Yes, the day after Valentine’s Day. A much more important day. It’s Happy Surly Day!! Yep, Surly’s birthday has arrived again like clockwork.
if you have followed us at all, you know that Sally and I are besties, knitting peeps, sisties, and whatever else such a sisterhood implies. She is the smart one in the family, which landed her the dubious honor of being the executor of our dad’s estate. She has handled that thankless job tirelessly. We really appreciate her taking that on and doing so well with it. She also puts up with a lot from me on a daily basis.
Her birthday present this year wasn’t much. I sent her a Melt the Ice Hat because I knew she wasn’t going to have time to knit one herself. She looks so cute in it!!
Happy Birthday, Little Sister! Hope to see you in person soon!
I have been obsessing a bit about the Melt the Ice Hat phenomenon, but I think with good reason. I have also fallen off the deep end into the Mini Melt craze. These little cuties (2×2 inch) are used as pins that show you are pro-democracy, anti-ICE, and anti-this administration. Lots less knitting and great for indoor or sunny climate use.
I describe how I knit mine up on my project page. Even if you can’t knit the big hat, maybe a mini hat!
Hi, my supportive knitting friends! I wanted to provide an update on the Melt the Ice Hat phenomenon. It had indeed gone viral and is being reported on all over the country. Nearly 70,000 patterns have been sold! I think I know most of the knitters! 😉
There has been some backlash to the color red in the hats. “It looks like we’re wearing MAGA hats!” I disagree, but if you have a problem with that, there is the new Minnesota Strong Hat. The pattern will be free for a short time. The designer is encouraging donations to local charities, etc. This hat was designed in a bit of defiance to the red hats. It is still a strong statement of support for Minnesota as it represents the new Minnesota flag. I will probably knit this as well, because I really need another hat!
And unless you’ve been in hiding, you are aware that Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about the battle of Minneapolis: Streets of Minneapolis.
In Minnesota, we are being used as an example, a testing ground. The Trump regime is using brute force and gestapo tactics to get us to bend the knee to Trump’s “new America.” The Constitution is a mere memory. But guess what? They picked the wrong state. We are fighting back, in the tens of thousands, in brutal below zero temps. To those who say, it’s about illegals and criminals. That is a lie. If that was the case, they would be in Texas and Florida, not here. They are here because we are a blue state and Governor Walz has stood up to Trump.
How does knitting fit in? During WWII, Norway was occupied by German troops. In way of resistance, they wore red, pointy hats with tassels. Like Santa or elf hats. Eventually, the Nazis banned the wearing, making, or selling of these symbols of resistance. Well, they’re BA-A-A-A-C-K! Needle and Skein in St. Louis Park, MN put together a pattern called Melt the Ice. All proceeds go back into the community. Here is an archival photo of the original hats.
These are my two Melt the Ice Hats. They tend to run short, so I recommend knitting 8″ of ribbing if you making the original hat, or add some stockinette before the decreases. I don’t like to knit 1×1 ribbing, so I made my second one with seed rib (1×1 rib on row one, plain knitting on row two) and made it not to fold up. I wear the “fold-up” one unfolded and slouchy. The tassels and cord are my own modification, the original uses a braid. I describe what I did on my Ravelry project page, but if you have followed me at all, you know twisted cord and tassels are my signature embellishment!!
Red yarn is selling out like crazy here! The one on the right I made with Malabrigo Rios, Ravelry Red. The one on the left is Malabrigo Worsted, Cereza. I love them both and love the message. A MAGA turd ex-friend commented on FB that we were fools because these hats would get mistaken as symbols of MAGA. Nope. No one will ever mistake me for MAGA. And let’s take the color red back! Please make one of these hats. We need to take a stand against tyranny.
PS: If you are offended by this post, let the door hit you on your way out…really hard.
PS2 to Michelle: Thanks for commenting on the blog! You asked about resources to help Minnesota. Nicole Aufderhar (aka tenthousandbakes on Instagram) shared this link in a newsletter today:
I became aware of Nicole because she was a finalist in the Great American Baking Show. Her showstopper featured the Minnesota State Fair!! She started getting recognition for entering her baked goods and winning ribbons. I was gobsmacked to see our fair discussed by Paul and Prue!
PS3 to Celeste: I emailed you about your question. Basically all my notes are on my Ravelry project page.
