Just Keep Knitting, Knitting, Knitting

My hands were literally aching from working on the CEY Zest ruffle scarf. I had to put it aside. Not sure when I’ll feel like picking it up again. I was thinking that it would take me on average about 20 minutes to do each ruffle (like it did for the third ruffle), but once I got to the fourth, progressively larger ruffle, it took me almost twice that amount of time and my hands were feeling cramped and achy. I’m also thinking that maybe I should have gone up a needle size or two for the ruffles. They look awfully tight. I think a bigger needle size may have loosened them up a bit. Oh well, knit and learn.

After I put the ruffle scarf to the side, I decided to work on a quick little weekend project—the Ruckle hat from the Fall 2011 issue of Knit Circus. I love this hat. Super cute and easy to knit. I’ll admit to having a bit of trouble on that first tuck stitch row because I couldn’t see clearly which stitches I was supposed to pick up. Apparently my eyes were playing tricks on me. After a couple of tries, I decided to just use removable markers to mark off ahead of time which stitches I needed to tuck. Worked like a charm.

I have a big head with lots of thick hair, which usually means I need to knit the largest size for hats, but I didn’t want to go with the large size this time since I know the hat will stretch. It fits well and once it does start to stretch a bit, I know it will be a little slouchier, which is a good thing.

I started to work on a matching scarf (of my own pattern) using the same tuck stitch technique, but the stockinette may be rolling just a little too much. I think I’ll knit it a little while longer and then make an assessment as to whether or not I want to continue. The one thing that dawned on me with the scarf is that I believe I will have to make it in two pieces in order to have the tucks going in the right direction. I still need to play around with the design.

As I work through that, I’m thinking of starting on the Shadow Tuque hat from the Fall 2011 Interweave Knits issue. Looks like an easy one or two day project. I purchased the CEY Toboggan yarn and it feels divine.