The color therapist and her current projects

Since I've now become the "Mad Hat Knitter", I have been able to have at least two projects going on at the same time, one in my size 6 circulars and the other in my size 7 circulars, both 16-inch long, ideal for hat knitting, and made of metal, also ideal for acrylic yarn.

So... I usually plan my hat projects around the colors. What I do is choose the bright, warm, stimulating colors ranging from reds to yellows for hats to be knitted during the day, up to early evening. Then I switch to another hat project that's using yarn made of greens to purples/violets, or beige, or black... colors which are either neutral or cool and "depressing," to prepare my energy for ending the day.

I am almost finished with two such pairs: First, is the orange hat I promised to knit for my youngest sis Marie, although she did want it with blue... I'll probably knit her another one, since this is all in orange, as the design, for me, was best done in one color. The orange shade is a muted, more like "bright peach". This one I knitted daytime. I experimented on a rib pattern called the "arrow rib" and will post pattern soon:





Second is my "evening" project, another one from my jumbo ball of variegated yarn featuring green, blue, light yellow and violet. I was able to figure out the best pattern, using stockinette only, that would make the colors "pool" together in interesting combinations. Two "pools" had the light yellow beside the violet in nice contrast:





While another "pool" had the yellow surrounded by green:



Since I've been enjoying the "pooling" patterns produced by the variegated acrylic, using 81-stitch stockinette rows at an exact number of decreases to shape the crown, I might use other variegated yarns.

My ball winder

Queen of Hats

My knitting workstation is chaotic as ever... and I've got hats that are almost done, just need to weave in the ends!

As I continue to focus on hats, which are primarily head-huggers or beanies, i'm mulling the color lines I want to focus on. So far, here's what's come up:

1. Primaries--bright red, green and blue
2. Coed--school colors such as Ateneo blue, La Salle green, UP maroon and dark green
3. Fire and Ice--brilliant colors that can either warm you up or cool you down (a bit of color therapy here!). All brights, jewel tones here
4. Earth Classics--nature-inspired colors including beige and floral shades of lilac, etc. Where the basics and neutrals would fall, e.g. all-black hat, or black-and-white, etc.
5. Trendy Combos--Brights paired with neutrals, etc. and crazy combinations

I even checked the fashion forecasts for this year and next just to get a handle on what might appeal to the "fashionista", since Pinoys generally like being "in" but my decision has been to appeal to a wide range, since I am definitely not a fashionista.

I'm also pondering doing hats in cotton and even tencel... and experimenting with a lot of stockinette-based stitch patterns. Unfortunately, the pattern books give instructions for flat knitting, and not for knitting in the round, requiring some tweaking.

Overall, I'm excited about this new phase. I do still have my shawls in progress, plus the hemp blanket which I've decided will have touches of Green Tea hemp yarn, courtesy of my 3 balls of Elann Canapone. And other stuff...

New project, shush!

I've just agreed to a new project that includes a confidentiality agreement... which means I have to change the way I blog, because even mentioning where I am is not allowed. It's exciting!

What's great about this new project is that I'm gonna have time to knit! And some travel is involved... so there really will be days when i won't be blogging at all... and this probably means more blog posts about knitting.

I probably flatter myself in thinking that there are people, including strangers, who actually read what i write online... and no, they're not hackers or spammers (just got one today, a spam comment in one of my other blogs).

Still... for my dear friends and beloved readers, expect some changes. It'll start with a new theme soon.