I’ve finished my second hat for the Harvest Hat Knit-a-Long hosted by the lovely ladies over at the Twisted Stitches Podcast.
I couldn’t resist taking a picture with my latest edition of The Prisoner of Azkaban since the purple of the hat totally reminds me of the Knight Bus!
Remember how I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough yarn for my hat? Well I did, and I even had enough left over for a pom-pom!
It was just enough, too. After making the pom-pom and weaving in the ends ther were only a few inches of yarn left.
Last Friday as I was heading home from work I was planning to treat myself to some decadent drink from Starbucks. I pulled up and got of my car and it was. so. hot. I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy a hot coffee so instead I walked across the parking lot to Michaels and bought some yarn.
I’ve been seeing Lion Brand’s Wool-Ease all over Instagram and it always looks so lovely so I decided to try it out for myself. It’s a chunky yarn so I figured its not a huge commitment to cast on right away (I’m combining the red with some stash yarn for a super fun future project).
Remember the pompom maker I showed you last year? (Technically it was last week, but I can’t believe it’s 2016 already and have to take every chance to remind myself of the fact!)
Well, that thing is A. Maze. Ing!
A pompom in progress
You start by wrapping yarn round and round this ring…
I’ve been busy knitting up more Barley hats for 1000 Stitches for Syria. I’ve made over a dozen already so I’m just going to show you some of my favourites.
I’m especially proud of these two made by striping partial skeins of Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks, and I even had enough left over to add pompoms.
Stripes and pompoms!
Just a quick update today to show you some of my hats for 1,000 Stitches for Syria.
One if these is just right
This set was made using left over Andes del Campo yarn, in Brass Heather, from Knit Picks (alas, it’s been discontinued). After knitting a few of these I’ve come to the conclusion that the Barley hat pattern runs quite large – the ‘child’ size actually fits me quite comfortably! Luckily I’m making a variety of sizes so they’re bound to fit someone, right?
I want to start by saying that I’ve tried not to get into politics or religion or anything that could potentially be controversial here on my blog, but the simple fact is that there will be a lot of refugees arriving in Canada in the coming months. In the dead of winter. Canadian winters are cold. So I’ve decided to knit hats for 1000 Stitches for Syria, a Toronto group that aims to include handmade items in the welcome packages for incoming refugees. I’m using the Barley pattern from Tin Can Knits and whatever wool leftovers I have in my stash, and these things are flying off my needles.
My knitting basket is overflowing…
I realize that knitting isn’t the most practical form of helping out. Money is probably the most useful resource, and I have given what I can afford, but I really think knitting for charity is more about making the knitter feel good. I look at the news everyday and just feel so helpless, but when I’m knitting these hats it’s comforting to know that someone is going to be warm because of me. Maybe they’ll be able to feel a bit of the love and good thoughts I’m trying to knit into the wool. Knitting makes me feel like I’m actually doing something.
I’m going to devote my knitting time over the next few weeks to these hats and then try and get to Toronto drop-off point in early January. I’ll keep you posted!
