More hats for the homeless

Since December, I started giving my hats to an association directly. I’ve also decided to be a mit more vocal about it, and people have been kind enough to join me.

You might have read about my homeless hat story somewhere. Due to personal reasons, I had to ask for my story to be erased from the hosting website.

But long story short, there’s a massive refugee crisis in Europe right now. And it’s freezing cold. So on top of an increasing amount of homeless people, we also have refugees who are scared and lost and, let’s tell the truth, not decently treated. Right now I’m helping two families from Sudan who don’t speak a word of French.

So, because I’m a rebel and it’s illegal to help them, I knit more and more hats. Just casted on the 10th hat today since december 1st. Because people are so cool, they help and send me leftover yarn. My faith in humanity is restored thanks to knitters, crocheters, crafters.

So if you want to help, you can join our Ravelry Group here.

If you want to start helping in your own hometown, please do. I know you might think it’s just a drop in the ocean. But believe me, giving someone a home-made item means a lot. And you’ll be surprised how many people are willing to help you. Sometimes it just takes some communication skills and a bit of yarn really.

My gifts hats for those in need

When I knit for people who live in the streets, I try to go for quick, strechy and easy patterns. I want to be able to knit as many as possible, and knit something warm. No cobweb lace here.

For yarn, I try to avoid yarn that could itch or felt. Some yarns offer a good blend of acrylic and wool. Sometime all I have is soft acrylic. I’m still looking for the perfect mix.

So far, my favorite pattern is Jacques Cousteau Hat. It’s a ribbed hat, knit in the round, strechy enough, quick enough, but not too plain. It works well with numerous different yarns. I think I have done it 4 times already.

What yarn do you use ? What’s your favorite pattern ?

Teal and black stripped hat (Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013 day 2)

 version française ici

So my project related to the Mascot of the Bee is something for me. An improvised hat. When I finished off my last baby cardigan, I was exhausted, my hands hurt, and to be honest I was tired of the whole knitting thing. Having to finish a project in time because the baby is growing up faster than your project is somewhat stressful, because if the cardigan is too small, you’ve knit for nothing. So I decided to take a break from knitting.

I started tidying up my stash, and I saw those skeins. A black one from Bouton d’Or (very common brand in France, though pricy and average quality.), and a beautiful teal one from Bergère de France. I’ve missed knitting black for so long. The goth in me have been fading away for too long. Remember my post about it last year ? So, how could I use these colors, knit something fun, quick, joyful ? A hat, with stripes, knit in the round.

I based the project on the simple grey hat I published here. No pattern, no hidden catch, just free knit. The black yarn contains 50% wool and 50% acrylic, so I decided to have more black stripes over the ear area, to keep them warm. The teal yarn contains no wool at all, so I decided to use more teal stripes for the top of the hat, so the brain can breathe a little bit more.

I used bamboo double-pointed needles in 3,5mm, but I was very disapointed by these needles, the point kept tearing the yarn. I’ll explain more about bamboo during day 6.

Choosing the colors : the black is pure black, I find that very interesting that even in real day light, it tends to look either dark blue or slightly purple with put side by side with the teal yarn. A trick from the brain, probably. I didn’t manage to get the right color of the teal yarn on the picture, it’s a lovely teal that I used in this lace attempt. Despite what the brand says, it really doesn’t work for me to knit lace with it, but it looks lovely for simple stockinette stitch. I don’t know why, but I find it softer on the skin when crocheted instead of knit.

Choosing the technique : I felt like knitting in the round, so I used doubles-pointed needles. I don’t know how to knit in the round otherwise I love casting on on multiple needles, it has something magical in it…And it’s easier than expected ! I decided to make a neat hem, so I used that lovely technique I discovered while attempted to knit the wurm bonnet. Do you know the name of that hem ? You knit in stockinette stitch (I used black, as this part was going to flip to the inside of the hat and not be seen), then a raw of garter stitch, then stockinette stitch again, making the real beginning of the hat on the right side.  I chose to use teal for the garter stitch raw to give more light to the face.

 Then you knit together the cast on stitch and the one on your needle and you get a perfect edge ! The border is a bit thicker of course, but it’s cool not to have to worry about the cast-on method to use anymore, since it doesn’t show anymore.

Then I knit stripes, with no specific pattern, just the way I felt like. I love thoses moments when you don’t have to think, just improvise.

But sometimes, you do something that doesn’t work.

I decided to go for cables, teal cables between black, and it was and epic fail. My very first time trying a two-color cable anyway. Maybe some other times, when knitting flat and with a knitting book teaching me how to do it on my lap !

The teal yarn went ugly, holes appeared, it just wouldn’t work. So I decided to rip off that part and go back to the stripe idea.

I’m not a big fan of ripping of (I’m sure nobody really is), but experience has proved it’s better to unfrog than to knit something you really don’t like.

 So here’s the pink life line, in the stitches where I want the ripping off to stop. (That sentence didn’t sound good in french either, go figure).

It’s always a bit scary to take your yarn and rip off the project, you never know if the lifeline is well weaved into the stitches… Because if you’ve forgotten one, it makes a mess !

But this time it went well, and the awesome thing about knitting black is that you don’t see the twisted stitches that much. I don’t mind twisted stitches anymore, I’m trying to stop being a perfectionist anyway.

Now, on to the stupid thing. I lost the hat. I finished it, and lost it, like, the next day. Makes me feel like a squirrel you now, mountains of projects and forgetting where they are afterwards. Do bees forget stuff too ?

But luckily I found it under a pile of other projects, and here it is :

So what’s your project ?

A nice and classic grey hat in Katia Austral.

A simple and warm hat, knit with Austral wool by Katia, 50% merino/ 50% acrylic. It’s very soft and the color is perfect, classical and wearable but with some depth.

I casted on 108 stitches on bamboo double-pointes needle 3,5mm. Bamboo was a mistake, it kept tearing the yarn. I’ll explain more during the knitting blog week. I loved the construction, basically you knit stockinette stich for about 10 row, then garter stitch, then stockinette again so the first stockinette part flips to the inside of the hat, and then you knit 1 cast stich with 1 stich on the needle to sew them together. (Ok, not easy to explain, you can see the wurm bonnet on ravelry to see how it’s done). It was my first time doing that construction, so I had to rip it off and knit it again until I understood how it worked, but I really like it, it makes a nice clean edge.

I didn’t use a pattern, I simply tried it on and enlarged when needed and reduced at the end. It was a bit slow (less than a week though), but very interesting, and it fits perfectly !

What’s your favorite type of hat to knit or crochet ? Lace or bulk yarn ?