Yarn Along 2016.10: Simply Complicated

It's another Yarn Along Wednesday!  We are having mild weather at this little place here today--temperature near sixty degrees, south wind, moderate humidity.  Rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  I'm joining Ginny to see what everyone is knitting and reading this week.

I have gotten quite a lot done on DS1's gigantic sock in the past week.  I wasn't sure that the normal 7" leg on the vanilla latte pattern would come up very far on someone who stands 6'3" tall, so I added an extra inch or so to it before starting the heel.  I am definitely glad I chose this pattern for his socks, as it knits up super quick.  Being all the way through the leg, heel, and gusset decreases, I am no longer so intimidated by the idea of knitting men's size 13 socks.  :o)  And the size 1.5 needle (2.5mm) is definitely the way to go with this yarn in order to produce the stripes.  So far so awesome, lol.

DH finally printed off the instructions for my Dressage Hat, so I got started on that Monday night. It begins with a technique I did not know--Latvian braid--but I was able to find several you tube videos of how to cast on and the written instructions on the hat pattern are pretty straight forward.  So I'm happy to say I learned a new thing, and that I have fallen in love with it.  The having to keep two different yarns straight in my fingers at all times doesn't bother me in the slightest.  It's sort of complicated, but in a way that was simple for me to learn. My brain grabbed on to the concept immediately.  And it goes right along with the whole dressage riding thing anyway. . . complicated yet simple, simple yet complicated, and what everyone who looks on the finished produce sees is beautiful elegance.  So, yeah.  Lovin' it.

watching you tube and learning the braided cast on

one row of Latvian braid complete

two rows of Latvian braid complete--I'm loving how this looks

I have moved on to the body of the hat now, switching needles up from the size 3 you work the braid in, to size 4 for most of the rest of the hat.  I am working the letter chart, and it is really cool watching the letters 'magically' begin to appear the more rows I work.

letters beginning to appear

So, there you have it: my knitting for the past week.