Thursdays are for Knitting: Hats for Sailors Send-off

My knitting goal for 2015 was to knit 52 Hats for Sailors.

So what exactly is "Hats for Sailors?"

The Hat for Sailors' mission is to provide deployed Sailors of the US Navy and the Coast Guard with handmade 100% washable wool hats made by loving volunteers from around the world. These beautiful hats are delivered in time for the December holidays, a bit of warm love and thanks to those who unselfishly take time away from their families to serve our Country.

Each year we select one or more ships to receive the hats we've knit that year. In 2014, we knit more than 500 hats! 

Well, I did it!

On Monday, I mailed 55 hats (52 knit by me and 3 by friend CJ) to Sandra to forward to the ship selected to receive hats this year.

I printed a little label on business card stock to attach to each hat. It reads:

Thank you  for your service to our country.

You are remembered and appreciated

by someone in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Here are close-ups of the last few hats I made:

This one is modeled by my friend who just returned from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. Yes, I knit a hat for her, too!

And just in case you're thinking I've used up all my yarn knitting all those hats -- here is the haul I collected on the "Best Little Yarn Crawl in Texas" last month:

If you're a knitter or crocheter, I hope you'll consider making a hat for a Sailor. Go here for the details. If you're on Ravelry, my user name is AuntMarti. You can read the pattern and yarn info on my project page.

Fair winds and following seas, Sailors!




From the desk of your

Thursdays are for Knitting (or starting!)

Summer travel plans are underway.  Hats for Sailors are the perfect knitting to take along!

I don't know about you, but the only part of knitting hats I really need to pay attention to is the cast-on. After that, it's mostly mindless. So I cast on multiple hats and put each in a project bag with the pattern and a second size of needles, if needed.

I do have a few finished hats to share. First, the non-HFS hats.

This one is a "Big Chunky Comfy Hat," a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is Sheep Shop Yarn Company Sheep 2 that I picked up years ago at Knit Knack in Arvada, Colorado. This is a super-speedy knit, perfect for a last-minute gift.

Next is the Skeppa hat, pattern by Sarah Jo Burch Designs and also available on Ravelry. The yarn is Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool. 

I'm up to 25 Hats for Sailors, almost halfway to my goal! All three of these were made using the April HFS knit-along pattern, "Cobblestones" by Susie Gourlay. It's also free on Ravelry. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash paints and Superwash solid. 

Now for the Works in Progress!

HFS #26 is "Barley," from tincanknits. The yarn is ewe ewe Wooly Worsted, color Aquamarine, which I confess has given me fits. Ever have a yarn that just doesn't like you? This is the third or fourth project started with this yarn, prior attempts just haven't worked out. So far, the Barley hat is coming along fine!

HFS #27 is made from a 100% wool sock yarn (thelabelismissing) and the Runner's Watchcap pattern from Chiagu. I'm 99.9% sure this is a machine-washable yarn, but if I can't find the label to be sure, it will go in the "someone will need a hat" bin. 

HFS #28 is the yet-to-be-cast-on Round and Round hat by Jennifer Vancalar. I searched and searched for Holiday Yarns, ordered it online, then found it all over in Texas! The pattern requires two colors, a solid and a space-dyed yarn. I have three skeins so I'll probably make two hats from this pattern. 

HFS #29 deserves a post all on its own! This yarn from The Tinsmith's Wife in Comfort, TX, is yummy! It's High Wire 3-ply, hand-dyed by Yarn Carnival in Austin. This colorway is "Big Bad Wolf," and myohmy, it's a good thing I didn't find it before I bought the yarn for my Featherweight Cardigan! I might decide to make a second cardi using this yummy yarn! BTW, The Tinsmith's Wife is absolutely worth going out of your way to visit! (The pattern is Spralini by Jane Tanner, free on Ravelry and the May HFS KAL.)

My "home" LYS in San Antonio is Inskein Yarns. Shannon and all the knitters at the Tuesday morning knitting group went out of their way to make me feel at home. HFS #30 is being knit with a 100% superwash merino hand-dyed by Jennifer Caswell. The colorway is "Pooh Bear" and the pattern I'm using is "Willow Hat" by Melissa LeBarre (pattern on Ravelry). 

#31 is a yarn that's been in the stash for quite some time. The yarn is Gobelin from Biscotte & Cie, colorway Poisson Tang. I'm using a favorite pattern, "Striped Beanie" by Donny Guercio (another free pattern on Ravelry).

HFS #32 is another yarn from The Tinsmith's Wife. This is Pebble Worsted from Black Trillium Fibers, colorway "10th Doctor" (because who can resist David Tennant?) I using the Rib-A-Roni pattern by Jane Tanner (another freebie on Ravelry).

