Knit a Flock of Flamingos Hat

Winter is coming for us in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s just a fact. But we don’t have to give up on bright colors and fun, whimsical, even summery feeling knitting projects while we’re waiting for it to warm up again.

We can keep cozy in knit hats festooned with a flock of flamingos if we want.

Stephanie Lotven is here to help us out with that project, thanks to her Flock of Flamingos hat knitting pattern.

This one uses four colors to make the flamingos themselves as well as a watery background at the bottom of the hat, a lighter sky and a colorwork pattern at the top that evokes sunshine. There’s an optional chart for adding duplicate stitch beaks and eyes to the flamingos (and a video tutorial is included in case you’ve never done that before) but they’re really cute either way.

The pattern uses fingering weight yarn, and you might just have some leftover sock yarn in your stash that would work for some of these colors. If you want to use the exact colors used in the sample, you can grab a kit from Emma’s Yarn. There are actually a few different color combos there if you want to change it up a bit. You could also change up the background colors so that the birds are standing in sand with a blue sky background. You could probably even work with the same background color throughout if you like, but the change is fun, too.

You should look through the projects on Ravelry to see different color options that people have used to get more ideas, especially if you want to use your stash.

I’m not saying knitting this hat will totally chase away your winter blues, but it’s sure to bring a smile to your face as you knit it and when you wear it.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Stephanie Lotven]

Animal-Inspired Sock Knitting Patterns

Next Pattern:

Magical Woodland Knits by Clare Garland is a few years old as I write this, but it’s such a fun book I couldn’t resist sharing it. Step into a magical forest full of realistic woodland creatures including rabbit, deer and squirrel, birds and mice, to name a few.

In all there are 12 creatures, and though they are rather small (the wolf is the largest at 14.5 inches/37 cm tall and 18.5 inches/47 cm long), they are so detailed these are definitely not projects for new knitters.

One of the smaller projects, for example, is the robin, at 5/5 inches/14 cm long. It calls for nine different kinds of yarn. Sometimes some are held together, while others are worked with on their own. This pattern only includes three pages of instructions, but the print is rather small and in that time there are six different sets of short rows. None of this makes it too difficult for a knitter with experience reading detailed patterns, working short rows and working with multiple strands of yarn at once, but it’s worth knowing going in that even for small projects you’ll need a lot of supplies and time to work on them.

These are also not meant to be children’s toys, as they can include wires and other supports that could be a danger to little ones.

The process photos often look like taxidermy on a tiny scale, with little animal pelts stretched out and tons of stitch markers showing where and how things go together.

The finished animals are so pretty it’s certainly worth the effort to stitch up these creatures. You might be tempted to make all 12 and set up your own forest scene or use them to decorate your Christmas tree. You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

Along the way you’ll also find a little folklore about the animals, charming drawings and pretty photos of the finished animals, too. In the back you’ll find some helpful techniques like picking up stitches, making I-cord and working short rows.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 patterns. Published 2020 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?