The Olann and Warm + Woolly Campaign for The Simon Community is in full swing. There are shops and businesses getting involved and signing up to be ‘Drop Off Points’, there are library’s up and down the country popping up campaign posters and we’ve even been on the radio. Not that I managed to hear it though, as my broadband was awful on the day 😦
Anyway, as some of you probably already know, I’ve been involved in the odd charity knitting campaign in the past and as a result have written a few, easy knit patterns, that are listed on the pattern page here. (must tidy them up now and make them all uniformly me as Leftfootdaisy).
One of them, The Quick Chunky Hat, was originally used for our Chernobyl Children’t Trust collection. I opted for a standard chunky yarn, for a couple of reasons. The first – it’s mighty cold in Belarus and chunky hats tend to be cosier. Secondly, double knit yarn tends to be the most popular weight here in Ireland and if you hold two strands together when knitting, it makes a chunky = Great for using up your ends.
Going back to my original pattern with fresh eyes, so to speak, it occurred to me that the addition of a longer band, might be more beneficial when it comes to keeping out the cold. Ears are more delicate and therefore sensitive to the cold, so a folded band would add extra warmth, where it’s needed. The longer band also gives the individual a couple of options on how to wear the hat, depending on what they find most comfortable.
Those lovely people over at Thomas B. Ramsden (they distribute the yarns from Robin, Wendy, Twilleys and Erika Knight), gave me a couple of balls of Evolve Chunky from Wendy in different shades, for the magazine and I wanted to make good use of the remaining yarn.
Each 100g ball of Evolve Chunky contains a generous 180 metres/197 yards of yarn. The fibre composition is 10% Alpaca, 50% Wool, 40% Acrylic, which when knitted to the recommended tension of 14 stitches to 20 rows on 6.5mm needles, produces a lovely, light, warm fabric ideal for most projects. There are 10 shades of Evolve Chunky available, each with it’s own subtle changing tones and should you want to investigate further there are some lovely patterns available to support the yarn too.
I’ll update the pattern when I get a minute, but if you do want to knit this hat in the meantime. It’s the largest size and everything is the same except at the beginning I ribbed for 21 rows instead of 7, which then means you have to work until the hat measures 9 inches before you begin to work the crown shaping.
I’m pretty sure I have enough left to knit a second hat too, maybe I’ll stripe it with some of the blue?
Before I go…..
Did you notice that my URL has changed?
I’m now officially fibrestrumpet.com on the interweb (thanks to Shane, Dina’s beau).
💖
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 