4th of July Hats

Wanting something festive and patriotic for the 4th of July, so I decided to try out this hat pattern by Mary Jane Mucklestone. Since it was a trial, I used mini-skeins of a fingering yarn - Sprout Seedlings by The Fiber Seed, and knit the pattern as written.

I misread the pattern and thought there were 4 rounds per stripe which looked skimpy, so I did 6 rounds. This resulted in a rather slouchy little hat.

There was enough yarn left to make another hat, so I did, this time *really* following the directions. The second hat is adorable! Well, they both are...

In conclusion, I think that you could knit an adult-size hat using three of the mini-skeins either by adjusting the pattern or doubling the strands of yarn.

More Knitted Gifts

So once I started telling people about the boutique, more requests came in. So I made a red watch cap for my dad using Malabrigo Rios -- it's super soft and washable. I also modified the pattern a bit because I had problems with the side by side decreases leaving a hole between them. For this hat, I left one knit stitch between the decreases. More information on Ravelry.

I also made another glitzy cowl from the sequin yarn and Eco Duo for Frances because she's hard to buy for and she admired the one I made for the gift exchange. I picked a darker colorway of the alpaca yarn and black yarn with silver sequins. Details on Ravelry.

Quick Knits to Sell

So, I'm going to sell some knitted goods at a holiday boutique. I have a stockpile of things that I don't wear and haven't given as gifts. But I also have quite a stash of single skeins that could be made into simple accessories. Here's what I made:

Simple Garter Stitch Cowl

Ribbed Chunky Print Cowl

Illusion Cowl

Chunky Print Cowl

Coral Reef Cowl

Forest Queen

I found this pattern when I was looking for a pattern for the Western Sky Knits "Sequoia" and even started it, but I didn't really like how it was working out. So I decided to use another superwash yarn, Karabella's Merino Superwash. The "trees" in the pattern seem much nicer in green than brown. :-)

Read all about the specifics here.

Go Sharks! Hat

Well, the Sharks aren't looking so great, but my hat is done and ready for next year. I ended up doubling the yarn to make sure to use it all up and blend the colors more evenly throughout the hat. I tried several hat patterns but ended up with Chunkeanie by Wooly Wormhead. All the sordid details are in my Ravelry notes.