You can never have too many hats...

Two more neck warmers have been added to my collection , just because I love knitting them. I've memorised the pattern and it is a nice project to carry in my bag - small but interesting.

I found a really simple pattern for these arm warmers on the knitting stall in Watford Market a few weeks ago. They are knit flat and then sewn up. This is always a dilemma for me. I may knit them quick but they are likely wait a long, long time for the sewing up. My pile of UFO's really doesn't need adding to, so I forced myself to complete them and am lad I did. They are really cosy. I had picked up another very simple hand warmer pattern at the same time . These are also knitted flat and then sewn up. They are a great stash buster - I got 2 pairs out of one 50 g ball of Sirdar Click DK. They look cute on , so I may try some more in a nicer yarn.A beret and curly scarf were next. These were crocheted from a couple of balls of Rowan Soft Lux that I picked up last year in the John Lewis sale. I love this yarn . The pattern for the beret was free - it is called Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat. The scarf is one that I've made many times now in a variety of yarns.

I enjoy making this scarf and whipped up another from a fun ball of yarn that I picked up for 49p in a charity shop - what a bargain! It is a cheap acrylic, but the colours are great and it has a sparkle thread running through it.The Knit and Stitch show at Ally Pally was fabulous as usual. I must admit to a few additions to my stash. The Natural Dye Studio had a great stall and I purchased a kit for a fun pixie hat. I knitted it up in a couple of hours when I got home. The yarn is a fabulous hand dyed boucle, very soft and warm.

This crochet beanie is from Vogue On The Go Crochet Hats. I love it. It was a bit fiddly as you have to make the little squares separately and join them together later. It was well worth the effort. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino dk which comes in such lovely colours. It takes 5 different colours, so there is enough left to make another hat or perhaps a matching scarf.
I am about half way through making Wilhelmina Witch from Simply Knitting for Miss Millie. I am using the reccommended yarn which is a cheap acrylic. I don't particularly enjoy knitting with this stuff but it's a nice pattern. This has to be finished by Halloween !

New York and neckwarmers

Firstly, I have to say that the trip to New York was brilliant. I think it is an awesome city. It was also a very relaxing and much needed break. I love the city...
and the way you can stumble across the most interesting things. We came across this amazing farmers' market just off 51st Street and were stunned by the beautiful produce . Just had to take a picture of these beautiful squashes, you don't see stuff like this at home. Of course, we went looking for a yarn shop. String. It was wonderful and run by a totally charming woman. We also found a delightful store called Tinsel Trading which was run by a very lovely lady called Terry. She was totally inspiring and really took the time to chat and show us around the store. She had been working on some altered books which she showed us and explained the techniques she had used. Karen is now keen to have a go at this. I made this silk flower when I got home after seeing some really stunning examples in the shop. Since returning , I have made no less than three versions of Urchin from the latest edition of Knitty. The first is my favourite, knitted from a ball of Jaeger Natural Fleece that I got in a sale last year. This one probably fits me best. Having enjoyed this pattern so much I immediately cast on again with some Colinette yarn that I have had in my stash for years. I had been wondering what to do with a single skein and this was the perfect pattern.

Having memorised the pattern I couldn't resist making another one with a skein of my handspun which was slightly thicker . The hat turned out very big and looks rather stupid on me - even allowing for the fact that oversized knitted berets are very "in" this year. I need to find someone with a very big head or some serious hair to give it to. This week , I have made another 5 Luxe Neckwarmers and am working on a sixth. I just love this pattern and they make great gifts and are fun to wear. I forgot to take a pic of the green and pink Sirdar Click ones but here are the two made from Denim Ultra, and the orange one knitted in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran doubled up.

Errata and hats

Just a quick update as I'm of to New York tomorrow ! Yes, New York ! It's just for 5 days but I can't wait. I was trying to finish the Short Sleeved Cardigan with Ribbing from Fitted Knits to take with me. Unfortunately, I encountered an error on the sleeves and haven't time to fix it. I have searched the web to see if anyone else came up with this but it certainly isn't on the official Errata list for this book. I had started the Spicy Tee jumper from Fitted Knits and came across an error there too so started again with the Short Sleeved Cardigan. Very annoying. No time to fix it until I get back from New York. The Colinette Prism is looking quite good so I will probably persevere with the pattern.I am also half way through the Morehouse Merino Dragon Scarf.

