2 hats , 1 pattern

I decided to try my hand at knitting a woolly hat as a Christmas present for my daughters boyfriend. I had some beautiful 100% wool in grey and thought it would knit up wonderfully. As it was my 1st time knitting a hat (and I wasn't planning on selling the hat , just giving it away) I scoured the Internet looking for the perfect easy pattern. 

This web site "Tin Can Knits"  came up trumps for ::: irresistible modern knitting patterns ::: 

They have created The Simple Collection - a 100% learn to knit series, including 8 excellent free patterns and in-depth tutorials.

They say that "Whether you are knitting your first scarf, cozy socks for your dad, or a sweater for your little man, the Simple Collection will teach you all you need to know to make modern seamless knits for the whole family!"

The Barley pattern is the one I decided to use. With a lovely mix of simple garter and stocking stitch , I thought I could just concentrate on getting my gauge right and knitting in the round.

 I started knitting the pattern in the lovely grey yarn , only to be told by my daughter that her boyfriend had a passion for woolly hats , the more colourful the better. It was then I decided that perhaps grey wasn't the best choice.

I started again , rifling through my stash to find a colourful chunky yarn. The only yarn I could find suitable was some Sublime tweedy yarn , a stunning black with flecks of colour in it. I did however find some vibrant left overs of Rowan Big Wool which I thought would make a stunning pom pom for the top of the hat. 

Here are the finished hats. The grey one has now become mine , I love it fits tight on my head with the rim of the hat turned over once or twice. It really shows off the different stitching.

And yes, the pom pom on top of the black hat is huge , but it is LOVED !

Free Tutorial - Knitted child's bracelet

During the autumn I was asked by one of my friends if I could possible knit a chunky bracelet for her youngest daughter. 

I have finally got round to writing up the process for you all.

For this project you will need 

1 wooden bracelet with a diameter of approx 88mm  and a dark wooden button	Small quantity of cream cotton yarn

Instructions 

Step 1. With cream cotton and appropriate sized knitting needles (see ball band) Cast on enough stitches to make the width of knitted item twice the width of the bangle. For the bangles I used  , the width was 23mm , so my knitting was 46mm using 4mm needles.
Step 2. Knit in Moss stitch Row 1 K1, P1, K1 , P1 .............K1 Row 2 Same as Row 1 Repeat these 2 rows until the length of the knitting measures the circumference of the bangle. Check this out by wrapping the knitting round the bangle before you do the final cast off.
Step 3 Cast off You should end up with a cream band , approx 88mm x 46 mm.
Step 4. Sew button on to cream band in a central position. Step 5. Sew 2 narrow ends of band together
Step 6. Place band around wood bangle and sew in place , align stitches to be in the  middle of the inside of the bangle. Step 7. Sew in any ends.

Hope you will enjoy making this child's bracelet. 

Remember, if you make any of these lovely bracelets , then send photos to TheFeminineTouch and I will feature them on facebook or in my blog (or both).
Please feel to make as many of these as you like for personal use, but I would ask that you don't sell the finished items. Please do not reproduce any or all of the tutorial, without linking back to here.

Heh !  If you like this free pattern and want to know as soon as I write another , then why not like my Facebook Page!

Christmas @ Uniquely UK

Well Uniquely UK has been awake for a few months now and we have had a few sales under our belt.

We have been talking  between us about how we can reach out to our UK audience and bring them in, even if its just to look at what we are doing and show us they appreciate handmade items.  We believe that on-line shops like Etsy are not really known throughout the UK , maybe only to the crafting community. Somehow we want to help change that.

Today we launched the start of our Christmas Giveaway , a free competition open to UK residents. Hopefully we will get lots of UK people liking and following us through some of the media channels. Can you help us share the word?

Update - this free Giveaway is now over and a winner has been chosen , so sorry to those of you that have visited this after the closing date. If you are interested in goodies at Uniquely UK and would be interested in a Coupon Code for 10% off until February 2014 or are interested in a newsletter subscription , then please add your comments below.  Uniquely UK will then get back to you.