NaNoBlogMo 17 - Jackyll & Hide

I have this rule when it comes to making things for people. I don't mind making something odd, ridiculous or otherwise out-there, as long as you promise to actually wear it. I don't want to take the time to make something, especially a specially requested item, and then have it just sit collecting dust somewhere. One of the weirdest things I remember making was a scarf made entirely out of large pom-poms, but as long as it's getting use, I'm happy.

That being said, I have come across a few things in my looking at knitted goods or traversing around knitting blogs/websites that have peaked my interest, but seemed impractical to actually make. As amusing and fun as I'm sure it would be to knit a wig, or a pair of musk ox slippers or a...uh...womb...who do I know that would actually use/wear these things often enough to be worth it? The "Jackyll & Hide" pattern was one of those things that I saw and wanted to make, but didn't think I ever would.

Meet my friend Sarah (on the right). She was my coworker and one of my absolute favorite people to hang out with while I was living in Shanghai. We went out drinking at our favorite skanky dive bar (Windows). We took turns cooking for each other. We watched movies and drank tea/hot chocolate late into the night. One of the things I missed most when I moved back to the USA was no longer having Sarah living right down the hall from me. Luckily, she was able to visit for two weeks earlier this year and we continue to stay in touch. I've been told that I'm invited to her wedding, which on top of being awesome in and of itself, would be a great excuse to actually go to England for the first time ever.

I forget how it actually came up, but somehow we were looking at the knitting website Knitty together and the Jackyll and Hide pattern came up. I mentioned how I thought it was a fantastic idea, but I would never wear it and didn't know if anyone would if I made it. She enthusiastically responded that if I made it...she would wear it.

Together we picked out some yarn. Since it was going to end up being right on her face, I wanted to make sure she liked whatever yarn I ended up using. This is one of very few times when I used a pattern and as an even rarer occurrence I actually followed the pattern. Learning from past mistakes I did a gauge swatch and took some measuresments before I even cast on the first stitch. Usually with a hat you only need one measurement...head circumference. You can take a second measurement for length if you want. For this project there were a lot of things I needed; circumference being the most straightforward.

I measured the distance between the crown of her head and her eyes. The distance from her eyes to her chin. The length of her neck. The size of her eyes. The distance between her eyes. This was definitely another example of how sometimes its best to have the recipient of your gift in the know so they can try it on as you go.

Sewing on the spooky mouth was my favorite part of the whole project. What do you think of the finished project? Its been a while since I made this, but I remember it being surprisingly heavy and warm. You'd probably have to wait for a bonechillingly cold day to actually need or want to wear it. I also seem to remember it being a little tight when she wore it as a skimask. I hope it has either stretched out in time, or that I was just being nitpicky or that I am remembering incorrectly. Either way, Sarah rocks the hat in both looks. Thank you so much for taking these pictures and sending them to me!

I really like making things for people. One of the main reasons is that I hope that whenever someone uses/wears/sees something I made for them it makes them think of me and know that I care about them. It becomes even more important when its a friend I don't get to see as often as I would like, such as Sarah. Miss you, Shanghai Sister.

NaNoBlogMo 3 - Jayne Hat

I am a nerd. Dork. Geek. Weirdo. Whovian. Nerdfighter. Whedonite. Whatever you want to call someone who likes quirky things. And I wear these labels proudly. I am still working on my Pippin scarf, and will post an update of how it looks so far later this month (note: I can't work on it much now because I sure as heck ain't doing colorwork knitting in the dark!).

Celebrating my nerd-pride and continuing my NaNoBlogMo digging into the past, I want to tell you about my Jayne hat. I watched the entire series of "Firefly" in about a week in September 2005. I know this because "Serenity", the movie based off the series, was released on September 30th, 2005, and when my friends discovered late in September that year that I had never seen the show, they vowed to have me watch the entire series before we all went to see the movie on opening night. I really can't tell you how many times I have re-watched the show since then, but I can tell you its a lot. So I have seen the episode "The Message", where Jayne receives a knitted hat from his mother many, many times.
Being both a nerd and a knitter, I thought I could probably recreate that mighty fine and cunning hat. If I remember correctly (damn past me for not keeping a hobby blog!) then I first made a Jayne hat for my dear friend, roommate (at the time), and faithful facebook-wife, Claire for her birthday. She was the one that took my Firefly virginity and sat with me for that week of rushed episode watching. Who better to receive a Jayne hat?

I do remember the hat being a lot of firsts for me. It was my first hat knitted in the round (I had tried an odd method of knitting a weird shape and then sewing it up without much success previously), my first hat with a pom-pom and certainly my first hat with earflaps. This was when I was in my "I'll just look at something and figure out how to knit it, screw patterns!" stage, (who am I kidding...I am still in that stage) so I really just winged it. No swatches to test for gauge, no looking at similar patterns for help, just casting on and hoping. I put on the earflaps with a very scientific method of "trying on the hat and putting markers where my ears are and then picking up some stitches and hoping that when I am done knitting that they are big enough and in the right spots and roughly symmetrical".

With a lot of flying by the seat of my pants, I soon had three Jayne hats. One for Claire, one for her boyfriend and one for me.
I really don't wear my Jayne hat as much as I should. I like the idea that it can serve as a beacon to find other Firefly fans.

Looking back, I am surprised that the hats turned out as well as they did considering how little (comparatively) I knew about knitting and how little planning went into them. It also makes me realize that I haven't knit too many hats. Maybe its time to change that.