Intarsia knitting: Kitty love hat is finished

My daughter’s thrilled that I finished knitting her cute kitty hat.

The beauty of making your own garments, is that they can be customized. My daughter has thick curly hair. Several times, while knitting this hat,  I called her over and placed it on her head. By doing this, I was able to gauge how many rows I needed and when I needed to decrease. Which is awesome, not so awesome for someone looking for a pattern… since like my cooking, I rarely write anything down when making my own patterns. I just ‘know’ what will work. And if I’m wrong, I can frog and redo to make it right.

My daughter decided she didn’t want any additional designs added to the hat. She just wanted me to add another stripe, but a different color.

That was a request I could easily fill. The yarn she chose was Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer – Carnation yarn. I purchased this yarn during the Knit Picks Cyber Monday sale, and bought it exclusively for her. There’s silver thread woven throughout this yarn, so it adds subtle glitter to any of your crocheted or knitted projects.

The majority of this hat was knitted using superwash wool (meaning they can be tossed into the washer and dryer) but the grey and white wool aren’t.  But you know, I most likely will hand wash this hat instead of tossing it into the washer and dryer. What’s funny is that, I had every intention of hand washing the completed hat yesterday. I wash all items after they’ve been crocheted or knitted. My daughter was against it since she didn’t think it would be dry by the time she went to school today. I guess I can wait until she arrives from school. 😉

Fun with Intarsia – It’s all in the (yarn) wrapping

I really enjoyed knitting this small intarsia/picture knitting project, I’m trying to move to more complicated designs (again.) I miss doing them, but it isn’t always easy to do.  My daughter  loves hanging around me; and I like being around her too. She gets most of my attention when we’re together which is perfect for a mindless project, but not great for something complicated.

During her free time she’ll usually seek me out while she plays or reads. I welcome the time together, but if working on a craft I make sure it’s simple since she loves to talk and I don’t want to get thrown off by working on something complicated.To solve that, I’ve started working on complicated projects while she’s sleeping.

Yesterday my daughter used her artistic talent to sketch out a design onto graph paper, eventually I’ll be applying that design to a garment that I knit for her. She doesn’t know that part, but I imagine she suspects that will happen since she knows me well. I know she’ll be excited that some of her artwork will be knitted into a garment just for her.

Intarsia can be overwhelming (for some) since each design requires a separate ball of yarn (as shown in the above video.) But after you get used to keeping those balls organized, you realize that it’s  not really hard. It’s a process and once you learn what needs to be done, you’ll be fine. While some find weaving the ends of all the different colors annoying, it’s something I enjoy. 🙂