I've wanted to make this for some time and finally sent for the kit. It is a fun knit. The spikes look great.

Another hat from Get Your Crochet On ! Since taking this picture I decided that it looked better without the brim and frogged back to the beret. It took a couple of balls of Rowan Calmer and a 5 mm hook.

The Shrug is finished

I finally got around to frogging back the ribbing on the shrug and rectifying the small , but very noticeable, mistake that I made with the increase row. This sort of thing usually lies around for ever waiting to get done , but I really needed to finish this as I had promised Karen that she would have it before our impending trip to New York. The finished shrug is excellent - I may well make one for myself. The Cotton Fleece is a nice yarn to work with .I am really liking Stephanie Japel's patterns at the moment and am going to try something else from Fitted Knits. The Spicy Fitted V-neck Tee is looking like a good candidate at the moment. If I can get gauge with the Colinette Prism, this should work up pretty quickly.

I whipped up a little neck warmer from a single ball of novelty yarn at work last week. I want to attach a big button and a loop fastening somehow but haven't quite worked out how yet. I am thinking of doing a row of single crochet around it. It is really soft and fluffy.Speaking of soft and fluffy, I finished the LaLa Scarf from Greetings From Knit Cafe. It is smaller than I imagined it would be. I don't know why, I guess that I just didn't take in the measurements when I read them. It would be easy to knit it bigger and there is plenty of Kidsilk Haze left. It is a lovely little neck wrap though.Here is my final FO of the week. Another hat from Get Your Crochet On ! It is big and really meant for someone with huge hair but I love it and am definitely going to wear it . This one was made out of a really cheap acrylic yarn that I purchased from Hobbycraft. It is a dk used double. The finished result feels surprisingly good. It comes in some great colours and is ideal for these fun hats. Karen surprised me with this plastic head to model my hats. She got it from someone who had been on a hairdressing course. I think it's great - the DH thinks it's creepy ! OK it needs a slight makeover, but it will make it a breeze to get good shots of my hats.

Punks and flowers

The blue and brown Punk's Not Dead hats are now felted and with their new owners. I am quite proud of these - they are magnificent hats and so much fun to make and wear. The brown hat has gone to my friend Fiona, who loves it and looks quite striking in it. The blue one is my lovely nephew Brian's new favourite hat.

I made these two slightly larger than the previous two and the general opinion is that bigger is better. The earflaps come down lower and the whole hat looks quite cosy as opposed to just decorative. I have ordered some black and some lime green wool to make another of these for Brian.

Sometimes when I find a pattern that I really like I get a bit obsessed with making multiple versions of it. So when I saw these amazing flower scarflettes on Craftster I knew that there were several of them destined to get made in this house. You can see the original designs and get a free pattern on http://nekoknits.blogspirit.com. I really love this girl's designs, she is very talented. She also sells her work on Etsy so you can actually purchase one for yourself.

I used some green Debbie Bliss aran wool for the base, stems and leaves and some of my handspun for the flowers. This is a great way to use up small amounts of yarn and I really love the colours and texture of this particular yarn. I have the base and another set of handspun flowers ready to sew up and another set of flowers in Debbie Bliss Rialto aran. The Rialto is a very soft yarn and I enjoy working with it.I also rediscovered the best part of a Magnolia Scarflette that I started months ago and blocked it. I just have to dig out the pattern and make the magnolia.

Long time no blog !

It has been ages since I updated this blog and there have been several reasons for this. My trusty laptop has required some serious attention over the last month having had a few problems after a liquid spill over the keyboard and problems with the power supply cable. My access has also been limited by Miss Millie, who is on school holidays and reqquiring lots of attention. We also went to Madrid for a week. Rest assured that my lack of blog entries doesn't reflect a lack of knitting and crochet. I am as obsessed as ever. Most of the July/August output has consisted of hats. Having recently bought the wonderful Get Your Crochet On by Afya Ibomu I have been trying out some of the patterns in a cheap cotton that I had in my stash. I shall be revisiting many of them with better yarn in the future. I just love this fun, stylish collection of hat patterns.My first attempt was the Lively Up design in Brown Sheep Cotton F

leece. It came out a little on the small side for me but fits Millie perfectly. I have found that I need to go up at least one size hook to get gauge for these patterns.

