Happy nearly Christmas everyone, hope you’re all feeling nice and festive! I have two makes to share with you today both of which I have been wearing quite a bit recently.

Despite the unseasonably mild weather we have been having recently one of these is a woolly beanie hat I knitted a wihle ago from the Kim Hargreaves book: Still. The hat is called Mist and is knitted with  Rowan Kid Classic and Rowan Kidsilk Haze yarn held together and knitted as one on 4.5mm knitting needles. I chose to knit it with both yarns in grey but with the kidsilk haze that has a slight shimmer to it, because it is blended in with the other yarn the shimmer is incredibly subtle but looks really pretty when  it catches the light. I love a little bit of shimmery sparkliness in the winter as it makes me think of frost and fairy lights, there’s not too much frost going on right now but definitely plenty of fairy lights in our house!

Before I knitted this hat I had already knitted one for my sister and so i knew how much I liked the finished result. The stitch it is knitted in is really interesting, and has an amazing texture that is almost like a rib but doesn’t have the springy shrinking nature of a rib. It creates a thicker fabric with the yarn than something like a straightforward stocking stitch so the hat has a lovely chunky quality to it. Both the yarns used are really warm and really soft and weightless so it’s incredibly comfortable to wear.

The hat is very simple to knit up once you work out the stitch and comes together really quite quickly. The only think I would ideally change in terms of the construction is the fact that it is knitted flat on a regular pair of needles. I prefer to knit hats and socks in the round to avoid the seam that you get from joining them when knitted flat and also just because I really enjoy knitting in the round. I think I will knit this again either for myself in a different colour or as a gift and before I do I plan to sit down and work out the conversion from flat to round.

The sloppy casual nature of the hat makes it great for popping out into the woods for a doggy walk and its also handy for bad ‘mummy’ hair days and post helmet-hair.

I love Kim Hargreaves’ designs and am a little addicted to her pattern books, her designs are classic but always have an interesting twist to them and are styled so beautifully I end up wanted to knit every one!

The other item is Colette Pattern’s Mabel Skirt in a thick black jersey. This is a handy make for popping over tights and leggings at them moment as I am still not comfortably back in my regular jeans after having Jack and so am not really reaching for those for everyday wear right now! Items like this that are forgiving as your body changes size and shape are really handy for this post-natal stage

I really like this pattern and made it up more or less straight from the envelope. the only thing I changed was to eliminate the centre back seam and just cut the back on the fold instead as I wasn’t sure about the merits of the seam there and it saved time not to include it. Its such a comfy skirt and again really nice and casual, although it could be dressed up should it need to be! I would definitely recommend the pattern to anyone and I would say it would be a good introduction to knits for those of you looking for one, especially paired with Colette’s guide for working with knits.

I used my overlocker/coverstitch machine to construct the entire skirt but it would be completely possible on a regular sewing machine using a stretch stitch or a zig-zag stitch and the twin needle technique for the hem..

I have also made Mabel in a jersey fabric that is  fully covered in sequins which I will blog at a later date with my tips for working with sequin fabric. The skirt looks so different in each of these fabrics and I think I will make more versions, I am very tempted by the longer length or may try the shorter one in an interesting print.

 

I am wearing both these items with my huge big plaid Joules scarf which also serves rather nicely as a snuggly blanket! Come on frosty weather, i’m waiting for you…!

Thanks for reading!