This was a quick hat, designed to provide maximum coverage while still fitting quite close to the crown. Having managed to get my hands on some lovely Noro Kureyon sock yarn, only to be dissatisfied with it for socks (it’s not very hard wearing, being a single ply yarn), I thought it would make a lovely hat. A quick stash dive yielded 3 x 100g skeins, however the hat all up used only around 75g – there’s about a quarter of the skein left. I suspect a matching scarf may be in the works. The Noro Kureyon knits up beautifully – my only concern was a tendency to tangle, but in fairness it is a centre-pull skein, which I *was* pulling from the centre!

The band is doubled over and secured to the inside using crochet, then wide elastic is used to help the hat stay in place. This also makes the band seem to be quite dense – which I think adds to the design.

Yarn

75g Noro Kureyon sock yarn, shade S149 Brown/beige pictured

Notions

2.75mm circular needle (for knitting magic loop) or 2.75mm DPNs, 6 x stitch markers, approx 50cm of elastic which is 2-2.5cm wide for threading through band, safety pins, yarn needle, 2.75mm or similar crochet hook for doubling over and securing the band, buttons or other accessories to decorate if desired.

You may need to use a different yarn to get gauge, gauge for finished hat is 30 stitches and 48 rows to 10cm (4 “)

Pattern

• Cast on 9 stitches, join in the round (magic loop or DPN)
• * Knit front and back (kfab). Repeat from * to end (18 stitches) (this is a bit tricky over 4 DPNs, you might want 3 needles then move to 4 when there are more stitches after the increases)
• Place 6 stitch markers evenly through the stitches (every 3 stitches)
• Work for crown of head by * knitting to stitch before stitch marker, kfab, slip stitch marker from left to right needle, kfab*, repeat from *, knit to end of row. Essentially, you are increasing 12 stitches on each round.
• Repeat this pattern 41 times more until you have 270 stitches.
• Leaving the stitch markers in, work 20 rows without increasing (270 stitches)
• Decrease 12 stitches in each of the next 8 rows as follows: *knitting to two stitches before stitch marker, knit 2 together (k2tog), slip stitch marker from left to right needle, k2tog*, repeat from *, knit to end of row.
• You should now have 174 stitches.
• Work 24 rows of 1 x 1 rib (knit 1, purl 1), case off loosely.
• Fold the ribbed band over from the right side of work to wrong side of work, essentially doubling the band over. Using crochet hook and slip stitch (or stitch of your choice – you could sew if preferred), affix cast off edge of band to wrong side of work. Leave about 2.5cm (1″) unaffixed (for threading through elastic)
• Measure elastic to desired fit and cut. Using safety pins, thread elastic through doubled over band and sew elastic together.
• Sew in any loose ends, in particular the cast on (9 stitches) will need to be closed over properly.
• Press or block if desired.

Top view of hat

Bottom view of hat

To save myself from going stark raving bonkers studying for my MBA (Computing), I’ve been knitting in between study sessions. This jumper had been on needles since about January, and time was rapidly running out to be able to wear it this winter.

The design is very simple – it’s a top down raglan, with the sleeves held on stitch holders while the bodice is knitted. As I’m pretty curvy, I used short row shaping for the bust, then used stitch holders evenly spaced (two on the front about a third in on either side and two on the back but slightly closer to centre) to mark decreases for the waist. Because I’m bottom heavy, the hips fan out quite a lot, using the same markers from the wait decreases. While the cuffs of the sleeves are done in a simple 2 x 2 rib, the bottom band and the neckline are done in double crotchet so that they sit flat without adding a lot of texture or bulk.

Overall I’m very happy with this effort – although it’s a closer fit than I would have liked! Never mind, hopefully it will be a looser fit next winter!

The yarn chosen is Lincraft’s Silky – I don’t think it’s made any more – which is a good thing. Although the end result is pleasing, it has to be one of the worst yarns ever. There were up to 6 joins per 50g ball, and it did shed a bit, which is to be expected given the amount of microfibre content.

Silkwinter

It’s been cold and frosty, so obviously wonderful knitting weather! I’m bored to tears with the Lift and Separate, so have been doing a miriad of side projects  such as the Stolen Moments wrap. This looks deceptively simple – a drop stitch / increase openwork pattern. However, I had to rip it back a marathon 7 times as my mind wandered and drops and increases were put in the wrong spot – one wrong stitch and the whole pattern is messed up. The yarn choice for the Stolen Moments was ‘Mousse’ by Moda Vera – a soy / wool blend. Mousse is lovely – the only drawback is that it’s quite felty – not exactly what I wanted for this project – but incredibly warm. Surprise surprise the chosen colour was a lovely warm beige

To show off the lace pattern, the finished article was blocked (on a foam pilates mat using dressmakers’ pins!) and left to dry. It opened up a little, but it may need to be blocked again as it’s quickly closed up again.

So, this means I’d get straight back to the Lift and Separate, right…. sadly no

Tikki’s Oriental Lily pattern is absolutely gorgeous – but not having smellyannoying stinky whingy adorable children myself, chose to knit it for a friend’s daughter – 4 year old Ruby. Ruby is much taller than most 4 year olds, and the pattern only goes up to 2 year old sizing, so the following alterations were made to the pattenr;

• The chosen yarn was a 10 ply yarn – Panda Zoomy. The pattern was sized using 8 ply and when I swatched the 10 ply knitted almost double the 10 ply. That worked out well because the newborn pattern size when doubled is exactly the measurements for a large four year old!
• The arms in the Oriental Lily pattern have increases to flare the sleeves. After chatting with Ruby’s Mum, we both decided that flared sleeves on a boisterous four year old were a bad idea, so I did tapered ones instead
• I used the contrast yarn to do a cuff on both the sleeves and the hem of the skirt, which itself was much longer than the pattern, and the cuff helped it to drop
• With the leftover yarn I whipped up a simple stockingette scarf (a very useful accessory for a four year old who is interested in fairy princesses)!