Sunday, March 13, 2011

Stella Pixie Hat

I haven't been knitting in ages. When Ashley's baptism was coming up, I immediately jumped at the idea of knitting her a hat. I knew it was going to be this hat, the Stella Pixie Hat (if you google it I am sure you will find it). It is just so cute with the little point at the top of the had. I slightly modified it with strings and tassels instead of a band and a button. Here you can see Monkey and Nunni modeling the hats. You'll notice there are two. Well, Ashley's cousin was baptised too and I couldn't let him get jealous now, could I?Here is the side view of the hats. This was a fun knit. I recommend it for all!
In other news, I made it to my second goal. I am now officially at my heaviest pre-baby weight. Seems a funny goal, but now all the numbers on the scale are familiar territory. To celebrate this, I ran 7 miles! Yup, you heard me right. I took my great new watch outside and ran. It was a really nice run, but my watch died at the end and it started to get cold. It was a funny feeling, my core was the perfect temperature, my head was hot and my hands were freezing! During this run I ran at a heart rate in the 170's. Even though this sounds high, I think my body is supposed to run at that. According to a lot of this on-line info, this would be the all-out sprinting heart rate, but it must not be for me because I wasn't breathing very hard, and, um, I ran 7 miles! How could I sprint 7 miles. I'm having fun experimenting with my watch and learning what different paces and heart rates feel like. It almost makes running like a video game. Almost.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello there,

My name is Menaka and I am expecting a baby in November; I am knitting the stella pixie hat for her ( I have 2 boys and I'm hoping the third one would be a girl:P) but I'm stuck. I followed the following pattern at first:

http://www.allcrafts.net/fjs.htm?url=www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/baby_pixiehat.html

Then I came across this one when I was doing some research:

http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/patterns/pixie.shtml

According to the 2nd link, I ought to use kitchener stitch and I believe I know how to do it (thanks youtube) but here's my problem. In this link (http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2009/how-tuesday-make-a-stella-pixie-hat/) the instruction states that "Rows 19-64 (70): Continue until 2 sts remain in the 2×2 Rib in the center of the hat". Now I have knitted up until this part and the instruction says "Transfer first 49 (53) sts to spare needle, with point facing towards center of work. Using Kitchener Stitch (see Special Techniques, page 158), graft sts together, beginning at center of work". I divided equal number of stitches into an extra needle but when I brought the 2 needles to join the sts, I realised that my working yarn is on the far end, not in the middle.

I don't know if I make sense but I could take pictures and email them to you. I really love the pattern and if possible I don't really want to knit a different hat. This one is just so cute:)

Could you please advice? Thank you.

Menaka

Henry said...

Menaka,

I'm excited that you found my blog. I love the Stella Pixie had and have made 4. Also, congratulations on baby number 3.

I think I understand your problem and thinking back to all the hats I have made, I think I had the same issue. I must have not read the instructions very carefully because I didn't even sense it was wrong. I started with the edges of the hat and used the kitchener stitch to stitch up toward the middle. Then I wove in the end that was left on the tip of the hat. I think either way (working it from the middle or from the outside of the hat) will produce the same effect.

So my advice is just take the string and stitch it toward the middle. Once you do that it really starts looking like the cute hat it is.

Hope that helps.
-Laura