MK Carroll

Pattern: Four Corners Headbands
Knitscene Winter 2007

As of August 2010: the pattern is currently available in the free eBook, “How to Crochet Granny Squares with Crochetme“. This does not include the instructions for how to dye the motifs with food coloring.

Pattern with accompanying article on dyeing the motifs with food coloring is available for sale as a PDF download through the Knitting Daily Online Store.

Don’t want to wrap wool around your head? Try the pattern in a lightweight plant fiber, like Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton, Hemp for Knitting allhemp6, or or Hemp for Knitting Hempton.

 Let's just say that Viv stopped by yesterday in the late afternoon, right around the same time I opened a package from misshawklet. I'd been eyeballing one of the Scraptacular skeins in the misshawklet Etsy shop, and finally went ahead and bought it even though I had no plans for it – maybe a Top-Down Ribbed Knit Beanie, a safe fallback for handspun yarn. I've been working on another crochet lace scarf, similar to Anne in that it is worked from end to end and is really quite simple but needs clear instructions, as well as being done up as a sample in Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. Right after I ripped the tape off the box and pulled the flaps back, I reached for my box of crochet hooks and a bag of small yarn oddballs. The yarn has little glints of metallic thread in it, which I'll try to take better photos of – scarf still needs to be washed and blocked too. The randomness of the color changes is part of the fun, but I did snip out about a yard near the end, where it was a mix of dark gray and black and just didn't quite work for me (if that raises your eyebrows – the idea that I'd work up this exuberantly bohemian Crazy Cat Lady scarf and think that a small block of sedate color would be too much – you oughta see some of the paintings I did back in art school). So far I have resisted the urge to add fringe. Viv may revisit the idea after I wash and steam-block this. It is currently quite long and wraps around the neck a few times. Tim Gunn might politely suggest that "it's a lot of look," especially to be wearing next to the face. That's fine by me. I stopped coloring my hair (have done many of the colors and shades seen in this scarf), and still want to accessorize with bright colors.

misshawklet Scraptacular handspun, assorted fibers, variable aran – chunky weight, 126 yds. Size L/8.0mm crochet hook. Edging done with random scraps of assorted worsted weight yarns, including Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Lemongrass, Shell Pink, Poppy Orange, and Sky Blue.

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I read a lot. With the sheer volume of reading that I do, buying new books would outstrip my income quickly. I am a big fan of the public library system, and borrow a lot of books. I also have a tendency to run up a lot of overdue fees, and there are also the times when I want to take a book to the beach, or on an airplane, or be able to just toss into my bag and not worry about too much. This is where used bookstores come in. I like bookstores that carry new books too, and it’s nice to be able to walk into a bookstore, look up a title, and get it off the shelf quickly. The lifespan of a book can be very short when it is new and quickly disappear from the shelves of the big shiny bookstores, yet have a relatively long life cycling through the stacks of used bookstores. When I travel, I like to check out the used bookstores (which is how I wound up reading Langston Hughes’ The Big Sea while in Dublin); used bookstores tend to be small and quirky, with no two being the same (and then there’s Powell’s City of Books – huge and quirky).

The Google map I’ve put together includes more than just books – there’s a lot overlap with books, music, comics, and games, so Stylus (music and clothing) winds up on the map even though there are no books there. This isn’t a complete list of all the used music/book stores on O’ahu – I’m limiting this to the ones I go to and can give at least a partial review of.

Jelly’s Comics & Books
‘Aiea (Central O’ahu)
98-023 Hekaha St # B1-9
Aiea, HI 96701
phone: (808) 488-5245

Kaka’ako (Honolulu)
420 Coral Street
Honolulu, HI
phone: (808) 587-7001

The ‘Aiea location is big, with a mix of new and used music, books, games, and comics. The book buyer is selective, which I think works well for the mix of books on the shelves, but also means that it would be a good idea to call ahead if you have books you’d like to sell. There is a craft section, and I’ve found a few knit/crochet books there, but it’s a small selection. The fiction/literature selection is good, and there’s a shelf of seriously marked down books that can yield fun items like an Italian phrasebook from the 1940′s.

