Yay for finishing things! even things in unsavory yarns...

I have that same sweater of shame stuffed in a closet somewhere! Though the hat does look very cute on the wee one.

Awwww! The hat looks so cute!

So cute. I tend to forget why I dislike yarn myself. Hooray for finishing!!!

That is too cute! Thanks for the warning about summer tweed...

That's such a cute hat. I know what you mean about Summer Tweed. I've discovered a pattern that, I think, perfect for the 'qualities' that it has. http://www.yarnware.com/web/yarnware/Yarnware.nsf/PatternLookup/PNOJE3Tithe?OpenDocument

This is a Noro pattern, 'Tithe' and it is unstructured with no ribbing. It's the only kind of patttern that I'd use for Summer Tweed.

Hope you and Baby L are keeping well,
India

The hat looks so cute. I share the same feeling for Rowan summer tweed. I liked it at first sight, the color,the tweed aspect, but I hate working with it. I frogged a few things because the gauge was always off. I don't like the patterns designed by Rowan for the yarn (my opinion!) the feel is so stiff and if you try bigger needles...so limpy. I finally decided for a boring cardigan, the back is finished ...the rest is waiting to be done...Any suggestion for a fun pattern with that kind of yarn? There must be something that would work for it, or then maybe not?

Yes, that yarn also drives me up the wall. Dry is the perfect way to describe it. It's one of those yarns that makes you understand why someone would have a thing against cotton and/or silk. Well done for not only knitting a hat out of it, but knitting it more than once! I think the cuteness is worth it.

I'll happily take some Summer Tweed off of someone's hands (not that I've tried it, so who knows, maybe I'd dislike it as much as everyone else seems to).

It is funny that you write about disliking summer tweed, I dislike it too - I knit a sweater for my youngest and the knitting was laborious. To add insult to injury the little thing suffered two holes in its short life, calling for emergency darning. The yarn is not friendly, but when I saw your hat and the siren song of that luscious color. It must be some sort of yarn voodoo that Rowan uses.

The hat and the baby both look edible. What beauties! Congrats on finishing.

Adorable hat! At least you only had to spend a short amount of time with the offensive yarn this time. I'll have to remember to avoid it, heh.

And that is why you should have a knitting journal, if you don't already have one. You can write down your "note to self"! I have to, since I have a very short memory....

Yay for an FO anyway :D

Great job! :) The hat looks cute, but is nothing compared to your little L. :)

She looks absolutely adorable in that hat. Surely to see her that cute was worth the sacrifice of working with a not so favourite yarn?

You are so right about the Summer Tweed. I knit a whole sweater in dark gray ST and hated every stitch! My hands would get so tired with it. Luckily the sweater came out great but I'll be happy to never knit with it again!

awww its perfect!
She is soo adorable!

i use ST a lot, and it really softens up a lot, but my problem with it is i can't get it small enough. I knit loosely anyway, but i have knit sweaters over twice to get the thing down to size and i'm thinking about ripping the most recent version out and going down yet another needle size even though I finished it last winter and have worn it several times. i get gauge, but it seems the thing springs up several stitches after it's finished, i don't know. they're always huge. but i thought it was the rowan st patterns, not the yarn...

The good news is that Summer Tweed *does* soften up when you wash it...but it is true that some colorways are a bit stiffer to the touch right out of the skein! I wonder if bathing the skeins before winding them into cakes would do any good?

That hat is too cute! And your baby is sooooo sweet, you're so lucky.

Sockpalooooza Nooooza ? Any chance of getting our sockpal's name soon ? I'm leaving for Europe on Tuesday and would love to contact my pal before I go.
Thanks so much for organizing this fun exchange once more,
Regina

so cute and beautiful and the colour is nice for the baby.

I agree about the Summer Tweed, and I have the same reaction to Silky Wool. But, I discovered that either one is great knit together with a laceweight mohair/silk blend like Madil Kid Seta or Kidsilk Haze. I got the idea from the Cactus Flower sweater in the Fall 06 Knitty. The dry, kind of scratchy wool/silk knit together with the very fine mohair/silk makes a wonderful fabric that is much nicer than either one alone. Plus the possibilities for combining colors to get something unique are a lot of fun. I've made two sweaters with this combo, although I have yet to make the original Cactus Flower sweater. I prefer using the Kid Seta to KSH, since it costs a little less, especially from Little Knits.

Awwwwwwwwwww

very cute hat! Row gaug is evil and must be stopped. Just tell me how many inches to knit for, not how many rows.

That hat is so cute and wee one is filling out so nice she is such a doll!!

Hat is lovely. As is bub. I've always lusted after ST - such great colours and I like the tweedy texture - mmmmm, never used it, maybe I never will now. Good discussion btw your post and the comment of others. Also liked the idea that someone had that Rowan uses yarn voodoo - too true!

I'm with you on the yarn - love the look (your daughter's hat is adorable) hate the yarn. I just finished a hat using it and toward the end I felt like I was prying the stitches off the needle. Not fun.

It is adorable. I love it.

awwww! what a sweet little bunkin!

oh. nice hat, too :)