Easiest stocking hat

The finished hat has 56 grams of yarn in it, nearly a whole ball.

I loosely based the hat on this pattern https://web.archive.org/web/20100910120425/http://knitone.biz/pdf/chemocappattern.pdf , but I started with 80 stitches, because it made the ribbing easier. When I got to the decreases, I worked them over 8 stitches, with the k2tog coming first, like k2tog, k6 all around, knit a row, k2tog, k5 all around, knit a row. I worked it down to 5 stitches and cinched the top shut.

I had started out with 88 stitches and had completely knit the hat because I had recently made a couple of ladies' lace edged hats that began with 84 stitches. The difference between the two styles is, the lace hats are not meant to stretch to be held in place by the  brim. They just lie atop the head.

After I finished it and discovered how wrong it was, I was going to frog the hat and wind up the yarn in a ball, but it dawned on me that there was no reason to make a ball. So I looped the first hat over my forearm and unraveled it as I re-knit the smaller size. This will definitely be my go-to worsted weight hat, since the pattern is easily memorized. I'm hoping some of the uneven stitches will wash and dry out.

This will go to Sunflower Head Huggers for distribution to a chemo patient.

Best portable yarn management ever.

Next try used Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in the color way "Woods". I like that it has some variation in masculine colors, but not being segmented, the colors don't pool.

Cotton Hat with Spirals

Sally's head is smaller than mine, or possibly smaller than any average adult woman's.

I wanted something to throw on over dirty or just-washed hair that would be cool for the summer. I recently made a couple of hats from a lace-edged chemo hat pattern that uses worsted yarn. The yarn I used is Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton (now discontinued). It is classified as a worsted, but it is fluffier than Lily Sugar and Cream, so it knits looser. I cast on 84 stitches and placed markers every 14 stitches, just like the lace-edged hats using the Lily worsted cotton.

I started out with a seed stitch brim for stability. After 4 rows of seed, I did an eyelet row (k2 tog, YO, k2 tog, etc.) followed by another three rows of seed and a purl row.

Then I worked the hat around doing [K2, {YO, K2tog} 6 times] in each 14-stitch section. The solid K2s give a dense area between each holey section. With the fluffy yarn, the holes aren't very large. With the lumpiness of the yarn, the seed stitch is not very distinct, either.

Because there are dense sections, the spiraling nature of knitting in the round is very obvious, and I kind of liked that.

When I got to the decreases about 5 3/4" above the bottom edge of the brim, I replaced the K2 with K2tog 2 times, and did the usual K2, YO, K2tog to the end of each marked section on the rows in between.

I regretted the eyelet row in the brim almost immediately, but I didn't want to rip it out. It turned out to be useful.

Since the hat is too loose, I crocheted a chain and threaded it through the eyelet holes and tied it in a bow on the inside, snugging up the hat a little bit, and filling in the eyelets. This is the hat inside-out showing the crochet chain and the bow. I'm putting this one in the disaster averted column.

Cable Owl Dishcloth

My darling daughter-in-law loves owls and has them all over her kitchen. I made her promise to use them. It was surprisingly easy. There are three rows that require a twist using a cable needle, and diagonal squares require almost no counting. The yarn is Lily Sugar and Cream in Potpourri. I got both from one large ball. The pattern is free on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/diagonal-owl-dishcloth

The Almost Lost Dishcloth

I whipped up a couple of these to enclose with a birthday gift for a party I didn't know I would be attending. This is a super easy, very satisfying knit. The free pattern is available on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-almost-lost-washcloth 

The Great Booda Hack

EDITED TO UPDATE: I AM SAD TO REPORT THAT NELEA WAS EUTHANIZED ON JULY 6, 2016
https://www.facebook.com/holly.hurley/posts/10207094926517541

The older my sweet Nelea gets, the more I learn. She's 18, so I don't know how much smarter I can get.

She has always been a very faithful user of her litter box. She tends to back up to the very edge, and she would often have her rear hanging over the edge and the pee would end on the outside. She's also a vigorous digger. 

