Thursday 5 March 2015

Made by me | Knitting bobble hats.

 I am a complete novice at knitting, but it was cold (as it usually is in the UK) and everyone was wearing funky, knitted bobble hats. My head does not suit hats at all, and I was desperate to find one that looked good and actually fitted but I gave up looking after December and decided instead that I would learn how to make a hat, this way I could make one that fitted, and I would actually wear.


You will need: 
Knitting needles (either circular or straight)
Wool (and/or fake fur pom pom)
Cardboard


Blunt sewing/threading needle
For my first hat (the dark grey one with fake fur pompom), I bought a knitting kit from Fred Aldous, a wonderful craft shop in Manchester, the link to which is here
The kit provided me with: instructions, 8.0mm circular needles, 100g of super chunky wool, a blunt sewing needle, fake fur pom pom and a 'made by me' label to attach once finished.   
I ordered my kit online and it arrived the next day, which was great because I couldn't wait to get started. 
There are instructions showing you how to cast on, however I found youtube videos and googling it more helpful than the ones provided. I used a long tail cast on method, without the slipknot at the beginning. The instructions tell you to cast on 40 stitches, I only cast on 36 because I have a small head. 
Once you have cast on, you are instructed to knit in a 'brioche stitch' I literally had NO IDEA what this was, it sounded so complicated and scary, but after browsing youtube/google/pinterest A LOT, I came to realise Brioche stitch was pretty similar to Fisherman's Rib Stitch, and there are a lot more videos and information for this too. Here's a ribbing stitch tutorial by New Stitch a Day, who have an amazing youtube channel for knitting.
To begin. First Row   
For my first row, with 8.0mm Circular Needles I: Knit 1, *Knit 1, yarn in front and slip 1 purlwise and then repeated the process after the * until the last stitch as you will knit that one; this means that you will have a neat edge to your work. To slip one purlwise, you bring the working yarn to the front of the needle (the needle you're knitting the stitches onto) as if to purl, and with that same needle, push the end of it down through the first stitch on the other needle, and slip the stitch off. Then  carry on knitting 1 and slipping 1.   

Second Row.
When you look at your first, finished row, you will see that two stitches cross over, don't panic! This is exactly what's meant to happen and is completely normal. The picture to the left highlights the two stitches crossed over!
When you start to knit your second row, remember that the first and last stitch on the needle needs to be knitted!
The pattern I followed for my second row was: Knit 1 *Knit 2 together, yarn in front and slip 1 purlwise. Then repeat from * until the last stitch where you will knit 1. FYI, the two stitches that crossover each other are counted as 1 stitch, so when you 'Knit 2 together', you knit the crossover stitches and the slipped stitch.


REPEAT ROWS 1 and 2 UNTIL YOUR WORK MEASURES APPROX 17cm (although I only did mine to 15cm as I have a small head) It's up to you how long you want your hat really, if you want to roll the edges up then make sure you take that into consideration when deciding on the length of your hat.

Shaping the crown
First row
Once your hat is at it's desired length, for the first row I followed the pattern: Knit 1, *Knit 3 together, yarn in front and slip 1 purlwise. Repeat from * to the last 3 stitches where you will knit 3 together.
Second row - fourth row
Work in original pattern without decreases.
Fifth row 
Knit 1, *Knit 3 together, Yarn in front and Slip 1 purlwise, * to the last 3 stitches where you knit 3 together.

Cut the yarn and leave a long tail of thread, pull this through the blunt threading needle and transfer the stitches left on your knitting needle onto your threading needle, and fasten your hat off. Then add a Pom Pom! 

With Straight Needles
For straight needles, I used this website which suggests casting on 60 stitches, but even that was a little snug for me, so I'd suggest 70 maybe even 80.
I decided I wanted to have a fold over in this hat, so after casting on to 5.5mm needles, I began the pattern of: Knit 2, Purl 2, until my work measured 7 cm (next time I may work it to 10cm). 

I then went off on my own and used the ribbing/brioche method, instead of the suggested stockinette stitch. STICK WITH STOCKINETTE! Oh my, I had such a difficult time trying to shape the crown of my hat! I had to pull stitches off all the time and start again, it became super tedious but I am proud that I managed to finish it (I couldn't tell you how, I have no idea). 
My hat was probably 12cm long, not including the roll up part of it (overall, it was approximately 18cm) although, I think I should have made it longer as the hat was originally for my boyfriend, but it's too small for his head and coincidentally fit mine almost perfectly.

Once I FINALLY finished my hat, I cut a long piece of thread off of the end (approx 20 inches), threaded it through my blunt needle and transferred the stitches from the straight needle onto it. I then seamed the edges of my hat together using a mattress stitch, closed of the top of my hat and made myself a pom pom following a tutorial on youtube.
Here's how the hat turned out...

Hope you guys enjoyed. I'd love to know whether you have been making anything recently, or have any ideas for me? I really want to knit myself a jumper, although technically, I don't think I'm quite there yet!

Beth x