to cut down on playing facebook games.  I'm lining up a new project for Let's Knit so I'd like to finish the shawlette really quickly. 

I had a Japan related upset yesterday.  It appears the Ghibli museum will be shut for maintenance for the whole time I'm there, reopening on the day I leave.  I nearly cried.  I think I'll just have to remember that this won't be the last time I visit Japan and next time I can plan the holiday around that museum rather than the sumo.   I am pleased to say that I've ordered sumo tickets, received my Japan Rail Pass Exchange Order and can start booking hotels.  It's just under four weeks until I leave and I'm very excited.

Hat progress and tidying up

I decided to have a tidy up of my hair, makeup and jewellary in preparation for xmas i.e. I want to buy myself lots of new stuff.  As with all the other times I've tried to tidy, everything gets worse before it gets better. I started yesterday and I've set myself a deadline of finishing by the end of today otherwise I'll just live with hairclips on my floor - I am that naughty. I've already been reunited with many pairs of earrings that I had forgotten about or thought I only had one of.  This is better than having to buy new ones!

I'm nearly finished on the Japan hat.  I'm not sure whether to finish the top in red or just keep going with the grey. I'm not working on it everyday for fear of fluff but I actually think it's using the computer too much that is killing my eyes.  I didn't log on at all yesterday and my eyes are much less red today.  I'm going to buy some eye drops and try to blink more and play less adventure world.

Sore eyes still

My eyes are sill sore and a bit bloodshot from all the fluff and rubbing.  I think I'll leave the hat for a few days and give my living a good hoover, as there is still plenty of ambient fluff. I have a contact lens check tomorrow and I don't want to be told I can't wear lenses as a result of angora fluff in the air. I'm also a bit worried that even if I finish the hat, I won't have the interest in making the matching shawl.  Hmmm.

Fluff up my nose...

...and up in my eyes and on my clothes. Knitting with Angora 50 is mostly pleasant, and the finished fabric is lovely, but the shedding is making me cry.  Or at least rub my eyes and itch my face.  So I decided I could at least protect my clothes by making a project wrap. I've read that women used to make them back in the day and it seemed like good sense.

I started with a skirt from Thailand that I never wear (it makes me look very stumpy).

It has a pleat so there's even more fabric in there than it looks like.

I ripped open all the seams (carefully) and removed the elasticated waist.

I then cut a strip about as wide as needed to cover my from my belly button to my knees when sitting down.  Ok, that's not very helpful, it was about 70cm wide.  I used the whole length of the skirt but because I wanted to keep the whole pattern but it's longer than needed. I then spent a long time ironing and hemming the three edges that weren't already hemmed.  Phew, it was hard work.  I'm not an experienced sewing machiner but I managed to sew three straightish lines and rethread the needle a few times.

The finished rectangle folds up into a lovely parcel.

I can now keep my hat and pattern book in it.  When I open it up, it acts as a lap blanket/clothes protector. And it's pretty.

Trying it on

You can, possibly, see that I have kntited one row in grey, transferred the stitches to a long circular needle and tried it on. It appears to fit, and may even stretch over a pony tail but I let my hair loose this time.  I'm going to get it cut to maybe chin length before I go so a ponytail won't be an issue.

The pattern is pretty easy.  I've made a few mistakes so far but nothing dire.  I forgot that only even numbered rows were charted but that was brief.  I did have to undo most of a round as I'd done something wrong early on and had to add in a fake yarnover at the end of a row a bit lower down. That's mostly because I was watching True Blood I think.  

Casting on

I've finished knitting the edging for the beret and now it is time to perform a little magic. I've picked up the stitches on the provisional cast on on a smaller needle. 

Then, I started undoing the crochet chain that is part of the cast on edge.

I'm using two fuzzy yarns so it wasn't a case of just pulling the end and watching it all unravel.  I had to ease some of the chains apart.

I was surprised at how much "scrap" yarn I needed.

Quite a bundle.

Next, I'll fold the brim over and knit the two sets of stitches together, forming a neat and snug edge.

Swatching for a hat

 I've started the Ishbel beret with Angora 50 from The Little Knitting Company.  I decided to swatch as I've never used this yarn before and didn't want to get half way through a hat that looked like an egg cosy.  Or a car cosy.  So I swatched using 4mm needles and was pleased to find 20sts in 10cm.  Grand.

I also measured my head so I'm knitting the medium size for a 22inch head.  Never mind that I'm mixing measurement systems. The pattern calls for 108 sts on a provisional cast on.  I almost didn't bother.  I've used provisional cast ons before for toe up socks, but that tends to be less than half or even a quarter of 108.  But then, I decided I'd prefer the neater finish and I should try to knit at least a few rows before making blind alterations.

The pattern calls for 180 metres of yarn so I'll be using nearly two balls of the Angora 50.  I'm going to mix red and grey together beacuse I also want to knit an Ishbel scarf and I'd like the two items to match.  They'll coordinate in a fashion because they'll both have slightly mismatched colour stripes.