Knitting Madness: Hats, Boots and Headbands

This past week I've been inspired to get back into a bit of knitting. I haven't done any the past couple of months mainly because it's been too hot for wearing wool, and we've had nice weather so I'd rather be outdoors!

It started because I wanted a gift to give a friend who is pregnant & was feeding our cat for a few days while we were away. I've got a pattern booklet from the Australian Women's Weekly (Great Winter Knits circa 2012- I bought at our local hospice shop) and a lot of the colour ways are grey with a bright contrasting colour. As I have a whole bunch of grey wool scraps, I thought I could do "something" and just get a couple new colours of wool. At Spotlight they didn't have a light, buttery yellow that I was imagining, so I settled for bright Orange and Turquoise blue. 

The pattern I always use for my hats is from Ravelry and available for free here. I just adapt it to whatever colour or size I want. Most of my wool is DK 8ply so I use 4.0mm or 4.5mm straight needles. 

What I've been up to! Making, Baking and Creating!

Last week I was SUPER busy! We had a short week because of the holiday on Monday for Labour Day. This doesn't really affect me given that I don't work on a Monday! But it was nice to have my husband at home with us. So I didn't get much done that day as a result, being in weekend mode for an extra day!

(The view from my deck, last friday night)

Finished projects....August: Hats

Thought I would update with some of those things that I started in August , and have now completed. I already posted about the baby booties, so have made just the 2 pairs of those. I have bought some gorgeous multi-coloured wool to use but now I love doing the hats so much I might use it for that instead!

Easy Baby Booties Pattern

After mastering the scarf (see here and here), I decided to branch out and try something else. I went to my local Spotlight store with every intention of getting the materials to try crochet, when I came across this pattern for One Piece Baby Booties. It was labelled "easy" so I thought I would give them a go.

What I'm Making...August

I'd like to do a monthly post updating you on what I'm currently making, baking or creating!

So here goes for August:

Coral Infinity Scarf

After making the first Infinity Scarf (link here), I was kinda hooked and really wanted to do another one. I'd seen a few patterns on Ravelry and in particular this SUPER cool chunky "cowl". (I get really confused between the terms snood, cowl and infinity scarf, to me they all mean a circular scarf!) but after reading the pattern and sort of having a go, I was very put off by the need to use circular knitting needles. It's one of my knitting goals to be able to knit "in the round", so I can knit hats. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I dress my son in all kinds of crazy hats, so I'd really love to be able to make my own.

Beginner Knits: Infinity Scarf Pattern

Last year sometime I saw an advert on TV for a series called "The Art of Knitting". You could buy a magazine which came with instructions, a pair of knitting needles and some wool to start you off. The idea was that each week a new magazine came out and each week you complete a knitted square which by the end of the series could be sewn together to make a blanket. I decided to give it a go as I had previously done some knitting as a child but never took it up seriously as my mum lost patience teaching me (mostly due to the fact that I am left-handed and couldn't get the hang of doing everything backwards). Anyway, I am lucky enough to work with some very talented crafty people at my work, so they said they would steer me in the right direction.