Hats for the Homeless

As a change from knitting large things - I decided to knit a few hats for the homeless.  I don't really need an excuse to buy yarn and recently when I was in Hobbycraft I bought 2 balls of James C Brett's Marble Chunky yarn.  They are 100% acrylic - so hardwearing - and come in 200g balls.   I was surprised that I managed to knit 4 hats out of each ball.  

A couple of these are the same pattern in different colours.  However it is good to try a different pattern to keep the interest going.

I then also knitted 2 hats using thinner yarn.  I had 4 odd 50g balls of aran weight yarn.  I used these to knit these hats.

I have got these hats finished and ready to post off - I am now in the position of having nothing to knit!   I don't expect it will take long before I find something else.  I am supposed to be making Christmas presents but now it is getting chilly in the mornings - I might knit myself another scarf.

Modular Knitted Throw - Finished Version

I have finally got around to finishing the large version of the multi-coloured modular knitted throw.

I am quite pleased with the result.  It is a bit garish but that was the intention.  

The plan was to use up my oddments of double-knitting yarn but I still have loads left.  

I have thought about making another throw with smaller squares so I can use up some of the smaller balls.  However - that will have to wait because at the moment I am knitting hats and then I have a couple of Christmas presents to get on with.

A Few Baby Clothes

 

I have made a few baby clothes – to go with the miniature throw that I wrote about last month.  I have made a multi-coloured jacket which is supposed to fit a baby of about 3 months.

 

When I knit something like this – I think of the Agatha Christie comment: “two sleeves, both the same, very boring” – because of course – these 2 sleeves were different – so not so boring!

I have also made a little red set of a jacket, a hat and some mittens.

 

This set is much smaller and is intended for a more recently born baby.   The hat may be useful for a bit longer than a couple of weeks – but I expect the baby will quickly grow out of the jacket.   The jacket is a pattern from Knit Now magazine and the hat and mittens are from a Stylecraft pattern.  They are all double knitting acrylic – so they will be easy to wash.

I have now started thinking about knitting Christmas presents – although this morning I have gone back to the large modular knitted throw and told myself – I should finish it before I start anything else.  I have cast on another square – so hopefully I will get it finished in the next few weeks.

Miniature Version of the Modular Knitted Throw

 

At the beginning of the month I was told that the lady I had made the flowered cushion for – is expecting a baby.  Whenever I hear about a new baby I tend to enquire about what I can knit for the little one.  I decided to make a miniature version of the modular knitted throw which I am still working on.  I am only half way through the large one. The small one is now finished.

It is intended as a baby blanket for a couple who like bright colours.  I hope the baby likes it.  All the yarn is acrylic so it will be hard-wearing and easy to wash.  I hope it will be able to be used for a bit longer than the little coats that I usually knit.  I will knit one of those as well though.

I was conscious when I was taking the photos – that it was not obvious that the throw was very small – so I have included a bit of the large one for contrast.   Each small square starts with 33 sts whereas the large one has 61sts.   I used double knitting yarn and 5.5mm needles so it is much lighter weight than it would have been if I had used the normal size of 4mm.

I am now working on a little red coat.  I don’t know if the baby is a boy or a girl – so red seemed appropriate.

Modular Knitted Throw

Earlier in the year I knitted a modular knitted throw which was predominantly blue and white.  While I was knitting it – I thought that I could knit it in another colour way – using bright or even garish colours.   I have lots of odd balls left over from various projects.

I have made a start on it.  There is no planning – I am just picking the colours for the next square as I go along.  The only 2 “rules” I use – is firstly to spread the colours out across the throw and secondly to use strongly contrasting colours next to each other so that the stripes stand out.  As with the previous version – I intend that every square will be different.

The result so far reminds me of one of the first things I ever knitted – which was a blanket knitted in garter stitch stripes.  I only knitted some of the blocks, my mother, grandmother and aunt knitted the others.  In those days I wouldn’t have believed that I could ever knit a whole throw on my own in a couple of weeks.    I should manage to do it – if I carry on knitting in front of the sport on TV.

Garter Stitch Triangle Wrap by Pat Strong

 

After the complexity of the floral cushion this garter stitch wrap is very easy.  I have knitted it before – at the end of last year.  The last time I actually visited a yarn store was in March 2020 and I bought a couple of skeins of Manos Del Uruguay Alegria in a shade numbered A9741. 

It is 75% superwash merino and 25% polyamide.  There is 425 metres (445 yards) in a skein.  When I bought it – I intended to use both skeins for the same project – but now I have decided to just use one skein for this wrap and use a contrast yarn which is an olive green colour.  I am not sure exactly what this yarn is – I found it in my stash!  I had obviously intended to use it for something else but I can’t remember what.   I have said this pattern is easy and it is – but I think I would find it much harder if I just used one colour because I would get confused about which row I was on.  With 2 colours – you always increase in one colour (so every fourth row) and then the same with the decreases.  This means you can avoid using a row tally.

The only reason that this wrap is not finished yet is because I haven’t been doing much knitting this month so far.  I may get more done now that there is a lot of football on TV. 

Floral Cushion Finally Finished

This week I have finally finished sewing up my floral cushion.  As I said in my last post.  I made a basic cushion cover to sew the flowers onto.  I used 4 shades on the front – but you can’t see them now it is covered in flowers.  It could have been knitted in one colour, but I didn’t have enough of any one of the colours – so using a few different ones seemed the best solution.    The back is completely different.  The basic cushion cover pattern is taken from the book “Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters” by Jane Crowfoot. 

When I had finished the basic cover, I sewed together the flowers and pinned them on.  I had made 30 but decided that I needed to make 3 more.   I then sewed them on and lastly sewed in the ends.  Just sewing in the ends took a couple of evenings.

I think I am happy with the end result.  It is how I intended it to look.  I handed over to my boss on Tuesday.  I think she liked it.  She said that she couldn’t stop looking at it – so I think that means she did. 

Even before I had handed the cushion over – I had cast on another shawl!  It is easy with no difficult decisions to make.