Michael Nesmith Hat Finished!

July 29, 2007April 18, 2011 Kate7 Comments

Voila! The Mike Nesmith hat! I actually finished it over a week ago, but I needed a large pom-pom maker to complete the look. Even though I’m a stitchgeek (and proud of it), I just don’t have the requisite patience to fashion one of those handmade cardboard pom-pom makers with the circle cut inside the other circle and the slit and the endless
wrapping and the cutting and the gathering and the tying and the re-tying and the …. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I have the smaller sized Clover pom-pom makers, and one day the large ones will be mine as well (oh yes, they will be mine), but for now, my good friend Buster McSinister of KnittingSinister was kind enough to lend me his. Those Clover pom-pom makers are my absolute favorites because they are quick, easy to use, very well-made, and they come in a variety of sizes. Accept no substitutes.

So, here’s a picture of the hat pre-pom-pom with the pom-pom maker:

And here’s what happens when you put the two together:

And here’s the link to the free pattern. Love, peace, and groovy tunes to all my brothers and sisters!

A Quaker Study: 20 hours completed

July 15, 2007April 18, 2011 KateLeave a comment

“A Quaker Study” is humming right along, due largely to the fact that many of the design elements are repeats so there’s not a lot of time spent consulting the chart every few minutes.

The stark, geometric look of this sampler is so beautiful to me, and you know I’m a sucker for anything with the alphabet on it. It also reminds me a little bit of the brown and gold calico quilts my grandmother used to make. In fact, the first quilt she ever helped me make was a wall-hanging with a large eight-pointed star on it not unlike the small repeated star motif just above and below the alphabet on this sampler. I hadn’t thought of that connection until just now. Funny.

This is the third or fourth time I’ve worked with Splendor silks by Rainbow Gallery (colors: S1038, S1039, and S1040). I’m using the lightest brown and darkest brown for the geometric motifs and the medium (S1039) for the lettering of the alphabet. So far I give them a positive review. The strands divide easily, but not too easily, and even though silk can be notoriously fragile, these strands hold up very well in spite of the fact that I like to use relatively long lengths of floss while stitching. To me, time spent rethreading the needle is time lost.

I Like Mikes

July 1, 2007April 18, 2011 Kate1 Comment

I went to see Michael Moore’s new movie, Sicko, this morning and, as is my wont, I brought along some knitting to do. Yes, I knit. At the movies. In the dark. Yes. All the time.

Anyone else knit at the movies? People are usually pretty incredulous when I tell them, but I know I can’t be the only one.

My roommate’s niece is a big fan of the Monkees (weren’t we all at sixteen?) and wants me to make her a Mike Nesmith hat like the one he’s wearing the the photo above (he’s the guy on the right in the pink shirt and, yes, the green wool hat). Here’s a better picture:

Before I started doing internet research on Michael Nesmith, I knew precisely three things about him:

1. He was the tall guy in the Monkees who wore the green wool hat.

2. He had a reputation for being the “serious” Monkee, the one with real musical talent and training.

3. His mother invented Liquid Paper.

I always suspected that the third factoid was a little suspicious, of the “Mikey died from eating Pop Rocks and Pepsi” variety of celebrity stories. But it turns out to be true!

As a semi-professional knitter who has learned the hard way the importance of gauge swatches, I had already done two (in stockinette and 1-by-1 rib stitch) and so it was just a matter of figuring out the right number of stitches and making sure that number was divisible by four so I could have four decreases at the top. I used good ol’ Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in color #300506 (a beautiful forest green) and knitted with two strands held together on size 11 needles.

Here’s my progress so far (completed entirely during the previews and running time of Sicko):

{sorry! this photo’s link was lost during the transition

over from Typepad. Lost, forever lost!}

When I finish, I’ll include the pattern with my free patterns, so all you Monkees fans can enjoy. Wear your hats proudly in public even though you get the funniest looks from everyone you meet. And, please, send me your photos!

Update 07/29/07: my free pattern for the Michael Nesmith hat is now available here.