Wednesday 3 July 2013

My First Beanie

Amélie's Beanie - portrait

Inspired by a free Cleckheaton knitting pattern from a Spotlight promotion, I decided I was going to knit a beanie. I've never knitted a beanie before, so of course I wanted to give it a go. There were two problems with the pattern from Spotlight. The first problem was that the pattern was too big for Amélie, and secondly, it had a seam up the back. I prefer to avoid seams in knitting where ever I can and love to put my circular needles to good use.

Amélie's Beanie


So the search began for a beanie pattern that came in toddler sizes and could be knitted in the round with 8ply yarn. Of course, Ravelry is the place for all things knitty - I am NoahsMummy on there if you want to seek me out. There were lots of free patterns to choose from, but I eventually settled on this Child's Self Striping Hat. Only I didn't go for self-striping, I decided to work in stripes using different coloured yarn, inspired by the original pattern I had seen.

To keep Noah busy (because he needs to be kept out of trouble), I set him to work making me a pom pom. The pom pom is probably a bit on the big side (I guess that depends on how you like your pom poms) and maybe even a little bit too dense, but both of those are my fault.


Amélie's Beanie - side

The stripes were a bit tricky. When you knit with circular needles, you really are knitting a spiral. This means that each time you start a new colour there is a jump, or a jog. To overcome this, I found a youtube tutorial. (I love YouTube for knitting tutorials). Basically, you start the new colour, as normal and start knitting. Once you get back to the start of the round, you pick up the right leg of the stitch beneath, to pull it up in line. You can see from the picture above, that I did struggle to get this right, but I worked it out by the time I got to the top of the beanie.

Amélie's Beanie - bike


I may just be a little bit addicted to knitting beanies. They are a great little project and knit up fairly quickly. Perfect for in front of the television on these cold wintery nights, and really good for instant gratification. The stripes could be a great way to use up scraps of left-over yarn as well.

Do you have a favourite knitting project that you like to make?

11 comments:

  1. This looks great. I also like making beanies with left over wool to donate to our local soup bus as they are essential in Ballarat. Cowls are good too, and doll sized kina's are also being made for the school fete

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    1. How nice that you have found a local charity to support, Rachel.

      Thanks for reminding me. I have the doll-sized Kina pattern, ready to make one for Amélie's dolls. I must get onto that. I wonder if I could fashion my own dolly beanie as well. I bet it would knit up quickly.

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  2. Looks great. I would love to give it a go as well one day as I love knitted beanies, both for my children and for myself.

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    1. They are much easier than I thought they would be. They don't use a lot of yarn and they don't take very long to knit. If you've knitted circular before, and can knit two together, then that is as difficult as it gets.

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  3. Absolutely gorgeous. Your little lady looks lovely in her hat and cardigan. Well Done

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    1. I should have mentioned that the cardigan was knitted and given to Amélie as a gift from my friend, Susan from the Brissmiths. You can get the details from my blogpost, here: http://liamsolomonsmummy.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/look-what-postman-brought.html It's beautiful, isn't it. Amélie actually chose to wear that cardigan herself the day I took that photo.

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  4. Very nice. I can't knit anything other than scarfs (scarves?)!

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    Replies
    1. You should definitely give it a go. It doesn't use as much yarn as a scarf. You would need to learn how to knit in the round and how to decrease by knitting two stitches together.

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    2. I meant to add; I have found YouTube really useful for learning new knitting tricks (and refreshing my memory on old ones).

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  5. Oh my goodness Carmel I can't believe that cardi is still getting wear! What a value knit!! I think at the time I added a little extra length knowing the yoke is so stretchy. I think I made the size one too and that is a good sizing to last the early years. PS Amelie is gorgeous and the beanie looks so snuggly. Thanks for commenting on my blog, I haven't had a chance to keep up with everyone's crafty adventures lately. Susan

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    Replies
    1. Oh, I know, Susan - I love it when you get more than one season out of a knitted item. So much work goes into them!

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