Next up, I tried the O.G. using some acrylic camouflage yarn that I had in my stash. This still needs a couple of rows to finish it but I ran out of yarn in Madrid and haven't located the small ball that I know I have somewhere yet. This is quite good and the colours didn't pool too badly - a problem that I had with some of the cotton variegated yarn. I love the way that Afya shows you how to thread elastic around the hat and then crochet over it. It is a technique that I will certainly use when making hats in future. The shape stays in and the hat stays on ! The book also encourages you to experiment with colours and textures to achieve the look that you want. All the patterns are fairly simple and yet still interesting to crochet . I could really rave on about these patterns for ages. My next hat was the Soldier cap in the cheap cotton yarn. This is a nice style to wear. You crochet a wide band for the main part of the hat and join it at the ends before closing the top. The you add the elastic at the bottom edge and add a peak/bill.

The next FO is the Queen which is a sort of scarf with ties that you wrap around your head. It is really intended to be worn by someone with big hair but it kind of still works on those of us who only have a few tresses. This one was claimed by Karen who took a liking to it. After this came the MC, a really nice baseball cap design that I look forward to making again in wool. I think it would be great in some Noro Kureyon. Meanwhile, I was pretty pleased with the cheapo cotton version which crocheted up in no time. There was no stopping me at this point and I moved straight on to the Tam - a fuller design which would look great in stripes. The Tam pattern shows it with or without a peak. In a cotton yarn I felt that it looked better with one.

The last effort so far from this fabulous book is Mellow Moods. I really don't much like the colour of this cotton and can't see myself wearing this hat. However, I am convinced by the shape and will probably try again in a nice, dark, solid coloured wool.

After all these crochet hats, I started on a solid colour version of the Two Tone Shrug from Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. Everything was going really well until I noticed that i'd made a mistake with the ribbing increases. I'm not sure what happened but I need to frog about 6 rounds and start the increases again. I couldn't face frogging it so I started on the Spiderweb Cardi from Interweave Crochet that a colleague at work had asked me to make for her. I picked up some Jaeger cotton yarn in the John Lewis sale at a really bargain price. Pale blue was the requested colour and luckily there was plenty of it in the sale bin. I don't much like it myself - would have prefered this design in a much stronger colour like black. This one was crocheted entirely at work during spare moments. I had to modify the pattern slightly by adding extra pattern repeats to the width and the sleeve length. I Googled this one and found that other crocheters had the same problem with the sizing. It was easy to make and I enjoyed the pattern. The finished cardi looks much better on than it does off. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a modelled shot of it before it went to it's new owner.

After this little diversion, it was back to hats ! I bought Pretty in Punk by Alyce Benevides and Jaqueline Milles purely for the fantastic Punk's Not Dead hat. It is an amazing felted mohawk hat. I had loads of Lopi yarn that I had picked up for next to nothing in a charity shop and thought this would be ideal for the project. Lopi felts amazingly well. The body of the hat takes almost exactly one 100g ball of Lopi, so I had to use other toning colours in the fringing. This hat was so much fun to make. It looks enormous before felting but I still love it at this stage. After felting you need to rip the clumps of fringing apart back down to the knots which is really hard work - but worth the effort. I'm not sure that I would actually wear this hat out but I love to see it sitting on a hat stand. I do, however , know a girl that would wear it ! Clare the Bear set eyes on it and it was love at first sight. She has worn it to town and been showered with shouts of "cool hat" and "love that hat" all the way. She wears it well. I so loved making this (and it does use up those odd balls of Lopi ) that I immediately made another . Clare the Bear and Fiona kindly modelled them for me. Fiona really liked it and asked for one in brown. It took just one evening to comply with this request and one more to make up a rather fine blue one. They are going to get felted today. What canI say, they are just so much fun.

There are a few interesting patterns in Pretty in Punk. I like the arm warmers and the mohair striped sweater. There are also a lot that I can't imagine anyone wearing. It was worth it though, just for these brilliant hats.