What the crap?!?

Hi everyone.

I'm still here and, for now, the stupid modem is still working. I've been meaning to update with all sorts of stuff....but the second I log on, the DSL connection would fail. Grrrr...Seeing how we've already established that I have a healthy amount of rage going on, it took everything I had to keep from ripping the wires out of the little modem box and flinging it across the room. When you see Chuck, please help me by asking him if we received our new modem yet. I've nagged him daily to contact AT&T and complain; apparently, that's what he did when the internet went down while I was away in January. AT&T did something or other and it worked afterwards with no interruptions. Maybe the trick is that I need to go back on the road for him to have to get irritated enough with this on his own to do something about it. Hmmmmm.........

Anyhow, I'll kick off with a gallery of the finished chemo caps that were donated at last weekend's Knit Michigan event. (Note that all of these hats were knit with Berroco Comfort in weights ranging from chunky to DK, as noted.)

1. The chemo turban: (worsted weight) This was the project that was supposed to be 40" of 4x4 ribbing. I nearly quit this project because I found it to be excruciatingly boring. Just when I couldn't wait to be done knitting the main body, I found that I blew right by 40" and had 42". Of course, I was too lazy to rip out the extra 2", so just left it and finished with the pattern grafting. For Knit Michigan, I made laminated cards that were then attached to the hat so that whomever was to receive it could know the proper way to put it on, since that involved folding the piece over itself.
   
   
   
2. The off-balance beanie: (worsted weight) This was a very quick and easyily knit hat. It was very nice looking when finished and blocked. The only hiccup was that I unintentionally knit the hat in the round, when the directions were written in the flat. This resulted in the hat "leaning" in the opposite direction from the original intent on the pattern. I was much happier to have not had to sew a seam, so it all worked out in the end.
   
   
   
   
   
3. The Lotus hat: (DK weight) This hat knit up a little small in length, so I ended up increasing the number of cable repeats quite a bit -- from 3 to 8. My favorite part of this hat, though, had to have been the decreases for the crown. I love it when everything works out like this where the effect is quite stunning to see in person. Hopefully, the photo will give you a good idea of how neat it looks, but it really doesn't quite capture that effect fully.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. The Wavy Cable Lace hat: (DK weight) This was a fun and very quick little hat. I had no problems with it or the yarn, so don't really have much to report. I'm might make this hat again for a future chemo cap.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. "Ann's Hat": (chunky weight) I made the Adult medium size of this hat. While reading through the pattern, I noticed that the Child/Adult small and Adult large sizes called for casting on with an odd number of stitches (the Adult medium was an even number). This pattern is done in an every other row rib, so I’d think that there would be a traveling stitch up the back if an odd number of stitches were indeed used….So, if knitting either of those sizes, you might consider increasing/decreasing by one then adjusting back to the original cast on number in the purl row before decreasing for the crown of the hat. Other than that, this was another very quick knit. The funnest part of the hat had to have been working the flower, which involved knitting in the front and back of the casted on stitches. I've never done a flower this way before and found it to be a pretty easy way to work one.

Well, I have a ton more stuff to say, but this is a very good start after being muted for so long. I'm off to get ready to meet Sarah for coffee at a new shop that's opened up where Cappuccino Cafe used to be....