A real red head....

Here's my latest knitted hat.  I used lovely red yarn that I bought cheaply in a summer bootfair.  I love the coloured speckles in it.  I made this slightly bigger than the last 3 hats because heads come in all shapes and sizes.

This hat was inspired by the Awesome Hat pattern.  But I swapped to stocking stitch after the ribbed brim as I think it shows off the yarn better.

My obsession with neat hat crowns continues.  So here is the crown:

I love it!

This has to be a short blog post.  The 3 girls for whom I knitted the little fingerless gloves are arriving tomorrow.  I will finally find out if they fit them!  

Fingerless gloves...

Three nieces are coming to visit next month and I wanted to give them a little gift each.  I thought fingerless mitts might be welcome at this time of year.  I phoned their parents just to make sure and they suggested the colours of the girls' favourite football team.  They don't simply follow this team; they are IN it.  The team strip is dark blue with light blue trimmings including 3 stripes.

I found the following Catchy fingerless mitts pattern which gets good reviews on Ravelry.  I amended the pattern slightly as I wanted only 3 stripes.  I'm really pleased with the way they turned out.  I have knitted simple fingerless gloves before.  But these are the first that I have knitted in the round and with thumbs.  They fit my smallish adult hand snugly and I'm keeping my fingers crossed (pun intended) that they fit the girls' slightly smaller hands.  I want them to be a surprise so I couldn't ask the parents to measure them!

These gloves use a tiny amount of yarn and could be knitted at the rate of one per day.... if I had nothing else to do!  I knitted the first four fairly quickly and then developed the dreaded "second sock" syndrome.  I just couldn't find the impetus to cast on the fifth glove.  Eventually I had to as the stress of thinking about the unfinished project began to outweigh the missing mojo.

I recommend this pattern and will probably knit it again in the future.  But, for now, I am really glad I have finished all six.

This might seem odd......

I have just finished knitting a scarf and fingerless gloves for myself.  This must seem an extremely odd thing to do just as spring is peeping over the horizon.  But there is a good reason.  I occasionally volunteer as a steward in an open air theatre.  The season runs rather optimistically from April to October, so there are still lots of cold days ahead.  The theatre supplies warm coats for the stewards, but there are not enough for everyone who has to stand out in the elements.  The rest of us have to cram as many layers as possible under little cotton tabards.

The dress code for stewards is black, black and more black.  I had a lot of black dk yarn and decided to be a bit more prepared this year.  My requirements are very exact.  My fingers need to be free to take people's tickets and money.  My neck needs to be warm but the scarf needs to be as unobtrusive as possible.  The "Doctor Who" look would not be appreciated by the managers at the theatre.  Both items were very easy to knit.  I made up the patterns as follows:

Gloves

dk yarn and size 4mm knitting needles

cast on 32 stitches

rows 1-11: K2, P2 rib

row 12: [K1, P1] to end

row 13: [P1, K1] to end

repeat rows 12 and 13 until row 44 has been completed

rows 45-50: K2, P2 rib

cast off ribwise on size 5mm knitting needles

sew side seams of gloves, leaving a hole for the thumbs.

I have smallish hands and these fit perfectly.  For larger or smaller gloves, increase or decrease the number of stitches by multiples of 4.  The length of the ribbing and the main part of the glove can also be adjusted to suit.

Scarf

dk yarn and size 4mm knitting needles

cast on 29 stitches (or any odd number of stitches)

row 1: [K1, P1] to end

row 2: K1, [K1, P1]  to last 2 stitches, K2

So, basically this scarf is knitted in K1, P1 rib, but every row starts and ends with a knit stitch.  This produces a scarf that sits flat without curling and has an interesting little "pip" at the end of every row.

29 stitches are enough to make a scarf 4" wide which sounds very narrow, but is in fact wide enough for my purposes.  I was aiming for a scarf that was long enough to fold in half, wrap it around the neck and fasten by pushing the ends through the loop.  I will be able to tuck the ends neatly inside the tabard we have to wear and the scarf should stay in place without constant adjustment.

I could have searched high and low for a plain black scarf measuring 70" x 4".   But for minimal cost I have produced something that is exactly what I need.  I used less than 200g of yarn for the gloves and scarf.  It came either in a bargain job lot or as a generous donation...I can't quite remember.  This is the perfect example of when knitting becomes a time and money saving hobby.

 Last year, the start of the open air theatre season was freezing cold.  Hopefully, this year will be different.  If I don't need gloves and a scarf, I will be very happy.  If I do, then my hands and neck will be warm as toast.  "Lead on, Macduff" as Shakespeare (never) said......a famous misquote, but it sounds good!

Owl(ish) mitts....

I recently blogged about some fingerless gloves I had knitted for my sister.  They were so quick and easy that I decided to knit some for my daughter.  This time I cast on only 26 stitches as my daughter has a slim hand.  

I used the wool that was left over from a scarf I knitted for her last month.  Once again the wool was chosen for warmth.  These will never be delicate fashion items!

I decided to add an owl motif.  The owls are based loosely on a chart I found on Ravelry.  The chart is a lot more detailed.  But I didn't have enough stitches or rows to knit the full design. 

I fully intended to knit it in moss stitch but was concentrating so much on the chart that I didn't notice I was actually knitting reverse stocking stitch until it was too late. Moss stitch would have shown up better, so that is a lesson learned for the future.  I could have easily ripped the work back.  But I genuinely don't think my daughter will notice the difference.  She will just be amazed to see owls on her gloves.

The eyes are pearls that came from a broken bracelet....waste not, want not.  It was the first time I have ever knitted with beads or pearls and I was amazed at how easy it was.

(Note to self: 26 stitches fits me perfectly as well.  So cast on this number if I ever knit some pour moi.)

Very quick fingerless gloves pattern.....

I just knitted these fingerless gloves.  The pattern is so quick and easy.....just 34 rows on straight needles.  The dk yarn is used doubled so it knits up very quickly and makes a very strong and warm glove.  I'd say they are functional rather than fashionable.  The photo makes the colours look washed out.  They are actually a very vibrant dark pink and navy blue.

The pattern is for men's gloves and these are for my sister!  Her hands are much larger than mine so the gloves look huge on me in the photo.  But they have a lot of stretch and will be perfect for my sister.  I noticed on Ravelry that lots of people knit this pattern for women.  

It's easy to adjust this pattern.  I cast on 30 stitches as the pattern suggested.  But by subtracting or adding 4 stitches these could fit hands ranging from dainty to enormous.

The pattern is here.