R2D2 hat

I knit this hat based on a design by Carissa over at Carissa Knits. It actually took me two attempts to get it right. The first time, I followed Carissa's pattern but decided to use a stranded (or Fair Isle) technique for the blue blocks instead of using duplicate stitch as she suggests. The problem with using the stranded method for this hat was I found that it made the colorwork sections have some strange puckering, and overall I didn't like the way it looked. So I ripped that out and started anew.

The second time around, I knit a striped hat like the pattern calls for and added the details afterward using duplicate stitch (or overknitting) and a little bit of crochet. This turned out rather nicely. I modified Carissa's pattern, however, when I noticed that the top of R2's head is actually somewhat different from the version in her hat. I also changed some of the details and instead of using the projecting bits, I just made colored circles on the hat where they would be.

(Yarn: Cascade Cash Vero in 030, Cascade 220 in 9457, scraps of black and dark grey. Hat models: Vichu, R2D2)

Geeks rule

Over at SearchNetworking.com, we just launched an editorial blog, which has been consuming massive amounts of my mental space this week. You can read my first "real" blog post about geeks or check out the latest IT Guy cartoon.

More geeky stuff

"The IT Guy" now has four cartoons online. I think these show a lot of progress in my cartooning abilities, although it is a challenge to be funny and appropriate for corporate use at the same time. If you look at the links on the page, unfortunately, the cartoons appear very small because of TechTarget's format with the large ad column. To view a larger version of the cartoon, you can download the PDF version (which includes a checklist for earning networking certifications, and although that may not thrill everyone out there, I'm sort of proud that I formatted all the content for this PDF. Maybe not very interesting graphic design, but at least it is something different to do at work.)

Cartoons for geeks

I recently added a fun element to my day job: Drawing a monthly IT-themed cartoon for publication in our PDF calendar download feature. Check out the October edition. November's calendar is in production now, and I think that cartoon looks a lot more professional. I'll post a link when it becomes available.