Auspicious beginning

This is the beginning of the Eva Hat knitting pattern by Yelena Chen.

This is going to be a chemo cap for my mother-in-law, who is battling cancer. The ribbing portion is shaped like the symbolic ribbons used to draw attention to various causes, and the teal color represents her particular cancer.

If you're knitting one of these for a cancer patient who is near and dear to your heart, you can use yarn in whichever color best symbolizes their particular cancer. The symbolism is subtle, and the hat can work for males or females.

Couldn't wait to try the Fraga Headband free pattern

Like a lot of crafters, I have a form of project ADHD - meaning I usually have several (or lots) of projects in the works at all times. And even though I have a good overall record of completion, that doesn't necessarily mean I won't start another project before finishing what I already have on my needles or hooks.

Anyway, you can see in the photos that I was pretty desperate to start working on the Fraga Headband by Needlework + Seedlings -- I used a set of needle tips WITHOUT a joining cable (because I have more needles than cables!!), and I didn't want to steal a cable from another project in progress. And I didn't want to wait to order more cables. And at a mere 20 stitches wide, the headband is narrow enough that it worked. :-)

Here's a close-up of the braided cable effect:

Cabled long fingerless gloves free pattern

These lovelies are the Pretty Cabled Fingerless Gloves by Wei S. Long -- and this is also my very first knitting project with cables. Yippee! :-)

I used to be very intimidated at the thought of attempting cables, but Wei's pattern made learning the process quite easy. Using the magic loop technique, I worked the arm ribbing in size 7 needles, then switched to the size 5 needles where the cable rows begin in the wrist.

I really love this design. It is so elegant in its simplicity. I will definitely be making more of these.