I haven’t checked out the new location in Kaka’ako; I think I’d like to do so on a day off when I can also have lunch at the medical school cafeteria (the desserts are excellent). I’ve heard that it’s big and airy, with a music section reminiscent of Amoeba.

Rainbow Books & Music
Honolulu/University
1010 University Ave
Honolulu, HI 96826
phone (808) 955-7994

‘Aiea (Central O’ahu)
9-185 Moanalua Rd # 100
Aiea, HI 96701
phone (808) 487-8867
website: www.rainbowbookshawaii.net

If you like sifting through stacks, you’ll like Rainbow’s. When I say stacks, I mean as in stacks of books on the floor, books shelved two deep, and piles of books that creep into other sections. They also do some business in previously owned magazines. They buy books (including textbooks at the University location). Both locations are small and densely packed, so you’ll want to be prepared to scoot around for other customers. Parking is tight at the University store; you can pay for parking in the Puck’s Alley structure across the street or the Varsity parking lot. The ‘Aiea location has a parking lot behind the building. Please note that both locations have an adult section; the ‘Aiea location has it curtained off with a sign, and the University location just has it down at the end of the same aisle that carries best sellers.

Book Rack
4510 Salt Lake Blvd # C7
Honolulu, HI 96818
phone (808) 487-8350

Located in Stadium Mall, the Book Rack is convenient to Pearl Harbor, COMPACFLT, and Camp Smith. You can trade in books for credit towards more books based on price and category (they do only trading, no buying of books), so some of the books will come back into the store repeatedly. The selection includes lots of mystery/crime, sf/f, romance, military history, and westerns. It’s a small family-run operation; the patriarch is a charming conversationalist on just about any topic and can make recommendations if you aren’t sure what you are looking for. There’s a table of books on sale for less than a dollar each – great for finding something to take to the beach.

Bookends
600 Kailua Rd # 126
Kailua, HI 96734
phone (808) 261-1996

I don’t go to Kailua very often, and I’ve only been in the store a few times. There’s a larger selection of children’s books than I’ve seen elsewhere, and a bit more space to move around in than most of the other stores.

Gecko Books & Comics
3613 Waialae Av
Honolulu,Hawaii 96815
phone (808) 732-1292

I’m going to tinker with this a bit before I insert it into the longer blog post reviewing the shops. If I missed a shop, please let me know!

Hawai’i Yarn Shop Google Map

Edited: I removed the embedded map and replaced it with a link; the embedded map is problematic for some web browsers. The map includes craft shops that carry yarn and shops of potential interest (needlepoint, fabric, quilting, beads and a Japanese bookstore that carries knitting/crocheting books).

The list of yarn shops is still available as a free PDF download too.

I started a Mug Jacket sample in Peace Fleece and got annoyed with myself. If you check the Ravelry projects for this pattern, you’ll find a lot of very smart revisions to modify the pattern for different purposes (like travel mug sleeves) or just to make it easier to knit. Sometimes I think my desire to get something knit-to-fit or easily resized overrides my desire to make something easier to actually physically knit, which is how I wound up wrestling with the smocking stitch for a couple of repeats before deciding to just rewrite the pattern already. And so there is now a revised version available for sale – knit from the top of the sides, down to the base. The hand-drawn graph paper chart for the smocking stitch has been replaced with a chart done in Knit Visualizer. Additional photos have been added – each section has a small photo of the section being worked (the base, for example, includes a photo of the finished base).

The previous version is still available for free in the original blog post and as a free PDF download. The fundraiser version price has been raised to $5.50, with $4.50 going to Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. MSF/DWB is always in need of funds; sadly there is no shortage of people world-wide in need of medical care. If you are reading this, there is a very, very good chance that, compared to most of the world’s population, you are wealthy. If you are planning to knit a warm jacket for a mug or French press coffeemaker, chances are you can spare a few dollars to help others in need.

For those who purchased the earlier version of the pattern, as a thank-you I sent a new download link for a free download of the revised pattern. If you did not get an email from me with the download link, please let me know so I can send you the link.