I can't remember where I bought this Manos del Uruguay yarn, "Clara," for HFS #33. The pattern is Violet Waffles by Halldora J, free (of course!) on Ravelry.  This photo doesn't do justice to the gorgeous blue shades of the "Black Forest" colorway. Oh! I bet I bought it at Table Rock Llamas, intending to knit the Black Forest Fire charity infinity scarf!

Cast-on HFS #34 is my own creation, based on this Hudson's Bay Co. bag I bought in Victoria, BC 10 years ago. I'm using five colors of Cascade 220 Superwash to mimic the stripes of the iconic Hudson's Bay Blanket.

That should keep me busy for a month or so!

From the desk of your

Thursdays are for Knitting (and yarn!)

I'm not sure why, but I have this absolute conviction that I won't be able to find any good wool yarn in Texas! Many people have assured me that is not so, but it hasn't stopped me from buying every new washable wool I find.

The Projects

Before I share my stash enhancement (read: anxiety treatment), let me show off a few finished projects made by dear friends.

First, Friend Emily is studying in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Situated north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole.

Yeah. Cold. The warmest day on the Weather Underground's forecast is Monday, forecast to be just above freezing.

Clever Emily is a knitter, and she knit this hat:

Here is her story:

Maniacal knitting kicked in yesterday and I design and made myself a new hat. It is in the same pattern as these Svalbard sweaters seen/sold on the island. I can't imagine they are traditional though, at least to the island, so I don't know the significance. However, I still like my hat. I'm considering making a full sweater, but I think I might have the same problem as I do with my Icelandic lopi sweater: too warm to wear anywhere but the arctic!

Love your design, Em! And I bet the double yarn makes it a good weight for the "spring" in Svalbard!

Another clever girl is my niece, Lyra. She is a soon-to-be graduate of Franklin Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. And a knitter! 

She made these knitted veggies for me for Christmas. Aren't they fun?

Because I'm ahead on my Hats for Sailors knitting, I made this pretty blue hat out of not-machine-washable yarn. For which I've lost the label. But I seem to remember knitting a cowl from the same yarn. The Pattern is Noro Kureyon One-Ball Wavy Gravy Hat from Iconoclastknit. (whew)

The Yarn

I fell in love with mini skeins of Lorajean's Knitted Wit yarn at Fancy Tiger last winter. I nagged and nagged her via etsy, and she now has the Spring Rainbow colorway in stock. Plus a fun colorway in the same shades as the carpeting in the Portland airport!

My friend and long-arm quilter, Cornelia, found a fun nail polish called "Unicorn Farts." I couldn't find the nail polish, but I did find this yarn of the same name. I made her a drawstring bag to take on an upcoming trip. The only fabric I could find that had a unicorn is "My Little Pony." Close enough?

I made another drawstring bag and knitting kit for my friend Holly, who is deploying to Afghanistan next week with the US Air Force. I'll be acting as "Deployment Mom" for her daughter while Holly is away. The Dishcloth Diva autographed a book to include!

This new colorway of Liberty Wool is called "October." My birth month! So I had to get it, right? And I love the sweater on the cover of the new Liberty Wool book. Both from Ewe and Me here in Colorado Springs.

This kit from Loop is supposed to be for fingerless mitts. But I'm planning to make Hats for Sailors, I just loved the colors!

I've seen so many versions of Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Cardigan on Ravelry lately. And when I saw this gorgeous shade at Ewe Count in Cheyenne, well . . . you know what happened! This yarn really more aqua than it appears in the photo. It's so hard to get true colors with indoor photography.

On my way to Cheyenne last month, I stopped off in Mitchell, NE at the Brown Sheep wool mill (hey, it's sort of on the way!) I scored a huge bag of yarn "seconds" for only $60. To the Brown Sheep people, "seconds" means the color doesn't quite match their color cards. The yarn is perfect!

And of course, the Loopy Ewe is right on my way home! Both of these are new-to-me yarns,  and the colors, oh my!

Do you think I'll have enough yarn to keep my happy for six months in Texas?


From the desk of your

Thursdays are for Knitting

And knitting is for Hats for Sailors. My goal this year is to knit 52 Hats for Sailors.  I've finished 16!

Here are my most recent HFS finishes. Details are on Ravelry (it's free!) at my project page. My Ravelry name is (of course!) AuntMarti.

52 Quilts is sponsoring a yarn giveaway for knitters who finish a hat during February. Go to Ravelry.com and join the Hats for Sailors group for details. 


From the desk of your