Get Ready for Winter with a Snow Bunny Hat

This classic winter hat from Kat at Just Crafty Enough is so cute, and a great project for those who love colorwork.

Because the pattern repeats around the hat, it’s even a good choice for those new to color knitting, just watch your tension on the yarns as you work the colorwork part so the hat will actually fit your head when you’re done.

Worked with worsted weight yarn, someone who is comfortable with color knitting can finish it in a day or two, and the little faux fur pom pom on top is of course optional and adorable.

I love it in gray and white but you can use whatever you have in your stash that needs to be a hat.

Have you knit a new hat for winter yet? I’m starting one for my daughter (who says she has a lot of hats but can take one more!) but don’t have plans for me yet. This would be a great one!

[Photo via Just Crafty Enough.]

Next Pattern:

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

the simple cinching method mentioned above
sewing the stitches together
three needle bind off
grafting
crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!

Next Pattern:

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