Breeding Hats!

I seem to be experiencing a bit of a hat obsession at the moment and spent last night knitting another tam/beret.

At the age of 35 I've suddenly come to the conclusion that hats are great and they keep you feeling so much warmer, not to mention if you're having a bad hair day you can just plonk a hat on your head and you've got instant chic.

Anyway, I was in Lidl yesterday and they had 600g of bulky yarn for £6.99. Okay, it's only 20% superwash wool but the pack did come with free 8mm circular needles and 4 free patterns and the yarn does feel very soft and fluffy.

I used Sarah-Hope Parmeter's bulky tam pattern and size 6.5mm circulars. This was such a quick and simple knit, only took 5 hours and that was with interruptions.

I did find the ribbing on the brim to not be quite tight enough so had to run an elastic round so that it wasn’t so big and would fit my head. Perhaps using a smaller needle or a 2x2 rib would be better.

I was surprised that it took only one ball of wool, I even managed to make a small pom pom.

Lace Beret

Woolly Wormhead posted a mystery beret on Ravelry, I've now completed it. It was a quick and satisfying knit with easy to follow instructions.I originally made this beret for my daughter as one of her birthday gifts, it's turned out so nice I'm not sure if I can give it away :-)
I used James C Brett Ripple in H1 and 4.5mm needles. The ball of yarn is a true representation of the colour.

Christmas Gift Knits

Okay, it's that time of year to start the gift knits and everything else has been put on hold. I've decided on sweaters this year and have them picked out and started already (yay, go me for once on being organised-ish).

Dad was easy to think of a pattern, I've gone for the Cobblestone by Jared Flood, I'm using New Lanark Donegal Silk Tweed Aran in the colourway dark graphite, it's a wool silk mix that feels a little scratchy to begin with but when washed really sofens up (at least that's what others have said, I've not got to the washing stage yet.)
So far so good, it seems to be working up real fast and as of yet I've not encountered any problems although that could all change when I get to the short rows as I've never done short rows before (eek!).

Mum was a little harder to think of until I got my new book The Knitter's Handy Book Of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd, I'm in love with this book and just want to give everything a go :-)

I don't want to give too much away as mum reads this blog on occasion but I’ve a gauge of 7 stitches and 10 rows = 2 inch in stocking stitch in the round using 6mm circs and Paton's Washed Haze Aran, so I cast on 140 (instead of the recommended 160) stitches to achieve a 40 inch chest. Just hope my math is correct :-)

I’d finished binding all the neck stitches off and had also finished all my decreases. I should have had 31 stitches but I had 62, so a real mess up somehow. I’ve frogged back and will re-attach the sleeves today and hope that I don’t mess up this time. It seems I didn't do enough decreases and should be able to get back on track in no time as this jumper is so fast to knit it practically flies of the needles.

I'm getting a little worried that I may run out of yarn so will order a couple of extra balls this week to be on the safe side.

Fingerless Mitts

I used the last of the Wendy Fusion (probably still have 30-50yrds left) for a pair of fingerless mitts for my youngest daughter, Mary.

I'm quite impressed that I managed to get two hats and a pair of mitts from the three balls of yarn I bought (yarn was on sale as well) seems I've saved a pretty penny or two there and the girls are pleased with my efforts. So everybodies happy :-)