Crafting Thursdays (on Saturday): All about hats

This week has been all about hats for me: a friend of mine works with refugee families and made a plea for warm things for her people - ideally scarves and blankets, but (IMO) they're long and boring to knit, so I asked if I could make hats instead.

So in the last week, I've made 7 beanies - in about the same amount of time as it would have taken me to knit one scarf, in my reckoning. And scarves look a lot more scrappy in lots of different yarns than stripy hats.

My scraps pile in my stash is also looking much much healthier - in just these beanies I've used up 13 partial balls. It's scary to see just how much more I have in my tubs that I'm happy to use, too!

I had planned to spend just a week making these, but seeing how much yarn I have that I still could use, I'm going to keep going.

If anyone wants to join me in my hats, I've written up the pattern that I'm using. It's very simple, and you can use it as a template for any colourwork, stripes, cables - anything you like.

k – Knit stitch;

Cast On:

Using smaller needles, cast on 72, 80, (88, 96), 104, 112 sts. Being careful not to twist, join in the round and place marker for EoR.

Ribbing: [k2, p2] repeat around.

Work a further 7, 7, (9, 9), 11, 11 rounds in ribbing pattern as set, for a total of 8, 8, (10, 10), 12, 12 ribbing rounds.

Change to larger needles, and knit round. Continue to knit every round, until hat measures:

9.5, 11, (12, 13.5), 14, 14.5cm, or

3.75, 4.25, (4.75, 5.25), 5.5, 5.75”, from the cast-on edge.

Crown Decrease Set-up Round – 8sts decreased:

Baby: [k7, k2tog, pm] repeat around

Toddler: [k8, k2tog, pm] repeat around

Younger Child: [k9, k2tog, pm] repeat around

Older Child: [k10, k2tog, pm] repeat around

Small Adult: [k11, k2tog, pm] repeat around

Large Adult: [k12, k2tog, pm] repeat around

R1: Knit one round.

R2: [Knit to 2sts before marker, k2tog] repeat around – 8sts decreased.

Repeat R1 and R2 until 32sts remain, changing to dpns when necessary. Then work R2 only until 8sts remain. Break yarn and drawn through the stitches, tighten the loop and sew in the end securely.

Finishing:

Sew in the ends securely. Optional: wet block over a balloon to even out colourwork and stripes.

Options:

Use up more scraps by working stripe sequences or simple colourwork.

Jogless Stripes Method:

This method prevents the little step that happens when changing colours with stripes in the round.

R1: Knit to marker.

R2: Remove marker, slip 1 stitch, replace marker, then knit to marker. The EoR marker moves by one stitch each colour change.

Continue knitting the stripe until it’s the desired thickness. Repeat R1 and R2 for each colour change.

Simple Colourwork Charts:

Hearts

Zigzag

Boxes

© Kate Gondwana, 2014.

My frogged yarn from previous weeks has now dried and is ready to return to my stash. It looks so pretty when it's wound up in skeins!

I'm considering what I'm going to do with it next: I have an idea for a variation on the first vest, but I need to do some more research first.

Also this week, I blocked a project that I was test-knitting - and as such it has to remain super-secret, so I can't yet post photos or talk about the pattern.

All I can say is that I knit it in two colours, and that when I soaked it for blocking, one of the colours ran and has made a huge mess over the other one. I'm rather sad about it as I'm not quite sure how I'm going to rescue it so that it's presentable. *sigh*