Fisherman’s beanie

November 18, 2019 stgeorgeknits12 Comments

In between knits that take a longer time to finish, it’s nice to knit something quick. So, here’s another hat. It’s a fisherman’s beanie in bulky yarn and it practically knitted itself!

You might have noticed that I like to knit hats. I usually like simple, no-nonsense hats. Fisherman’s beanie ticks both of those boxes. The yarn is Novita’s Isoveli and it’s a 75% wool, 25% polyamide yarn in nice turquoise, forest green and very dark egg plant that looks brown when the light is not good. If fact, even when I bought the yarn I thought it was brown. It was only later that I found out it was egg plant colour which made me very happy because I like egg plant colour more than brown.

I used 5mm needles. The pattern is unfortunately in Finnish only. But it’s the simplest of patterns and here’s the quickest of translations: Cast on 88 s and knit 2×2 rib pattern for 23 cm in the round. Then knit 2 together for the whole row (44 s). Knit 4 rows. Then knit 2 together for the whole row again (22 s). Knit 4 rows. Knit 2 together for the whole row and pull the yarn through all 11 s, pull tight and weave in the ends. Done.

Happy knitting!

Knit one, get one free

October 18, 2019 stgeorgeknits6 Comments

I had two little balls of some unknown thick-and-thin cotton yarn in turquoise and purple. I’ve never really thought of these two colours together but I can’t see a problem now. I couldn’t think of anything I could make with the amount I had, anything other than hats. Potholders would have been ok but the thick-and-thin thing put me off somehow. So hats it was.

Rare for me, but this time I knitted a swatch. I wasn’t sure about the thick-and-thin and wanted to make sure the hat would be a good size. It would be one of those hats that would be worn for any reason but warmth, but I’d still like it to be a good fit. I also wanted it be slouchy. And it was. But it was also huge. Swatch and all, and still it was too big. Aaarrgghh. So I changed the needles for a smaller size and cast on less stitches and on the second run the hat was a good size, only not as slouchy.

I only planned to knit one hat but after finishing the first I still had about the same amount left.

When I started the second hat with the colours reversed, hubby said that he could use one. No problem. I made the second hat a tad bigger and with different decreases on the crown. I started the decreases later than on the first hat, and instead of doing them first every other row and later on every row, I instead knitted 2 together for the whole row, 3 rows without decreases and then again the whole row K2Tog. And then again the whole row K2Tog. So the hats are similar but not quite the same.

By now these hats are way too cold and we would both end up with aching ears and frozen skulls if we wore them now. They must wait almost a year for warmer weather.

Happy knitting!

Hats · Knitting · Stash busting

Saturday surprise

September 28, 2019 stgeorgeknits15 Comments

Surprise, surprise, I have a finished hat! I bet you didn’t see this coming.

I’m still trying to use up odds and ends. This is a thick woolly hat that sits snug and nicely when the ribbing is turned up. It’s also very warm over the ears this way. If left down, it’s nice and slouchy. I added a pompom because I had a little bit of yarn left.

Happy knitting!

Hats · Stash busting

2 heads in a duffel bag

September 20, 2019 stgeorgeknits8 Comments

Sometimes the odd balls of yarn start to make me neurotic and I simply have to drop everything else and use up the yarn before it drives me crazy.

This 100% wool yarn was perfect for a slouchy hat.

Brown is not really my colour so I’m thinking that maybe this is part of my Christmas offering to someone. This would mean that I’ve actually started my Christmas present making. Yay me!

I had some more of the yarn left after the said hat, but not enough for another hat. So I added a stripe of another yarn – a dark grey-ish colour, which kind of goes. I knitted this one top-down so that I could use all of the yarn. I added a pompom with the dark grey-ish colour, just to make it look like it was all planned this way.

I love hats and I wear them all the time – almost all year round. But still, this second hat might end up as a Christmas present, too. We’ll see. But to think of having two presents ready and September isn’t even finished yet. I’m on fire!

This yarn is all gone now. I can breathe again. But the dark grey-ish yarn might start to call me soon because there is some of it left. This is a never-ending circle.

By the way, this is the first time I carried a polystyrene head into the woods. It got a nice 7 km walk.

Happy knitting!

Cushion Cover · Hats · Jumper · Knitting · Upcycling

Reclaimed

May 4, 2019 stgeorgeknits9 Comments

There’s been a jumper taking up space in the wardrobe for years and it never gets worn anymore. It was made by my mother in the mid 90’s and it was quite huge, typical of the times. It was an all over Norwegian pattern and was a real shame that it was never worn anymore. I couldn’t find anyone else to wear it either and I doubt it would have been easy to find a buyer for it. So, I unraveled it. It hurt a bit but my philosophy is to use the stuff one way or other. At least now the jumper gets worn again. It doesn’t look as awesome but it’ll get used.

I used a pattern called Twin River by Drops Design. It was a very nice pattern – I might use it again sometime. I don’t know what this yarn is. My guess is that it’s some kind of wool mix. I did completely random stripes.

I used the leftovers for a hat.

It’s a shame I didn’t take a picture of the original jumper but needless to say this one looks nothing like it.

The original jumper had steeked armholes. Obviously the yarn was cut into short bits. I calmly knotted all the bits randomly and knitted a cushion cover. Knots are hidden inside. Waste not, want not!

Happy knitting!

Alpaca · Cowl · Hats · Knitting

Cowl and hat combo

February 23, 2019 stgeorgeknits1 Comment

Oh no, another hat! But also a matching cowl.

I’ve had this lovely Artesano 100% Alpaca yarn for a few years just waiting for the right project to come along. Then I spotted the Structured Alpaca Cowl and knew this is it. The picture is from a funny angle and the cowl looks a bit like a dog’s jumper but trust me, it’s a cowl. It’s a very nice cowl.

