Thursday 11 February 2010

Yummy mummy hat

I decided that the warmers needed a matching hat and so I made one up. Using the design elements from the yummy mummies I made a few calculations and cast on. the pictures make it look a little oddly shape but on the head it looks quite sweet and fits well, even If I personally prefer a tighter fit to my hats.

I think I will knit another and perhaps record how I made it, as I can't be the only one who would like a hat to match the mitts


Pattern: improvised based on the Yummy Mummy Wristwarmers
Size: one size - mediumish, I will make the next one slightly smaller to hug the head more tightly
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca, Alpaca and Silk 1 Skein (About 1 but I need to re-knit, I used the left overs from the mitts plus some from another skein)
Needles: 2.5mm

Friday 5 February 2010

Yummy Mummies

A simple knit for Christmas pressies. Yummy Mummy wristwarmers, designed by Alexandra Brink(no website) and a free pattern on Ravelry. I first saw this pattern when a friend called Mo turned up wearing them - as she is a none knitter I thought they had been bought from a shop but it turned out that Sue had made them for her. (Mo is now a knitter - another convert)

Super cute and easy to remember pattern, I knit the first pair in Blue Sky Alpacas, Alpaca and Silk, colourway Ruby. The yarn can be a little splitty but the texture and sheen is worth it, it also has a slight prickle when knit up that is doesn't have in the skein - a quick was in Soak fixed this.

Mum liked these so much she requested a pair for Christmas too, so the same yarn in colourway Amethyst, to match a purple Koolhaas hat the she made (well she knit the main part and I did the the top as the 'complex' decreases were apparently confussing - actually I knit the top twice as m*ths ate a hole in it and it had to be reknit grrrrr).


My favourite part is the twisted rib on the underside - silly me I didn't photograph it! It's very neat and sleek looking

The red pair were made exactly as the pattern suggested.

The purple pair were made much longer - 2 skeins of yarn, one went into each mitt. The original knits up slightly short for an average sized person, luckily the recipient of the red pair is very petite.


I recently saw the red pair in use and they have gone very baggy, this hasn't happened with the purple pair - maybe it is the amount of use!

I knit these on 2.5mm DPNs and since I am a loose knitter I perhaps should have gone down a size to make the final mitts less prone to bagging.

Overall an enjoyable quick knit but after two pairs (and a matching red hat, but more about that later) I was pretty bored, I had bought some pink to make myself a set but they will have to wait until I have recoverd from pattern overdose.
I am also tempted to do some increases in the rib as you get further up the arm, the plumper armed among us may notice the pattern twists when it encounters increased arm diameter, this would be more important if you wanted to make them longer. Since I was deadline knitting I didn't want to fiddle too much but when I make some for myself I will.

Pattern: LinndaK's Yummy Mummy Wristwarmers by Alexandra Brink
Size: one size and increased length
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca, Alpaca and Silk 2 Skeins (plenty left over if you knit the specified size)
Needles: 2.5mm