she makes hats

Hat Patterns To Use Up Your Yarn Scraps

A funny thing happens after you've been knitting for awhile - you start to accumulate leftover yarns. Small bits of varying yardage, remainders of projects you've finished.

In all the years I've been a knitter, I've yet to finish more than five projects without having leftover yarn - and those five projects were scarves or cowls, knit until I had no yarn left!

So what do you do with all those leftover bits of yarn skeins once your original project is done? I tend to save them in a giant glass jar until that's full, and then I work those skeins up into striped hats. To be honest, I don't even always follow a pattern - I simply grab my size 9's, cast on 80 stitches, work a 2x2 rib for a few inches, and then knit every row striping as I go.

If you're not that adventurous, or this will be your first scrap hat, here's a few patterns you can use to get you started using up those leftover bits of yarn!

Source: ravelry.com via robyn on Pinterest

Bella's Eclipse hat, modeled after one from The Twilight Saga.

Source: ravelry.com via robyn on Pinterest

Traveler's Hat - the perfect striped slouch!

Source: ravelry.com via robyn on Pinterest

Hello, New York uses bits of one leftover color and lots more of a neutral color.

Source: dull-roar.com via robyn on Pinterest

A Most Bespeckled Hat - perfect for the smallest bits of leftover yarn.

Source: pickles.no via robyn on Pinterest

From Norway With Love is perfect for using up bunches of similar yarn colors.

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As I get closer to filling up my scrap yarn jar, you'll surely see more of these hats making their way to this blog! Do you do something different with your yarn scraps? Know of any other good scrap-worthy hat patterns?

Hats On People // Corbett Barr

pattern: Jaques Cousteau, by Lalla Pohjanpalo (free pattern!)
yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Wool! in olive green (approximately 2/3 of the skein)
needles: size US 9 / 5.5 mm circular and dpns

Have you ever had one of those brain-fart moments with someone online? Where you say something wrong, start off on the wrong foot completely or worse ... call them the wrong name?!

Well, that's how this hat partnership started - with me calling Corbett Barr by the wrong name!

After making hats for Colin, he sent me a short list of a few folks he thought might also want some hats and to be part of this project. Corbett was one of those folks, and so I fired off an e-mail, mentioning he was suggested to me by Colin. However, I didn't re-read the e-mail very well before I sent it, and ended up calling him Colin throughout.

I was so embarrassed I may have actually crawled under the table.

Thankfully Corbett was a good sport, and I was able to send him a hat anyhow. He chose the Jaques Cousteau hat, one I've knit in the past and love, and wanted an olivey-grey color. I had just the yarn in my stash, and got to work.

Based on the photos above, the hat looks perfect on Corbett, and I'm pretty sure it will come in handy in the upper California weather he experiences every day. Hooray!


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I'm making 10,000 hats for 10,000 people. This is hat 045.

Spotlight On: Sara of Sans Limites Crochet

I'm super excited today to introduce you to Sara and her amazing shop Sans Limites Crochet! 

Sara sent out an e-mail recently to folks who have purchased patterns and fin ished items from her, letting us all know about an AMAZING opportunity she's been given - she's going to intern with Krochet Kids in 2012! To celebrate, and to help pay her bills while she's working with Krochet Kids, she's offering up some super amazing sales and deals in her shop!

To celebrate her, I wanted to share with you all a bit of her e-mail, and a short interview she granted me last week!

I started to crochet when I was nine, and for all who know me, you will agree I'm a bit obsessed. I started Sans Limites Crochet in 2007 and it has grown slowly but surely through the years in between midterms, modern dance rehearsals, and journeys around the world. I recently applied for an internship with a company called Krochet Kids International... and I got it! This internship is absolutely one hundred per cent a dream come true, and I can barely contain my excitement!

Krochet Kids is a company that sells handmade crochet and knit hats and accessories. These items are made by women living in poverty - primarily in Northern Uganda and Peru. Working for Krochet Kids gives these women a guaranteed income and as part of the company they are given business classes so they can use that money in a way that will someday lift their family up out of the grips of poverty and help their own community. Buy a hat, change a life. On their website you can learn about the women that have made your hat and track the progress of them and their family. You can learn more about the Krochet Kids mission on their website, www.krochetkids.org.

In the summer of 2010 I was lucky enough to be able to spend a month in Uganda, and it changed my life. The people of Uganda have lived through a terrible civil war where entire towns have been attacked by the Lord's Resistance Army. Uganda is a country that has lived through child soldiers, rape, mutilation, murder, war, poverty, AIDS, a lack of healthcare, a lack of education, even a lack of food and water.

During my time there I visited orphanages where hundreds of children are growing up without parents, in poor health, and overcoming unspeakable hardships. Every time I stress about the worries in my life, I think back to the people I met there and I am endlessly inspired. My time in Uganda was the most inspiring of my life, and I can't wait to contribute to a company working to make a difference there!

MK: How did you first hear about Krochet Kids?

I saw their commercial while I was staying up stitching with the TV on one night.  Anything that mentions Uganda grabs my attention, because I've been there, and then they started talking about crochet at the same time - it was too good to be true!  So I grabbed my laptop and checked out their site!

MK: How did you get hooked up with an internship for them? How long is the internship?

They had information on their internships online.  I was especially excited about the design internship position because there's nothing I love more than coming up with new knit and crochet designs!  I applied online, and then sent them some of the hats I've made.  I got a call from them on my birthday and they told me I got it  - best birthday present EVER.

MK: What will your internship entail, and what do you hope to do afterwards?

As part of the internship  I get to spend my days working under the design team and Adam Thomson tracking knit and crochet trends, crocheting/knitting/and sewing possible future products to be made by the ladies in Uganda, helping with quality control needs in the warehouse, and other general intern duties like attending any Krochet Kids events in the area and helping with packaging and shipping and all the other bits of work that need to get done.  I'm excited!

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Because the internship is unpaid, Sara is raising funds through her shop - and let me tell you, she's got some great pieces and patterns for sale!

1. The Coziest Of Cowls - 2. Braided Beanie - 3.  Wrap-Around Ribbed Cowl - 4. The Coziest Of Hats

Knitters, check out these patterns like these four - perfect for holiday presents!

1. The Bow Hat and Hand Warmers - 2. Hooded Poncho - 3. The Sans Limites Cowl - 4. Slammer Sweater

Crocheters, patterns like these will fly off your hooks!

And when you purchase something from her shop and use the coupon code INTERN you get an extra 10% off!

simple knits :: soft stitch cowl

gorgeous cowl, perfect drape, and all made with simple crochet stitches! to work the Soft Stitch Cowl simply be sure you've practiced the "double crochet together" stitch before you begin, and you'll have yourself a gorgeous cowl in just a few hours!

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simple knits :: camp out fingerless mitts

i'm loving these Camp Out Fingerless Mitts (Ravelry link only) from Tante Ehm. the pattern is a free Ravelry download (score!) and i can't decide if i love the simple design more (garter stitch that's turned into stockinette?!) or the use of Noro Kureyon to make each mitt totally unique, with the  most beautiful color transitions! even though i don't have any Noro in my stash, i want to go pick some up NOW so i can make a pair! these mitts would be perfect for holiday presents!

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