cosymakes

Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet

cosymakes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:36:07 +0000

this is a whopper of a festival this year… friday, saturday, and sunday. i’ll be there along with the 150 new skeins i’ve dyed up… and the baby. here’s a sneak peek.

hope to see you there!

jeremiah’s very warm hat

cosymakes — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:37:18 +0000

elizabeth zimmermann pattern from the opinionated knitter. every year i challenge myself to make an even warmer hat for jeremiah. he’s a great person to knit for. he wears whatever i make him and currently has a hat for most temperatures in fairbanks. but 40 below, that’s a hard one.

so here’s an attempt. side one – colorwork. the orange is autumn house farms 50% wool/50% alpaca, dark blue is my hand dyed lamb’s pride, and lighter blue is snapdragon worsted.

side two – stripes. same blues as above and some commercial wool (maybe cascade 220?).

ben claims that this hat is super duper warm and, when you think about it, it should be. bulky yarns are warm because they only need to be loosely spun to be yarn and that leaves a lot of room for air in the yarn. this hat is warm because it’s a double layered hat with space in between the layers for air. i wonder if this style of hat would be warmer than a bulky hat? also, it has a bit of alpaca and mohair in it, so that helps. raveled here.

p.s. here’s this month’s newsletter!

jayne hat

cosymakes — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:12:54 +0000

ben’s eldest brother requested a jayne hat a while ago. i thought a while about how to make this, since animal fibers (all except qiviut) make him itchy. the yarn i decided on was blue sky worsted organic cotton. it is seriously yummy and some of the only cotton i want to knit with. also, it has an extensive pallet of colors to choose from.

the only really lame part about this is the pompom. cotton pompoms, not so good. but i guess the pompom on the original was a bit lame also ;) it just requires some fluffing.

i didn’t use a pattern for my version, just looked at the pictures and went for it. besides the original is bulky and this is aranish weight. now, of course, ben wants one too. i think i’ll do his out of lamb’s pride bulky. but in the meantime, this xmas gift is on its way! raveled here.

fairbanks hat

cosymakes — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:51:26 +0000

i’ve been asked many times to see this hat on a head… but i didn’t have one to model it until now! here are my attempts of a good photo of it. it probably would have fit him better had i used a true worsted rather than aran weight, but ah well.

i still love it and he wears it all the time. i hope this shows adequately enough how it fits and how adorably pointy it is!

speaking of hat fit, i’ve seen for myself now how different hat shapes look on different shaped heads on mostly bald babes. the difference in head shapes is amazing and totally effects how different hats look on them. malachi has a wide head and two of our girl babe friends have heads that are shaped more front to back. malachi looks great in square hats, but the girls look a bit silly. and in adults, i’ve noted it on folks who tried on hats at my craft fair booths… and there are all of those folks who say they look horrible in hats. i stand by that they haven’t tried on enough styles. for instance, i look very bad in basic fitted round hats. but that doesn’t limit me ;)

my version is raveled here.

orange crush

cosymakes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:08:56 +0000

i still take selective commissions over here at cosymakes. this one goes to a very special family. the gentleman has bought numerous hats from me over the years. his first was from my very first handmade arcade here in pittsburgh, then he moved away and continued to buy.

mama version – raveled here

baby version – raveled here

so when he and his wife recently had their first baby, he requested a matchingish mom/baby duo – round hats with an orange base. i also made the baby one so it can roll up for the rest of this winter, and roll down and fit better for next winter. having just had a baby myself, how could i refuse!

the color is a recent falkland fiber club colorway with an tiny bit of a couple extra colors spun in. the charcoal brim is some commercial wool and the embroidery is recycled sweater wool/angora. the baby hat also has hand dyed recycled sweater yarn stripes and commercial wool stripes.

here’s an out-take of malachi and i modeling them when i had the first idea down, without the thicker swirls and snowflakes. not the most attractive picture, but it’s in focus! and he looks cute ;)

baby hats!

cosymakes — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:03:23 +0000

well, i’ve decided to spread the love! i’m going to give away all of the hats… including the two i accidentally included that are the larger size (6-18 mo. whoops!). i’ll email everyone and let them pick which they would like, so it may be a bit of a process, but you’ll be hearing from me! i loved hearing about who you all would wrap in woolie love. so sweet. it also makes me sad i can’t give all of you baby hats.

because it needed a picture! this hat also never sold, but it was destined for my little beanling

12 – angela
2 – stephanie
3 – robin
15 – beth
4 – rachel
11 – ashley
6 – sarah

i’m also going to run another giveaway, but am not ready for it yet today. so you’ll have to wait until i get the studio cleaned up a bit more and find some stuff i want to clean out.

bonnet winner and baby hat giveaway

cosymakes — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:04:28 +0000

first, the winner of the bonnet is… number 16! annie :) i’ll be in touch about how to claim this prize.

second, today is the last day to get in on the falkland fiber club!

and lastly, this week i’m giving away 3 baby hats to 3 different people. each of these hats should fit somewhere in the 0-6 month range. all are one-of-a-kind and made with hand dyed, handspun, recycled sweater, hand dyed and/or commerical yarn.

in order to enter this one, you need to comment on this post, letting me know who the hat you get would be for. as always, get your comments in before friday at 8 pm eastern time and i’ll announce the winner next monday… along with another giveaway. the first person drawn gets first pick of the hats.

falkland fiber club feature

cosymakes — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:17:11 +0000

or, rather, featuring Amy and her amazing spinning and knitting! amy has finished a lot of projects from my fiber club and i love watching them come about… especially since i don’t have time to spin and knit every colorway myself!

go see her ravelry pattern page for much much more lovely knit handspun. so inspiring. and note that she is super organized and has pics of the fiber and the handspun usually! i love that.

p.s. and speaking of, there are still 3 slots in the falkland fiber club left! they’ll be up until monday if you want to nab one.

bonnet giveaway!

cosymakes — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:32:47 +0000

another reminder about falkland fiber club. only 6 more days to grab a slot here.

today i would like to give away a handspun bonnet. if your number is drawn, you’ll have your choice of one of these three.

emma

art deco

kentucky bluegrass

being that these are all garter stitch, in order to enter you must comment and tell me what you like about garter stitch. even if you hate it, it has got to be good for something! :) plus i love it, so humor me. oh! and if you’re not a knitter and know nothing about this garter stitch of which i speak, feel free to lavish praises upon the bonnet of your choice for a chance to win.

get your comments in before friday at 8 pm eastern time and i’ll announce the winner next monday… along with another giveaway.

celestine in action

cosymakes — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:05:27 +0000

first of all, don’t forget about the falkland fiber club openings!

and second… here he is with his celestine, smirking :)