What to knit on a plane
I am lucky enough to be able to take off about five days a year to gather with other Personal Chefs around the country. It's all food all the time, but there are times you have to decompress from calorie talk. The plane was my decompression chamber.

Going to Tucson was easy but as most travellers know there must be arrangements made in advance concerning our knitting paraphernalia. I was going to start a project that I found in a recent addition to my fledgling book collection. I was excited to try a new pattern with some newly acquired yarn. I bought new wooden needles to keep from losing my Addi Turbos, but happily nothing was taken away from me and that made me a very happy camper.

I had a goal that I have published here in the past of knitting 100 baby hats this year. I did get 25 or so done already but truly have gotten side tracked with that whole project. So to help myself get motivated to get back on track, I picked this pattern to embark on during my plane ride to Tucson. Oh yeah, and the three and half hour lay over in Dallas-twice. Don't ask....

This photo is from book, Knitted Gifts.

So I cast on right before going on the trip and could barely stop myself for going full guns on the hats. I wanted to just keep going but knowing how long my lay overs were stopped myself. I have to say, that this pattern in incredibly easy and it turns out just the way the picture from the book shows. I couldn't be more pleased. What pleased me even more is that I got two hats done and with no help from anyone. I must be improving! Okay, it was a beginner pattern, but still...

Here are my efforts. They just are so cute. I have no idea who will get them and really it doesn't matter to me. I just had fun making them and I loved the cotton yarn. This is the second project as of late that I have done in cotton. They were both pretty simple but it gave me a feel for it. DH said he likes the cotton washcloths so that's a victory. You have to take them when you get them.


Here is my effort at the baby hat. This is my second venture into knitting with cotton and I have to say that I liked it a lot, but there are two observations I wanted to mention. One, there doesn't seem to be a lot of "give" when knitting with cotton. It's pretty committed to just being what it is. Wool seems to be a little more flexible. Two, it's harder for me to weave in my end and keep them hidden. Cotton unlike wool, doesn't tangle on it self so again hiding the ends in hopes they will blend in is more of a challenge.
I have never done an I cord before and I think it turned out pretty well. Each cord was over 24" so it was pretty boring but thankfully it went quickly!
It's twins! I took two skeins of the 1824 cotton with me and I ended up with two hats one with a cast on of 60 and the other (medium size) with 70 stitches. There isn't a huge difference in the size and I have a small ball of yarn left over. I think that I will cast one the largest one and see how far my little ball and one more skein will go. It's a very quick knit. I did have to purchase size 7 16" circs which will only make my collection more wonderful. I highly recommend this pattern for a quickie baby gift for a larger sized baby. This is not a Preemie hat project but I am going to try the pattern with wool and see how it fares! Happy Cotton Knitting everyone!