A Hat to Knit in a Hurry

Because it’s panic time for gift knitters, or the time of year when you just might want some simple, quick knitting patterns to ease the stress of the season, I’ve been looking around for some quick to knit projects.

I was looking for a fast-knit hat and I found this cute one, the Sideways Garter Hat from Classic Elite Yarns.

It’s worked in bulky yarn from side to side and uses short rows to give it a sweet pixie shape. It’s an easy way to learn short rows because in Garter Stitch you don’t have to use wraps to cover up the holes.

It looks like a hat that’s enough fun and worked with big enough yarn that you could finish it in a day or two if you still need to knit a gift or want to keep your own ears warm.

It was designed by Susan Mills and can be downloaded from Ravelry.

[Photo: Classic Elite Yarns.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve been enjoying knit amigurumi animal patterns lately (see also: this adorable knit pigeon) and of course being a knitter I love llamas.

So when I saw this little llama pattern I knew I had to share it.

The appropriately named Llama patter from Annie Ahn calls for fingering weight yarn, and it uses two colors for the body and three for the little blanket. The pompom can be made to match or in another color. All of these parts take tiny amounts of yarn so you can use whatever scraps you have left over from socks or other projects and change colors whenever you need to.

It might also be fun to use some mohair or other fuzzy or textured yarn on this one to give your llama a different look. In all the project uses between 100 and 150 yards, or 91-137 m, of yarn and the llama comes out about 10 cm/4 inches tall.

The body of the llama is worked in one piece, so this project is suited to intermediate knitters or those who have comfort working in the round and with all those little pieces.

This one is made to be small so you can carry it around with you (it would be super cute on a keychain or as a zipper pull) but I think it would be a lot of fun to knit this in larger yarn, too, to make a bigger llama. You could even make a whole family in different sizes just by using different weights of yarn and corresponding needles.

The details are so cute, from the shaggy hair to its little accessories, but you could make it plain or change it up by knitting a tiny scarf or even working a little fair isle pattern on the legs or body. So many fun possibilities!

The pattern is available on Ravelry in English and Korean.

[Photo: Annie Ahn]

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