The Gift Of Knitting

How To Knit a Simple Baby Hat

June 12, 2017 by Alina 9 comments

Happy Monday! Last week I finished a cute little hat for my friend’s nephew. If you remember, I started with the pattern from “Simple Knits for Cherished Babies”, the pattern is great, but there were two things that weren’t quiet right for my project. First, my gauge was very off, as I was using a completely different yarn and I had to recalculate all the decrease intervals. Second, the pattern offered to knit the hat flat with a seam. Paloma yarn is pretty thick, so the seam would be quiet noticeable and it could be uncomfortable for the baby. So, at the end of the day I ripped off my progress and just quickly calculated my own numbers. This project is very simple and can literally be knit in one afternoon!

How To Knit A Simple Baby Hat

SIZE:

Baby age – 0-3 months.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS:

Finished circumference: approx 13 1/2″ (34 cm)

Finished height: approx 6″ (15 cm) (with the rolled edge).

MATERIALS:

Yarn

Debbie Bliss, Paloma, 60% alpaca, 40% wool. 1.8 oz. (50 g), 71 yds. (65 m) in Silver.

I used approximately half of the skein.

Needles. 6 mm (US 10) circular.

GAUGE

4″ (10 cm) = 13 sts. The round gauge is not essential in this project.

Note: When using instructions, you can click on each bullet point to mark it as done. This will help you to keep track of your progress.

INSTRUCTIONS

CO 45 sts, using a long tail cast on method.
Making sure not to twist stitches, join the knitting to work in the round using the invisible join – How To Knit The Invisible Join In The Round. – 44 sts left. Place BOR marker.
Work even in Stockinette stitch for approx 5 3/4″ (14.5 cm).
Dec Rnd: *K2tog; rep from * across to the end of a round – 22 sts.
Next Rnd: Knit.
Dec Rnd: *K2tog; rep from * across to the end of a round – 11 sts.
Next Rnd: Knit.
Dec Rnd: *K2tog; rep from * across to one st, k1 – 6 sts.
Finish a hat, following the step-by-step tutorial How to Finish a Hat below.
Weave in ends.

How to Finish a Hat

If you need to see a bigger image, open it in the new tab.

After all decreases you have 6 sts left.

I love the simplicity of this hat! It’s also a great project for your leftover precious yarn that is too good not to put in use.

I hope you enjoyed this little project, please share on your Pinterest board to come back to it again 🙂

Have a wonderful week!

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Knitting, Work in Progress, Yarn

Sunday Treats

June 4, 2017 by Alina 13 comments

Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

To recharge before a long week I try to fill my day with simple rituals that make me feel like I am really using my time off for something that makes me and other people happy… I happen to love routine, making plans and to-do lists. The perfect weekend should include friends, music, sport, good food, reading, limited time in front of the computer, walking, mint tea with milk, calling my family, organizing the house and yarn in my hands…

This weekend besides finishing some big projects, I am working on something very quick and mindless – a lovely baby hat for my friend’s nephew who is just a couple of month old! I’m using Baby’s Beanie Hat pattern from “Simple Knits For Cherished Babies” – a very basic and mindless knit that will make a perfect gift. The chainette Paloma yarn is perfect for it – the thread is thick, but very light and the softness of it is beyond words! Hope to finish it today! I would also love to mention that the book itself is so beautifully photographed – each page is inspiring!

Another mindless and straightforward knit is the crop top with Stone Washed. I have just three skeins, so I think it will be really cropped 🙂 It’s also the first project that I am working on the straight needles – I actually miss it!

I hope you will have time today for some special rituals that make your weekends relaxing!

Have a wonderful day!

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Gifts Of Life

May Textures and Colors

May 28, 2017 by Alina 18 comments

Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Today I am sharing with you nature’s textures and colors that I was inspired by this month. I decided to do it regularly, creating a visual diary that I and, hopefully, you will come back to whenever you need a smile on your face or a reminder that life is beautiful in all its forms 🙂 I am so grateful to knitting for teaching me how to notice small little things and see the beauty in details. I hope this short post will bring some joy to your Sunday morning!

Nature gradients

Timeless sea breezes,
that for aeons have
blown ancient rocks,
you are purest space
coming from afar…

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

Have a beautiful day!

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Yarn

Stone Washed

May 23, 2017 by Alina 16 comments

Happy Tuesday! I hope you are having a wonderful week! Today I would love to share with you one more visual story I created with beautiful skeins by Wool and the Gang. Their limited edition Stone Washed yarn, released in collaboration with Rowan, is a soft and light tape 100% cotton yarn in beautiful “washed” color that adds depth to the shades.

