Great Ways to Stay Inspired in 2015, from Knitter’s Review

Clara Parkes has been a fixture in the knitting world for 14 years, giving the rest of us tons of great information about yarn, tools and the knitting life.

She said in a recent post that it’s easy to keep her job fun and inspired, and that there are five main things she does to keep the creative spark.

I’ll let her give you all the details, but this is a great collection of things to read, listen to and try.

I’m now in my eighth year of writing about knitting, and I know there’s so much more to learn and do and write about — and always will be more — than I can ever possibly cover. That’s overwhelming, but it can also be a lot of fun to dive in and explore whatever’s interesting me at the time.

I really want to get into podcasts this year because I know there’s some great conversations happening around them (and Clara offers links to a few in her post).

I’d love to hear what you do for inspiration, for your knitting or other creations.

[Photo via Knitter’s Review.]

If your family is the sort to do a turkey trot for Thanksgiving, or even just to take family pictures, you’ll want to get started knitting up some Turkey Sack Hats with this pattern from Underground Crafter.

The pattern uses super bulky yarn and is rated easy. It’s knit flat but there are a few skills in here around the shaping of the eyes, which includes changing colors, working bobbles and doing a wicked purl 3 together decrease. Twice.

But that’s all in one row, and the rest of it is pretty simple. The beak is worked separately and sewn on, and the side of the hat is stitched up to make it into a hat.

What’s great about this one is that it comes in 10 sizes, ranging from newborn to adult large, so you really can make one for everyone in the family. And because it uses super bulky yarn you can knit a bunch pretty quickly if that’s a thing you’d like to do.

It’s also fun because you could use this base pattern to make different animals or for different holidays. Make it all in orange and stitch on a jack o’lantern face for Halloween, or make a white one that’s a snowman, for example.

In any style this would also be a fun gag gift for that person in your life who has everything or doesn’t want gifts, or if you do a secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange at work or elsewhere.

And make sure whether you’re making it a turkey or some other character that you include the pom poms at the top! They’re just so cure and a great way to add a bit more color to the project, and they’re easy to make. (See also: ways to make a pompom with yarn.)

You can grab the free pattern at the Underground Crafter website.

[Photo: Underground Crafter]

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