Welcome

Welcome! And for some people, welcome back! Yes, redhotknitter.com is officially open again and ready for business. And since no one needs a long and drawn-out rambling welcome post, let’s get to the nitty gritty.

It’s 22 degrees in Chicago today. That might sound cold to some of you, but considering the fact that the temperature last Thursday and Friday was reading in double-digit negatives, this is “tank top weather”, as my friend Julie put it. Seeing as I would probably get frostbite on some rather necessary parts of my body if I actually went out in a tank top, I’m instead inside knitting a hat. (Fine, if you want to be technical, I’m blogging about knitting a hat. I haven’t yet mastered typing and knitting. If you have, I want to know about it.)

Enter Kaura.

When I was visiting my mom and step-dad in suburban Washington, D.C. over Christmas I got the inspiration to do a vintage-inspired set of mittens and a hat in red. Now, if you know one thing about me, it is that I love red. I mean red. Red. RED. However you’d like to emphasize it. Really freakin’ red. Fire engine red. Stoplight red. Scarlet red.  Not maroon, not brick, red. Red, people.

We went to my favorite yarn shop, A Tangled Skein, conveniently located blocks away from their home. (We’re not going to talk about how unfair it is that this shop is 704.84 miles from my home. Not that I measured. Why do you ask?) I bought some Cascade 220 superwash for a Kaura hat and some Araucania Ranco sock yarn for Green Autumn Druid Mittens. Both patterns together evoke sort of a 1950s ski chalet feel for me, and what better color choice of yarn than red?

This is my Kaura hat, a little more than halfway done. While I got gauge on my swatch, I felt that it was going to knit up a little tight, so I upped the needle size about 3 notches. I figured this would also help since I’d rather go for a little more beret-like shape if possible, but I’m going to wing that in the blocking. (Famous last words.)

This was my first attempt at bobbles, which turn out to be fun! Kind of. I think I’ll have to poke all of them a bit once it’s all complete, as they have a tendency to want to be a little bit more squashy than bobbley.

Maybe if I’m lucky, when I finish this hat I’ll actually start straight away into the mittens, and realize my dream of having a matched set! Now wouldn’t that be an amazing feat, following through with two whole projects with one collective purpose!