Per my previous post, I reverse engineered the 2026 Winter Games Hat. I also looked at the Closing Ceremonies Hat. The Ralph Lauren version is knit at very tiny gauge, but I didn’t have any interest in that! So, I used worsted weight and created a “similar” rendition!
I started writing up the pattern and got too depressed to continue. I live in the Twin Cities and we are under siege. Our community is suffering. I just could not use my limited bandwidth to continue. However, I do share my charts on my project page. There should be enough information there to knit up this hat.
I will also be knitting myself a Norwegian Resistance Hat. Needle and Skein in St. Louis Park will be hosting a KAL for this. Apparently, occupied Norwegians started wearing long, red pointy hats with tassels to show a sign of their resistance. The Nazis finally made them illegal to make, wear, or sell. Needle and Skein is taking up the call. I’m not sure when the pattern will be available, but check back with them.
Lois asked me if I would be reverse engineering this year’s Olymp!c Hat. I hadn’t though about it, but when I saw how cute it was, I decided to go for it! It is another of Ralph Lauren’s designs as part of the Team USA Apparel line. Here is the original design, which retails for $328.
The hat itself was pretty straightforward. However, it was knit top down and seamed at the center back and the crown. I made mine bottom up without seams. The tassels, earflaps, and red wraps were the challenging part and do add a level of fussiness to the finishing. However, I think the tassels make the hat!
I charted it to minimize the jog. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good. The pattern is free on Ravelry and is knit with three colors of Cascade 220 yarn. It basically has four size options. Please excuse the weird formatting of our recent posts. They changed the software and it is really hard to use and looks terrible!!
This time of year, I tend to make little silly projects. They can be knit or crochet. Here are a few recent examples that may inspire you to get some holiday cheer going!
This is a little Christmas gnome. It is Day One of the annual Drops Christmas Calendar. Drops “drops” a new free pattern every day throughout December. I have followed them for the past few years. All past years can be found on Ravelry.
This is the Gingerbread Love Potholder, also from the Drops Christmas Calendar. Knit in worsted weight yarn, it goes rather quickly. I used wool because I am not going to actually use it for food!! This same pattern is available in socks, mitts, a sweater and would easily translate into a hat, headband, or cowl.
This quick little project would make a cute hostess gift. I took Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth and reworked it into stripes. I included my notes about how to do it on my Ravelry project page. The small bowls are from a great gift shop in Maple Grove MN called Good Things. Walking in there was an invitation that said, TAKE MY MONEY!!! 🙂
Another Drops design! This “Holiday Swirls” spiral crochet coaster or potholder is really quick. However, I could not make heads or tails out of the Drops chart!! I searched “two color crochet spiral” and found a simple video that walked me through it. I added the tapering and describe it on my Ravelry project page.
I love a fair isle hat and Alison Rendall does not disappoint. She is responsible for the wildly popular Buggiflooer Beanie from a couple of years ago. I absolutely loved her hat design called Yoxie. The dramatic colors really called my name. I was unsure about the pale blue and cream colored sections, but decided to trust her for the most part. The blue and cream add a lot!! I did a lot of adjusting to correct the jog, which you can see in this photo:
I changed the crown coloration quite a bit. I added more blue to make it look more like that section of the body. I love the final look of it but apparently the state fair judges were less impressed! It got 4th place. I am sorry we have not been posting much lately. Call it the fall doldrums and political fatigue! I’ll try to do better!
Greetings from the missing Rainey Sisters! We are here. We are alive. We are knitting.
I did attend the state fair this year and did enter some knitting. It was not the best year I’ve ever had. I did win a few ribbons, one of which was blue. It was for this little sweater I made for a good friend who is also a knitter. It had to be special and I wanted a blue ribbon on it to attach to the gift.
The pattern is called Alouette, designed by Lisa Chemery. She also designed Entrechat, my favorite sweater for baby girls and Elevenses, my favorite sweater for baby boys. I decided I needed to jazz this up if I wanted the blue ribbon, so I added the embroidered roses. I was very pleased to get the blue!
When I made my Geddy Tee, I designed a knitted granny square for those “knit-only” crafters out there. I just added the FREE pattern to Ravelry so others can knit their own tee. It is not a perfect substitute for the crocheted version, but it does work in this particular situation. I hope some of you try it!!
