Bastion Knit Beanie

I knit this beanie for Mr. P. using the leftover yarn from the scarf I knit him, but he didn't like how it fit him as he is very particular! Oh well, at least I tried. So I might sell or give it away. It's 100% Merino wool in an olive drab color.

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Camaraderie Knit Beanie with Pompom

This is the 3rd Camaraderie Knit Beanie that I have knit. I got a pompom maker a few months ago and finally was able to try it out and WOW it made a great pompom! This is the largest size and I have 2 smaller sizes too. I wasn't sure how large a pompom the large would turn out to be, so not sure if I should have gone with the medium size or not?

I wanted to use up this ball of yarn I had on hand. I like how it knit the variegated colors.

Just look at that pompom!

Is this too large or just the right size pompom? I'm not sure.

Happy knitting.

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Camaraderie Knit Beanies

I knit a couple of hats called the Camaraderie Knit Beanie. The first one I used one of those acrylic yarn cakes that has very long colors (yards of one color before the color changes) and I held 2 yarns together as I knit it to make a thicker yarn. So the colors would change on one ball to where I had 2 colors I knit creating a heather or tweed effect. I used this yarn since it was leftover from another project and I still had plenty leftover after knitting this hat. 

I liked how the hat turned out and fit, so I grabbed a skein I had of some acrylic blend in purple that was thicker yarn and soft and fuzzy. I am keeping this purple one for myself because I love how soft and warm it is.

The stitch pattern is easy to knit and uses a cable needle on the third round, but doesn't create a cable stitch. I tried making a pompom on the variegated colored hat using the largest pompom maker I had and the pompom still looks small to me. I need to find a larger size maker or create one myself, but not sure what size to use to make the size I want. 

The purple pompom is rather loose because I was trying to make a larger pompom and I used all the rest of the yarn I had left, which wasn't enough to give a firm pompom. Still I like the larger size better.

I photographed several views of the hats on the head model with and without a wig.

The ribbing band started with the 2 strands of turquoise held together while knitting, and soon changed as the colors changed while being knit.

Close up of the knit stitches.

The largest pompom maker I had made this pompom and I feel it is still too small.

You can see how the variegated yarn (with 2 strands held together) started changing colors and the look. 

Using a fuzzy yarn on this hat the stitches aren't as defined looking, but still gives it some texture.

My larger, but looser pompom.

The Camaraderie Beanie is designed by Sandra Saraswati. I like how she wrote the instructions for this hat. Some designers for knits write great patterns and other designers instructions can be so confusing. There is no standard way of writing patterns and so I love it when I find a designer that I can understand and follow without a problem. I got a few other hat patterns by her too, so I might be knitting some more hats, since I have so many skeins of miscellaneous yarn and you cannot knit much with one skein of yarn (unless it is a huge skein). 

Here is the photo from Ravelry that shows this hat knit by the designer. She added a fake fur pompom, which looks nice, but I couldn't believe how expensive those pompoms are when I searched online for one. They cost more that the yarn I used!

Photo above from Ravelry, shows the fur pompom which is a nice size pompom and the size I wanted to make using my yarn. You can also see how nice the stitches show on her hat here. Using the variegated yarn and the fuzzy yarn that I used on my hats didn't produce a defined stitch like using one color (not fuzzy). So I may knit another one in a yarn that will show the stitches the best. I am trying to work through using all the yarn I have, so I will choose a better yarn on the next one of these hats I knit.

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Hand Knit Beret in Variegated Yarn

I knit this beret in a variegated yarn. The yarn didn't have a label and I have no idea where I got it? Maybe at a destash sale or yarn exchange? It was a nice yarn to work with, so I wish I knew what it was.

My real hair used to look curly like this wig, but has lost a lot of it's curl through aging.

The pattern is called Classic French Beret by BadKnittyKnits. It's a free pattern on Ravelry too. Happy knitting!

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Striped Knit Hat in Cupcakes Yarn

One of the gifts I got for my birthday in November from my friend Tara, was a skein of Cupcakes Yarn by Caron. It is an acrylic yarn that is self striping in wide stripes and comes with a pompom too!

The instructions on the label was for knitting a child size hat in a few sizes. I decided to knit the large hat because I figured it would fit me. I also knit mine in the round, rather than flat to have to seam up later. It came out a bit too large! This was for a child? It is really cute though and I love the colors (several colorways of yarn are available for this yarn). My daughter saw it and she had her hair up, so when she tried it on it fit better with her hair up. She wanted it so I gave it to her because there was enough yarn leftover to knit another hat (although I had to make my own pompom for hat #2). I knit the second hat a medium size, using the same instructions and it came out perfect. (No photo of hat #2 because it is the same only smaller).

I do not know if the instructions might have been translated from another language or not edited correctly or what, because these instructions are sizes for adults, not children! Maybe the small size would fit a medium to large child? Either way, I was able to knit 2 hats (one with a pompom I made) and had a couple yards of yarn leftover. Without making the pompom, I would have had a bit more yarn left, but not really enough to do anything with. I wonder if after knitting one hat, would there have been enough yarn to knit a matching scarf? I suppose it would depend on the pattern used, the width and length of the scarf, but it would have been a daring matching set.

Yarn seems to all be on sale at the major crafting retailers right now, so if you are inclined to give this yarn a try, I would recommend it. Easy to knit, makes nice stripes and itch free! Thanks Tara for the yarn!

Hat I knit using the Cupcakes yarn and the pompom that came with the yarn.

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Woman's Knit Hat

This was a nice hat to knit and the yarn is so soft. I bought one skein of this yarn last year at a garage sale and the label was missing, so I don't know what it is. It is soft and has a nice drape to the yarn.

I bought the Styrofoam head and the wig at a thrift shop (different days). I thought it would look nicer to photograph hats this way. My hair is dark and curly like this wig too (except I have a bit of gray now too). Now if I can only find something to photograph a scarf well. The thrift shop has a few mannequins, but they aren't for sale, darn! Maybe I will find a cheap one some day. I wanted to show several angles so there are several photos of the hat.

If you would like to purchase this knit hat please email me. $20.00 + postage.

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Knit Hat

I knit this hat using up some leftover wool yarn I had. I started knitting a ton of scarves using up novelty yarns (I have yet to photograph them, but soon) and plan on giving them to charity near the end of this year. I figured 2016 would be the year of the scarf for charity giving and then I would start knitting hats with other yarn I have in a variety of sizes. It would be a fun way to test out some hat patterns too. I didn't bother to knit gauge for this hat, because I figured it was bound to fit someone from child to adult. I am using the correct size knitting needles to yarn size, so that I won't be way off from gauge.

I haven't blocked this hat yet either. I thought I may as well wait until I have knit a few and block them at the same time. I found this Styrofoam head at a thrift store. I have been wanting something to photograph hats. I did notice that this Styrofoam head is smaller than a real human adult head. Now I hope that I can find something to photograph scarves better besides my dress form. That dress form is large and a bit of a pain to take outside to photograph things. But since I do have a ton of scarves to photograph, I may take the dress form outside to do a photo shoot one day soon, as long as it's not too windy.

I used 3 yarns. Started with the navy blue and then I switched to the dark gray and then the lighter gray at the top because I didn't have enough of the darker gray to finish the hat. I just love the tops of knit hats that have this swirling look in the decreases.

You can see the 3 yarn colors here. This hat also used a few different stitches, which was more fun to knit.

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