I knitted the hat with the leftover yarn. It’s such a nice and soft yarn that I didn’t want to leave any left over. I don’t have a pattern for the hat – I just winged it. It’s a top-down hat, which is great when you want to use up all of the yarn. I like the way the pattern is formed on the hat. First it’s thin stripes on the crown and then they turn into thicker, irregular stripey shapes.

The hat and the cowl work nicely together. I like how half of the cowl is rib. It can be lifted up to cover the neck completely from evil cold winds in the winter. There is also a little flap on the front to keep the chest nice and warm.

Technically, this set is good enough to rob a bank! Not that I would, but, you know, in theory.

Happy knitting!

Hats · Knitting

Forever green

February 9, 2019 stgeorgeknitsLeave a comment

Yet another hat! I had to knit this hat because I found a small ball of this green yarn and simply had to get rid of it.

The yarn is Sirdar Country Style for Kids. I bought the whole packet (a kilo I guess) a long time ago. It was a good offer and I was a student at the time – say no more. Over the years I’ve been knitting and knitting and this never-ending yarn just – well, never ends. Until now.

I’ve knitted a cardigan, a bolero, mittens, fingerless gloves, a scarf and now a hat with this yarn. Maybe something else too. The yarn is 45% acrylic, 40% nylon and 15% wool. It’s clearly not a very warm yarn but it’s easy to care for. Just throw the knit in the washer and it comes out the same as you threw it in, only cleaner.

This hat was knit with double yarn, and top-down. I used 3½mm needles because I wanted the fabric to be dense. I suppose I could have knitted some interest into it but I simply wanted to see the end of this yarn, so speed was of the essence. I get a bit neurotic when I find yarn that I thought was already gone, or when I find a little bit of yarn that would just be enough for some small and quick knit. It burns a hole in my yarn stash until it’s gone. This hat was knit in one evening. Phew.

I once again proved that even if I have a big yarn stash and some yarn has been sitting there for years, even decades, eventually it all gets knitted.

Happy knitting!

Crochet · Hats · Outdoors · Stash busting

Fall on the fells

January 29, 2019 stgeorgeknitsLeave a comment

I’ve decided a hundred times that I would crochet more. I want to learn to crochet better and to be more comfortable and relaxed about it. And still I don’t crochet that often. I guess knitting just takes priority every time. But I do make the odd, simple crochet project once I put my mind to it.

I crocheted these cool, simple hats with some leftover yarn from a cardigan project. The blue is for my hubby and it has one more increase round than the white one, which is mine. The yarn is Novita Samos, which is 50% cotton and 50% acrylic. It’s a very spongy yarn and it feels nice and it’s lovely to knit and crochet.

There’s me wearing my cool hat just before snow came. I love this hat for hikes because it’s non-itchy and it stays well in place. It’s warm but not hot, even when it’s not cold.

This place is close to where we live. We usually cycle there because it’s so much faster and then we might continue by foot on top of the fell. The climb up here is a bit of a struggle as the path turns almost vertical at one point. You need good brakes on the way back down. The view out over the fells is especially nice in the autumn and is typical Lappish landscape.

Happy knitting!

Hats · Knitting

Top-down hat

January 6, 2019 stgeorgeknits6 Comments

Yet another hat. I like knitting hats in between other (bigger) things. I like how they can be finished in an evening.

I had one 50g (100m) ball of this yarn, Novita Puro, which is a soft, variegated 100% wool yarn. I knitted the hat top-down so that I can use every last inch of the yarn – which I did. The tiny orange pom pom is some other yarn and I had made it sometime earlier. It seemed to match well.

I like blues, purples and oranges. And this yarn has them all with a little green thrown in for good measure.

Happy knitting!

Cowl · Hats · Knitting

3 little kittens

November 21, 2018 stgeorgeknits6 Comments

Another day, another hat. And a matching cowl.

Let’s start with the yarn. It’s Artesano 100% alpaca. I bought it a few years ago in England while on holiday. The shop is called Three Bags Full, which tickled me, and it was at the time located in the amazing Piece Hall in Halifax. Stuff has happened since: Three Bags Full doesn’t have a brick and mortar shop anymore, only a website. The Piece Hall has been totally renovated since. It’s well worth a visit if you happen to be near Halifax.

Anyway, the yarn. I saw three balls of this super soft alpaca yarn in a sale bin and couldn’t put them down. There were only three balls of it left, all in different colours. Well, I bought them and since then, for a few years now, I’ve been taking them out of the yarn box every now and then to stroke them. They felt like three little kittens. I couldn’t decide what to knit with them but it came to a point that I felt it was time to use this lovely yarn. I started with a cowl. The idea of having these kittens wrapped round my neck seemed like a good one.

I was going to knit just a tube but decided to do something different after all. I found Seattle. I didn’t count or measure the stripes in any way; I just winged it. The cowl is quite sloppy and bigger in circumference than what I usually like my cowls to be, but it’s kind of nice. I’ll wear this when the temperature’s not yet minus millions. When it gets really cold, I like my cowl or scarf to be tightly round my neck.

Then the hat. I had some of the yarn left and it seemed obvious to knit a matching hat. There was a hat pattern with the Seattle cowl but I wanted to knit a hat top down so that I could use up all of the yarn. I knitted all of the purple yarn, then all of the blue yarn and finally changed to seed stitch and yellow yarn, and knitted till I had only enough yarn to cast off. The hat is very long and slouchy but I plan to wear it with the seed stitch part folded up. That way it’s also much warmer.

There we are then. 3 kittens turned into a cowl and a hat. I read somewhere that alpaca yarn is 8 times warmer than sheep’s wool. How do they measure that?

Happy knitting!