Super Cosy Adult Beanie

 

Ok, I have to start out this post by making a confession; this hat wasn't actually supposed to be for me, it was meant to be for my cousin. He'd asked me to knit him a beanie and I ordered the wool online in a rush, not noticing in the description that the wool has a glittery fleck in it (you can see it a bit in the photo). Obviously, when the wool arrived and I saw the shimmery bits, I knew it wouldn't be any use for a hat for him.........but I thought 'waste not, want not' and I ended up with a lovely hat! (I've since selected a more appropriate wool for a guy in his mid twenties and his beanie is under construction at present.)

This hat was a really easy piece to make, mainly due to the beautiful wool. It's really, really thick and so soft - almost a velvety chenille type texture. I used a circular loom and when I started to knit it, you couldn't see the individual stitches, it produced a rib-like pattern that you can see in the photo above. (By the way, the photo doesn't do it justice by a long shot. I must apologise for my lack of skills as a photographer!)

The whole thing took just under an hour to finish and I'd make another one in a heartbeat. It's definitely the warmest hat I have, and it's lovely and soft, no itching or anything like that. The wool has just the right amount of stretch so that the stitches don't separate when you put the hat on - making it extra cosy!

I've included a link to the wool, below. I'm seriously considering getting another ball to make a matching scarf if this cold snap continues!

Wool from: Springwools 

Loom from: eBay

Long Loom Scarves

These two scarves were Christmas presents for my sister and my dad, both were knit using super chunky wool and a long loom. For my sister's (the black one) I used a fine shimmery purple wool, along with the main black wool, to give it a bit of sparkle. 

They're quick to knit and I love the pattern the long loom gives in the stitches. These looms are a good idea for anyone who's not great at maintaining the same tension all the way through their knitting, because they keep the knitting and the stitches nice and even.

Similar to the circular looms, the long looms also come in four different sizes. I've seen them online in sets with all four sizes, however in any of my local knitting supply shops, they all seem to be sold individually. Each loom also comes with a pick/hook and a wool needle. 

If you're going to buy an individual one, I'd recommend buying the longest one, simply because there's a greater variety of projects you can use it for - you don't have to use every peg on the loom, so if you wanted to knit a narrow scarf you could use the first 8 pegs, and for wide scarves or wraps you could use the whole length of the loom.

Wool from: Springwools

Loom from: Home Focus at Hickeys

Loom Knit Wrap

I knitted this for my Mum for Christmas. I mentioned in a previous post that I bought a set of circular looms on eBay, and I used the biggest one to knit this. Not wanting to toot my own horn but it looks way nicer in real life than it does in the picture.

The looms are kind of funny sizes, the smallest one would knit a hat to suit a small newborn, or a preemie. The second smallest would do for a toddler or small child. The second largest one would do for an adult, but as for the biggest one, I don't know what sort of hat you'd be knitting on it. Maybe one for an elephant or something - it's massive. 

This scarf/wrap is about the same dimensions as a pashmina. There are three different types of wool in the scarf, the main wool is a plain black chunky wool, and then I also used Firefly wool at the same time to incorporate some interesting colour and texture. Every ten rows, I would weave in a row of furry wool, and I also had a row of furry wool at the start and at the end.

All in all this took me about 2 weeks to knit, it would probably have been quicker but I had several other Christmas present projects on the go at the same time. I'm seriously considering knitting one for myself also, because it's lovely and warm and the furry wool is really soft!

Wool from: Springwools

Loom from: eBay

Super Chunky Blue Beanie

I knitted this beanie for my son using a circular loom. It was a quick job, probably 2-3 hours from start to finish. This loom came in a set of four and I used the second smallest one for this hat. It would do a toddler/small child.

Wool from: Springwools
Knitting looms available through various sellers on Ebay.