Finished Object: VERY EXCITING FINISHED OBJECTS!!!

I just finished the second in a series (currently there are only 3 designs, but that’s just because I haven’t created the 4th one I have planned) of Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire inspired sigil hats!

They look like this!





I completed the Stark hat on Monday (this is the aforementioned hat that I knit on a US5 instead of a US3…it’s comically large and was almost a bit tragic, but I think it's all going to work out) and yesterday I did the final seaming on the Lannister hat. Next up (the yarn came this morning as I was on my way out the door and I didn’t have time to snuggle it) will be a Targaryen hat and then Night’s Watch. Potentially I will also create a Greyjoy hat and maybe Tully or Martell (probably Martell, given the content of the upcoming season of the show). All the hats are created with a base of Knit Picks Palette and the sigils are done in this AMAZING yarn that Knit Picks stopped making (but I snapped up all of it that I could and still look for the sales on Ravelry) called Imagination Hand Painted. It’s a fingering weight and has the most amazing tonality. It’s this yarn that inspired the sigil projects in the first place. I saw what they referred to as the “Castle Walls” colourway and thought to myself that I needed to find a fantasy theme to use it for. The more I thought about it and the “Treasure” colourway, the more I realised they needed to turn into Game of Thrones somethings. This yarn is BEAUTIFUL and the variegations are coming through wonderfully and I am in absolute love and I hope you all like them, too!

I have hopes that they can turn into things besides hats, but for now I want to make a bunch of hats before the premiere of season 4.

I’ll keep you updated on how things are going, and I’ll get them listed on my commissions page as soon as I’m ready to say these are good to go.

WIP: Exciting New Projects

If you read a few of my posts a few weeks ago while I was on hiatus from the sport weight 4th Doctor scarf, you may have heard me allude to a new exciting project.

Well, it’s done enough that I can share it with you!

Inspired by my recent Frostfangs hat, the AMAZING Knit Picks Imagination Hand Painted Fingering Yarn in all manner of colourways with exciting fantasy names (Castle Walls, Ruby Slippers, Treasure), and my supreme love of all things A Song of Ice And Fire, I have created…..

Game of Thrones House Sigil Hats!

I got the pattern drafting done a few weeks ago for the Stark, Lannister, and Targaryen sigils (I plan on making the set of patterns available for purchase as soon as I’ve knitted up a hat for each of them just to make sure the pattern is right), and I was waiting to finish both the Frostfangs Hat and the 4th Doctor scarf before I got started. The background yarn (MC) is Knit Picks Palette since I had such fun working with it in the Frostfangs hat and since I knew the weights and gauge would match up well. Plus, it’s great for colourwork, and even though these are knit in intarsia and not stranded, I thought the Palette would be the best choice just because of colours and yarn weight matching. Plus, you all should know by now how much I love Knit Picks. I began with the Stark hat (since I always begin with the Starks, and since it’s winter, and since I had a skein of Palette in Ash that was just sitting around). The ribbing takes forever, as it did with the Frostfangs hat, but at least I opted not to do the extra 40 rows of stockinette as a liner on this hat. I may need to line it with fleece or something just to keep them warm enough, though for anyone who doesn’t live in the frigid north like myself, these will probably be okay, as the Palette is a 100% wool yarn and the Imagination is mostly wool with a bit of nylon, just like the Chroma. I will evaluate that later. I learned the hard way that I have to work the piece flat and then seam it, since I hear rumours that there are ways to work intarsia in the round, but I am unable to captivate the mystical energies that allow this to work out. I’m working on size 3 circulars with a CO of 180 stitches. I marked of 61 on each side and have the pattern centered with the remaining 58 stitches. The Imagination yarn (that statement never stops being funny to me) I chose for the Stark sigil is the “Castle Walls” colourway. Unfortunately, Knit Picks is clearing out this yarn and all you can get is the "Treasure" colourway at this time. It’s absolutely beautiful and from the moment I saw it I knew it needed to become the direwolf symbol of House Stark.

Over the weekend, I completed the sigil portion of the hat and I wanted to share the photo with you. I think it turned out well, especially for something I drafted myself, and I hope to make some gloves and possibly scarves (though, scarves in Palette will take me about 40 years, so I’ll either have to find some comparable yarns in worsted or sport/DK weight to work with or just not make scarves). I also plan to make these hats for some of the other houses. It’s my hope that I can have several completed in time for the Game of Thrones season 4 premiere coming up at the end of April, but 5 rows of the sigil (10 rows of the straight stockinette) take me about an hour. I’ve completed the ribbing and 51 rows (up to the decrease) thus far, and I’m 15 hours in. It’s not quite shaking out to be the almost 40 hour investment that the Frostfangs hat was, but my confidence that I’ll be able to just knock out 15 - 20 hats in the next month and a half (especially with a lot of RL business going on) is starting to dwindle.

For now, I leave you with some photos of the sigil. I hope you can get a sense of the gorgeousness of the Imagination yarn (still laughing) from these.




Remember, if you want one, or if you think you want to purchase the pattern at a later date, please check my Etsy store, my commissions page, and my Ravelry page in a few months and you should be able to place an order.

Pattern Drafting OR I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS NEXT PROJECT WHY CAN'T I JUST BE DONE WITH THOSE SCARVES?!?!

Since I needed to take a break from knitting today (because me trying to make up lost time on 4th Doctor Scarf #2 — more on that saga later— caused me to physically injure myself, and because I’ve pretty much had it up to here —insert your own hand marking graphic here— with these scarves right now), I took some time to get myself set up for my next exciting project.

As soon as I finish this scarf and then I finish the Frostfangs hat I started in interim, my next project  will be Game of Thrones related, and I needed to turn the house sigils into intarsia patterns. So today, while I was *not* knitting, I took an hour and a half, made a grid, and made three of the patterns I need. Now if only I could get these other projects to knit themselves so I could actually move on to these VERY EXCITING PROJECTS THAT I WANT TO MAKE SO VERY BADLY.