I tried a few high-sided boxes, but the only successful one was the Booda. We have been using it for at least 10 years. 

I got tired of fighting her off while I was in the process of her monthly litter changeout and eventually got the bright idea of two boxes. One to use, one to wash. 

When we moved to our present house, Kent made a kitty door by cutting a hole in the downstairs half bath closet door and made a floor liner by cutting a piece of cheap shower stall siding and gluing a little moulding fence around the edge to contain litter. 

Just a couple of months ago, I realized it's much easier to do the scooping of all the litter if I pull the box flush with the door, instead of practically crawling in the closet. See, slow learner. 

The next thing I learned was that World's Best Cat Litter lives up to its name. I used Swheat Scoop for years. It's cracked wheat, flushable, and biodegradable. When we lived in Joplin and had a yard, I would dump the leftovers around the base of a tree as mulch.

In our apartment in KC, and now in our townhouse, there is no yard, so I double-bag it and put it in the trash.

When Kent was found to have celiac disease, I tried to purge the house of wheat. We like to think the chances of ingesting kitty litter are nonexistent, but it gets tracked pretty much everywhere, so I switched to the corn-based World's Best. It clumps faster, but the clumps are also very fragile, so you can flush it right away. Swheat Scoop recommends 20 minutes of soaking before flushing. 

I do think the wheat gave better odor control than the corn.

Since the only reason to have the Booda is because of its high sides, I popped out the center piece beneath the handle that holds a charcoal filter. The filter does nothing.

Then I cut round holes in the dome. There was already one round place with a grid across it to get air to the filter, so I pulled out the trusty multi tool and cut three more. 

The edges are ugly, but I sanded them enough to avoid sharp spots. Now she has high sides to keep her in the business zone, but the dome won't be able to concentrate odors. When we leave her alone for up to two days on weekend trips, it gets pretty rank, and I have been afraid she would try somewhere else. Now that is much less likely.

Oh yeah, I have only had a long-handled scoop for about a year. Why? I dunno.

Hairy and Sally (Beauty Supply) Hurley Catch Some Rays

Light colored hats don't show up well against their white styrofoam skin, so I turned them loose on the beach. 

One coat Mod Podge to give a smoother surface for the paint.

Three coats of acrylic craft paint.

One coat Mod Podge as a a sealer and to toughen them up.

Like usual, the guy gets the better skin. Sally's pores are so large, I am giving her a backstory of wicked chicken pox when she was just a baby styrofoam head. 

Lace-Edged Chemo Hat BOLD Version

When I posted a link on Facebook to my blog for the cream colored lace edged chemo hat, a friend saw it and requested one in black or bright colors for a friend of hers who is being treated for cancer.

My friend is a beautiful woman with several piercings and sleeve tattoos, and her friend's style is similar. Through some covert investigation and skulduggery, she found out the favored colors would be red and black. I hope the recipient will receive some comfort from wearing it and knowing that our mutual friend wanted her to have something in keeping with her wardrobe preferences.

The pattern is at http://stitcheryprojects.com/2011/04/07/lace-edged-chemo-caps/
This is the top cap on the pattern, the Madeira. I used 25 grams, or 42 yards of the red and 44 grams, or 73 yards of the black. Both yarns are Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Delux. This yarn was great to work with. It's more tightly wound than the regular Handicrafter, so stitch definition is better. It didn't want to split. I washed little lengths of it to make sure it wouldn't bleed, and it didn't

On to other projects now.

Cheers,

Holly Nan

Lace-edged Chemo Cap

This was fun to knit, and it only took a couple of days commuting, once I got the lace done.

The pattern is at http://stitcheryprojects.com/2011/04/07/lace-edged-chemo-caps/
This is the first cap, the Madeira. I used 54 grams, or 86 yards of worsted weight cotton yarn. I hope it will be soft and cool for someone who needs it this summer.

Now to do a couple of plain ones for fellas, and then I'll do the other lace cap, the Scallop Lace.

Cheers,

Holly Nan