beanies: the ultimate travelling companions!Part 1

Well, socks are pretty good too. But... I'm not a fan of magic loop - ooh! ah! did I just write that? I knit socks on dpns so there's always the danger of losing one needle when I travel by public transport. Therefore sock knitting is usually confined to the car or the house.

Beanies, on the other hand, are lovely to knit on the train. They're quick, light and short so even with my briefcase/satchel on my lap I can still knit [socks, on the hand, get too long for this limited space]. Beanies also easily stretch around my 60cm Knitpicks Options once the band is knitted. And [I'll try to redeem myself here] I do use the magic loop for the band and to complete the top of the beanie! I have dpns in limited sizes [2.25, 3.25, 3.50 = US sizes 1, 3 and 4] but using Knitpicks Options means I have all the sizes of circular needles I'm ever likely to use.

So, having no doubt lost some readers along the way - those ardent supporters of circulars and magic looping - let me show you some of my beanie output for the three months of winter.

First there was the scrap yarn beanie that I knitted in the car on the way to mum's birthday surprise [after I finished seaming the sweater].


You may recognise these yarns as being left over from this sweater and this Tomten. WM's picture is more creative than mine [why didn't I think of that?] but you can't see the dark blue band.

Then, because I was tired of all that Baby Lustre I had been knitting [that extra shiny thread can make such a harsh difference], I knitted some beanies in oh-so-soft Tencel and acrylic.

And two of these count as textured knits [I didn't actually show any of my knitting in the final round up]! The first is in a pattern I know as Broken Rib. I have heard it called Moss Stitch Rib and Interrupted Rib too.


The second is a simple K1P1 rib. [Did I mention soft and warm?!]


And the third has a simple garter band and stocking stitch cap.


While I was showing DD the beanies, my SIL asked me what Tencel was made from and I wasn't sure I had the right answer. Upon researching, I was surprised to learn that Tencel is not a petro-chemical synthetic fibre: it's made from wood-pulp. Tencel is actually a registered trade name used by Lenzing Fibres for a yarn which is more accurately called lyocell [just as Nylon is Dupont's registered trade name for polyamide]. I bought this yarn for 99c a ball at a clearance sale at Spotlight many moons ago and can get nearly two beanies from one ball - you gotta admit, that's good value! I think I've already said that the yarn is amazingly soft and warm and the perfect antidote to lustrous acrylics.

Beanies are also good for using up odds and ends of yarn - this one has six different yarns in it!


And this one used up the last of the chocolate tencel/acrylic blend.


These last two plus the two "blue" versions below are July's output. All of them use up odds and ends.



Part 2 coming to this blog real soon!