All Aboard...

     OK, maybe a hat a day was a bit ambitious. I think I got up to 10 hats for the month of Feb. and I am happy with that.  
     
     I went to IN. where my family lives for a couple days. I went by train going from MA. taking about 22 hours of first time train experience.   Bumpy, a lot of waiting, and not too much sleep involved, but I did get some great knitting done along the way. 

This was a scarf I made for my Mom.  Well, more like a cowl, that she pins on for neck warmth,  It is cabled and turned out pretty great with a nice vibrant color. Believe me, without knitting on the train, I would have been bored out of my mind. This took a long time to make, but my Mom loves it as you can see...

    So from now on, no more goals for me, just happiness and the true meditation of knitting!

Cheers!

Spiral Cable Hat

     I started this hat a week ago and finished a couple days ago.  I love spirals knits, cable knits, all those loops and twists just speak to me.  
Here is the spiral hat I made out of Plymouth Baby Alpaca:

 It is soooo soft...

This is a gift for someone, not telling who...;)

Cheers!

1st socks on the weekend.

Good weekend of knitting.  I started knitting warm socks for Shannon (my wife) because she wanted a pair to keep her feet warm. These are my first knitted socks, so there was a lot trial and error, and ripping out of stitches. I used Michaels Craft store yarn, super bulky wool.  I followed a pattern for socks using the magic loop method for socks.
The link I followed is:  Magic Loop Socks from Very Pink. I enjoy watching knitting videos and following along at each segment. 

So here they are:

 

     I think they turned out pretty great.  A bit on the big side though because that pattern was for a different kind of yarn, oh well.  Shannon said she would wear these mainly around the house with other socks to keep her feet warm, so they fit and she is happy.

Good Day!

My knitting is rubbing off on my kids.

     I taught my kids how to knit in the last month or so and it has turned out great.  My daughter (9) made a pink baby hat with nylon yarn, which I thought was pretty challenging, but she did it.  My son (6) also made a green wool hat for his stuffed animal.

     I had to do a lot of the decreasing of their hats, but they did most of the knitting work, which is awesome!
     
 I stay home with my kids and Homeschool them.  That has been my job full-time for the past 8 years. I love it! I get to see how they grow up, mature, and learn. I'm hoping this new skill of knitting takes them somewhere in life, or just learning and enjoying something new! It wasn't too hard to teach them. My son is the impatient one that always wants to do it himself, so he was a little challenging, but it all worked out. Share your knitting with the ones you love.

Cheers!

The Man's Multi-patterned Asymmetrical Scarf...

     This blog is called, "Hammond Hats," but I like to go off task and also post some of my other projects that have I been working on lately.  This is my first scarf. I just finished it today and it took me a couple days starting last week.  I have never been a big scarf guy, but this scarf is wool and very warm around my neck.  It took 3 skeins of soft bulky wool yarn from Michaels Craft store.

    It was tedious to make, yet very easy.  You can see all the different stitches in the scarf, this is because I got bored and mixed it up as I went along.  Knitting the same pattern for days is not fun for me so here is my result.   I call this scarf "The Man's Multi-Patterned Asymmetrical Scarf."

Happy Knitting!!

Goal: 28 hats in Feb...

     That's right! My goal started on Feb 1st, to make a hat a day.  So far I have 8 hats done, all preemie/baby hats as you can see below.

So I am 3 shy right now, but not too worried, I will get it done.  These hats take about 2 hours, sometimes faster because of my new Addi Turbos. I am telling you, they make a huge difference in the time it takes to knit, and the best part is they work especially well on acrylic yarn, which can be very tough to knit with on bamboo needles. So here is to new goals and the love of knitting.

 

Addi Turbo Heaven...

     I recently bought some new Addi Turbo circular needles.  These are heaven to knit with.  The knitting needles are made of nickel and they glide through my hands so easily.  I looked online for the best knitting needles around and these came up as #1.  I have used metal needles in the past, but they were too pointy at the ends, and cheaply made too. So my hands are happier now.  I have noticed that my hands are getting calluses from knitting so much, which I don't have a problem with, kind of cool actually. So here is to needle happiness and tougher hands...:)