The yarn thread is flat and wide, which makes it very fast to knit – I am using 6 mm needle; but because of the nature of the spun, it stays very light. This feature makes it perfect for light spring/summer garments that are very easy to knit. Simple basic stitches are the best choice for this kind of yarn – the texture is created by the thread itself.

I promise myself to make a cropped summer top for the last three summers, but never get it done. But this yarn is so inspiring that it’d be a crime to keep it in the stash! Plus I know it will be a very fast knit that I’ll really enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed one more chapter in my “yarn stories” and will cast on something light and summery!

Have a wonderful week!

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Knitting Inspiration

Work and Knitting Inspiration

May 20, 2017 by Alina 4 comments

Happy weekend! Taking more than a week long break from blogging always seems like an eternity to me – I am so used to this place. Happy to be back! Hope you had a great productive week!

My day job right now is something completely different from what I used to do – I am creating the content for the website of one of the local boutiques that carries the most amazing pieces that I’ve ever seen in real life. I am very grateful for this opportunity – I’m learning so much about designers from all over the world – Mexico, USA, Australia, Europe; and I am surrounded by beautiful fabrics, textures and colors every day at work!

As soon as I started working there, I fell in love with few knitwear pieces. As you know I love researching about knitwear designers, read their brands’ behind-the-scenes stories and get inspired by unusual knitwear pieces. I was thrilled to discover an amazing designer, previously unknown to me and not just admire her work through the screen of the computer, but actually touch the pieces and see every single little detail. I’m happy to share it with you here today!

Tabula Rasa is a New York fashion brand created by Emily Diamandis in 2013. Emily’s main passion is textiles and each piece created by her brand starts with the yarn and the stitch. “Every knit has a story, every knit has a history” – I couldn’t agree more!

The brand celebrates both contemporary and traditional craftsmanship; knits exude textural complexity through the layering of advanced techniques, and intricate stitches reference century-old fabrics sourced from around the globe. Each distinct garment is designed in a 2-step process whereby a textile is artfully created by hand from novelty yarns and tapes before it is constructed into a final silhouette.

FINO boutique carries the brand’s beautiful knitwear and I would like to share with you some of the pieces. For me it was important to catch the details and you can see the whole piece on the brand’s website.

Anat Jacket is a hand made wonder, created using macrame techniques.

Made with Italian cotton, the piece features beautiful interwoven patterns and colorwork.

The new collection brought fun summer pieces made in linen and cotton yarns. Haze Play top is one of my most favorite items with its cropped shape, beautiful open lace knit back and asymmetric diagonal lines, which remind me of my own Heritage sweater.

Just look at the mix of textures and stitch patterns!

The most unusual piece in the new collection is Loon Wide-Leg Pant. I’ve never made a knit pant, so for me it is really intriguing to see the construction of the piece and all its beautiful open knit pattern. The most striking detail is the hand crocheted bird applique that makes the piece unique.

And, as you know, I have a soft spot for knit dresses. Simple open knit ladder stitch fabric was turned into a very unusual summer dress – Haze Wrap. Gorgeous texture…

I hope you enjoyed this little “details tour” and are inspired to pick up your yarn this weekend!

I have some fun staff coming during next couple of weeks, so I’ll see you soon!!!

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Knitting

On the Needles and In the Stash

May 12, 2017 by Alina 8 comments

Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week and ready to welcome the weekend to have some more yarn time! As for me I want to focus on two projects – new sweater in Moeke’s Elena and a simple shawl from March’s Knitcrate surprise yarn box.

I gasped when I opened my box this time – the color palette selected by Knitcrate team is so perfect, even the packaging is too beautiful to throw away. March brought two squishy Crock-O-Dye (adore this name!) skeins (wool/nylon/silk blend) in rich deep colors from Knit One Crochet Too, two shawl patterns (I am thinking to cast on Windswept – will be perfect for my friend) and the cutest stitch markers set from Gloria Patre Spin N’ Knit.

If you ever decide to subscribe to Knitcrate monthly yarn box, don’t forget to use my special 20% discount code GOK20.

Cute sheep are already in use – aren’t they adorable?

This time Ioana and I decided it would be great to have at least one pattern for two strands of yarn. I got to know Elena pretty well while designing Journey and The Choice; but double strand feels like a brand new yarn, even a simple stockinette stitch looks slightly different. It obviously knits up much faster, but still has this beautiful drape to it. I can only imagine how beautifully it will flourish after blocking!