Beautiful Sock Yarn & Wool for Your Next Project
So far, this winter has turned into the winter of the hat. Particularly, the Sockhead Slouch Hat designed by Kelly McClure. If you haven’t come across this free pattern yet, you are in for a treat.
As soon as I saw the Opal Happy Sparkle sock yarn when it arrived at the yarn shop, I just knew this yarn would be utterly divine knitted into a sockhead slouch hat. If you read my blog regularly, you’ve probably noticed that I love purples, blues and greens. [Read More]
I’m not known for travelling lightly… My sister can travel for weeks with everything she needs squashed into a small backpack. So it wasn’t unexpected for me to go on holiday to Shetland and bring pattern books and shetland wool from my yarn collection with me. Of course I returned home to Belfast with even more! I however also had squared paper and marker pens for drafting patterns… you just never know when you’ll be inspired. As knitter’s I think we just like to be prepared.
I cast on the Scatness Tam on my 50th birthday after a wonderful day walking around Sumburgh Lighthouse and exploring Jarlshof.[Read More]
In the week before we left for our holiday I knit a fair isle tam. I chose 15 different Shetland yarns using a triad colour scheme in purples, teals and a hint of orange to add a little bit of zinginess.
The pattern I used was Tam No 12 designed by Mary Rowe and published in her book Knitting Tams: Charted Fair Isle Designs. I adore this book. It has a short section at the front on the construction of a tam followed by the charted patterns for all 17 tams. I had so much fun deciding how to use my colour choice in the pattern.[Read More]
I really enjoyed knitting the beautiful Acht Fair Isle Hat designed by Hazel Tindall.
“Acht is the Shetland dialect word for a valuable possession – hopefully you will find that is a good description of your finished hat. The sides are quite long – in Shetland’s windy climate it’s good to be sure your hat won’t blow off.” Hazel Tindall
Having the sides quite long is also a benefit for our cold wet Northern Irish climate too. It is nice to have warm ears!
The Acht Hat uses 2 dark and 2 light colours of Shetland wool.[Read More]
The first day that I wore the Welted Toque was on a visit to Belfast Zoo. It was a sunny day in early March before winter came back to bite us. We were ready for some fresh air and looked forward to a walk around the zoo.
What appealed to me about the Union Long Beanie pattern when I read it?
I loved the neutral colours and the combination of the wide rib stripe with the lace stripe. A very wearable hat that would be perfect for wearing on beach walks or while window shopping in the city.
Union Long Beanie designed by Connie Chang Chinchio was published in Weekend Hats by Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre. This is a wonderful book and since purchasing it I have knit several of the hat patterns.
I used Kauni DK weight wool that has a very long gradual transition in colour from camel to oatmeal to soft grey tones. I liked the combination of the wide stripes of rib and lattice lace work. I also love the shape of this beanie.[Read More]
I was looking for a warm cable hat to knit using Cashmerino Aran, for wearing on cooler days. Cecile by Katya Frankel seemed like a cute choice.
The gorgeous Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran is the perfect choice for knitting this lovely cable pattern. Cashmerino Aran feels soft and is a lovely yarn knit. The yarn has enough body to give excellent definition to this lovely cable pattern.[Read More]
If you are looking for a well-designed basic hat pattern for the man in your life, Brier Toque would be an excellent choice. This hat only uses 100g of sock yarn making it a perfect quick project.
I knit this warm stocking stitch hat for Neil. It is based on the Brier Toque pattern by Cecily Glowik MacDonald from the book “Weekend Hats” by Cecily Glowik Macdonald and Melissa Labarre.[Read More]
Retro Hat using Stranded Knitting came from The Handknitter’s Design Book by Alison Ellen, published in 1992 by David & Charles although she simply calls the pattern “Hats”.
The hat pattern suggests using wool, cotton, rough silk or any DK yarn, so the combination of the Noro Silk Garden Lite which knits to a DK weight and the Rialto DK merino was perfect. The pattern started by casting on 6 stitches in the centre of the crown and then worked the increases for shaping the crown first, then the stranded knit chequerboard, and finally casting off at the edge.[Read More]
Why did Cabled Treat Hat appeal to me?
When I read this cute hat pattern, Cabled Treat, designed by Kirstie McLeod, I just knew that it was the perfect choice for my gorgeous skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in the deep purple and blue Wisterious Colourway. Cabled Treat was published in the January 2011 issue of Simply Knitting.[Read More]
Hello, I'm Nicolette Kernohan. I love sharing unique knitting projects, exploring colour & inspiring your creativity. Knitting Squirrel sells knitting wool & sock yarn in glorious colours & fibres.
