Sunday - Day Dreams of Summer

Sunday’s are, in my opinion, best reserved for pottering about. I seem to have picked up and put down half a dozen tasks today but have made at least a little progress with each. I spent a fair part of the day looking out of the window at a seriously grey day and hoping that thinking hard enough about summer might somehow bring it about. I worked a little more on my summer designs and, although the colours are purely for decoration and will not represent the fabrics that I will eventually use, I felt drawn to bright, summer colours. 

I’m currently working on several new knitting and crochet patterns which I am loving.  Yet again I am being drawn back to this super chunky cable jumper as it both serves to ward off the cold and brings a sunny flash of colour. I hope to have the first draft ready for some friendly pattern testers within a week or two. 

I have added a few things to my to do list and have a batch of post it note ideas to mull over. I have two new projects in the works which should be finalised in the next week so I feel all set for Monday morning! 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekends, SJ  

Thursday - Chunky Cable Hat Knitting Pattern

The weather has been completely up and down today and the need for knit wear is still very apparent! We’ve had rain, bright blue skies, snow, and hail. Some of my most popular knitted items and knitting patterns feature chunky wool and cables, there’s something quite special about a cable knit item.

My latest pattern uses plaited cables along side garter stitch to make a soft, repeating design which is easy to master for those just starting out with hat making. You can find the knitting pattern here or, if you’d rather have the hat ready made, you can find the hat with your choice of pompom here.

The hat is knitted from the bottom up with circular needles; this means that the hat can be made without the need for seams. Sewing seams is a great rival for least favourite thing to do, just one place behind weaving in loose ends…

I use Cygnet Chunky wool which is 100% acrylic, I like to use animal friendly materials where every possible and I love Cygnet products. The chunky wool is, as you might expect, lovely and chunky but also soft and itch-free for all of us who don’t like to wear animal wools. You could use any chunky wool for this pattern and, with a little scaling you could adapt this pattern for use with a thinner or thicker wool.

I like to finish my hats with a pompom, sometimes a wool pompom to match the hat and sometimes I go all out with a faux fur pompom, you can find these hand sewn faux fur pompoms in my shop, too.

The pattern is available now in my shop and also on Ravelry. I would love to hear your thought on the pattern. If anyone is keen to start making their own hats but you’re unsure about knitting cables or about knitting in the round please let me know - I am always looking for new ideas for my ‘How to…’ blogs. Happy knitting, stay warm! SJ