More hats than I think I’ve ever knitted..

in one go anyway.

It’s been a little cold here.  Looks a little like snow, if you squint a bit anyway.  We don’t often get snow here and none that stays if we ever do, we are too far south and west, and too close to the sea.  Frost is about as close as it usually gets to being white around here, but it can stay most of the day.

Actually, as I write it’s raining, but still cold.   It keeps raining then freezing, a bad combination.  I’m just hoping that the weather settles down and becomes cold, frosty and bright or warm but wet, the two combinations we most commonly get here in the winter, not this all at once thing that’s going on, it’s making getting about a bit treacherous.

I’ve been gift knitting.  Hats mainly.  For some reason everyone wants hats this year.  I don’t often knit hats, not several one after the other anyway but thankfully they only take a couple of hours or so each.

Christmas hats

You’ll have to forgive the photos.  Each one has been taken and then edited to make them lighter, it’s just so dark at the moment. I was waiting for a better day to take them but the sun just doesn’t seem to want to make an appearance at the moment and the flash is just washing these out for some reason.

These are all knitted using the pattern, Turn a Square by Jarred Flood.  I changed needle size and yarn but basically it’s the same.

The two at the back were knitted using Sirdar Escape DK.  It’s a 51%/49% Wool/Acrylic but behaves and feels very woolly.  It isn’t too soft and has a decent amount of substance to it, a nice hand if you will, something most of these acrylic mixes lack, IMHO   I wanted to be able to give these hats without having to pass on strict washing instructions as I often find it puts some people off, so this yarn seemed a perfect trade off.  I also think, having now knitted with it, that it would make a great sweater, just saying!

The front hat, the multicoloured bright one, is for my youngest, who after seeing the others, decided he would like one with red in it.  The yarn is Twilleys Freedom spirit, a 100% hand wash only wool.  I’ll be washing this one so the content didn’t matter and this was one of the few yarns I could find with all three requirements; colour changing, red, and not too girly!  I hope this fits the bill, if not it won’t go to waste as someone else in the house has tried to pinch it already. You know who you are!

The mittens are also done.

These are so warm.  Knitted with the alpaca/wool  left-overs from my raglan cardigan.  I actually had four balls, or there about, left and these took the lot.  It was all the looping inside that took the majority of it and oh, did it take a long time to do.  I’m pleased and sure the recipient will be too but to be honest I’m not in a hurry to knit another pair soon.  In the pattern the designer does give an estimate of approx. 15 minutes per rib for the looping and actually I found this was pretty accurate, but just look at how many ribs there are, and the 15 minutes didn’t take into account the fiddling and threading and messing about.

Don’t let all this put you off though if you were thinking of making these as they are worth the effort.  They are very warm and feel like they’ll last for years, so on a time to make vs. length of use they win, just don’t try to make them in a hurry like I did!

Something else I put together quickly was a tea cosy for my Mum.  It was a special request as hers had given out recently and her kitchen is so cold the tea was going cold in the pot.

Something else knitted with left-overs.  This time two strands of DK held together and knitted with 4mm needles to make it nice and thick.  I used up all my scraps of Shetland I had left over from the fair isle patterned vest (was that this year, or last?) so it made for some interesting colour combinations.

Traditionally, my mother and grandmother would not have dreamed of knitting a tea cosy in anything else but left-overs, thrift was the thing, (unless it was to be a special gift and this was not exactly a gift as such! It is already in use and doing very well!) and whilst I was knitting this I had one of those strange knitters connection feelings going on.

Both my Mum and her Mum knitted, first out of necessity and then just because they always had. They knitted for most of their lives from small girls right up until their hands would just not allow them to do it any more.  My Grandmother never bought anything she could make herself (probably where I get it from) and she was also a beautiful seamstress and embroiderer.  Before she was married, in the 1920’s, she sewed skirts and other things for Harrods.  I was lucky enough to inherit her treadle sewing machine, and although I have an electric one now, I still prefer the treadle.  One of my memories of her is watching while she sides to middled sheets.  This, done to make bed sheets last longer, involved taking a worn out sheet and cutting it down the middle where it had worn thin and stitching the sides together, which were not so worn, to make a new one.  Thankfully now we don’t have to do that any more, at least not at the moment anyway!

I’m working hard on finishing the Cable Girl Cardigan for Mum.  I really would like to finish this and be able to give it to her for Christmas.  As it stands, I have a back and one and a half fronts.  I have no idea if I can knit the other half a front, two sleeves and a large collar over the next 15 days but I’ll give it a try.  Pictures will be forthcoming either when the sun shines or when I get fed up with waiting again!

You may have noticed that there are no socks as gifts this year, so far.  Last year I think there were two pairs at least.  I need more time…