Barley Hat by Tincan Knits and more.......

Hello my friends, how are you all doing? This week I've knit a new hat for Caiden, he's outgrown all of his handknit hats that I made him before he was born. I looked through lots of patterns and the one that Jodie and I both liked was the Barley Hat by Tincan Knits, the sizes range from baby through to adult.

It is a free pattern from The Simple Collection which contains eight patterns including accessories and sweaters. As the title says, they are simple and basic knits aimed at beginner knitters or more experienced knitters who want a quick simple knit. The great thing about this collection apart from been beautiful projects, which goes without saying as they are by Tincan Knits and I love all their patterns but the whole collection is FREE.

I would knit every one of them and the are sized from newborn to large adult something for the whole family. The patterns are seamless using worsted weight yarn in stockinette and garter stitch so perfect for beginners. If you've always want to learn to knit in the round or knit a sweater but have always been a little bit imtimitated, these patterns would be perfect for you.

Here's my little hipster grandson wearing his new hat, I didn't have any suitable worsted weight so I used some Drops Lima DK. I would have knit the baby size but as I was using a DK , I knit the toddler size on the same needles as they recommended and it turned out perfectly.

I didn't swatch for the hat, I just took a chance, I thought as it was a small, quick knit ( it took one evening), I had nothing to lose if it was too big, I could just start again with smaller needles. Caiden has quite a large head for his age so I was aiming for 17" head circumference, which I achieved once it had been blocked. I was so pleased how it turned out, it was the perfect size and he looks so cute in it. I will definitely be casting on another one soon.

I've finished my purple "Fairisle" socks which I knit in Rico Design Superba Mexico, these are going to my friend who has a birthday coming up she has been very kind to me over the last few weeks so deserved a special gift. She does a lot of walking and she loves my handknit socks, she says they are so much more comfortable and warmer than shop bought, I've been promising her a new pair for a while now.

Since finishing another pair of socks, I've picked one of my brown paper bags with my Personal Mystery Sock Yarn 2015 inside. February's sock yarn was this, Rico Design Superba Santa Fé, this is very similar to the last sock yarn. I've got to say, I really like this brand for a hardwearing sock yarn, it's not as luxurious like some of the beautiful selfstriping or indie dyed yarns but I think it will stand the test of time like the Regia and Opal.

When I picked this yarn for the bag, I knew I would knit my husband another pair of socks, I love the colours from dark chocolate brown to rust to a taupe with a tweedy look, I wouldn't mind a pair for me.

I wanted to try a new to me cast on for my next pair of socks after listening to Jo's Shiny Bees podcast And her Sock Surgery segment. They were talking about different cast on techniques for socks and the recommended one was the German Twisted Cast-On which the said gave a neat,stretchy cuff. I absolutely love it, it really is the best cast on I've used. I looked on the web for a good tutorial and went for a You Tube video by the Knit Witch, it was easy to follow and I picked it up really quickly.

I've spent a cheeky half hour on them this morning while I enjoyed a cup of Earl Grey. I'm knitting a plain Vanilla sock with 72 stitches.

Now to what I'm reading this week, I've nearly finished Harry Potter and the Philophers Stone so hopefully should be starting a new book by the end of the week. I am enjoying it far more than I thought I would and will definitely read the other books, eventually.

I've also been reading the new Spring PomPom magazine, again it is full of beautiful patterns,mit never disappoints. I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Nicole's Keep Calm, Craft On, check out all the gorgeous projects for lots of inspiration.

Have a good week.

xxxxDebxxxx

I've just linked up to another link up called Lunamon Design.