Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Knit Hats Inspired by Lady Detectives (and Get a Deal This Week Only)

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Order A Head for Trouble and Get Free PatternsOver at About I recently got the chance to review a really fun book by Julie Turjoman. A Head for Trouble: 20 Hats and Adornments Inspired by Lady Detectives of the Roaring Twenties, is a book full of stylish hats and other accessories updated for modern sensibilities.

These projects would be perfect for a costume party or just for keeping yourself stylishly situated through the cool weather (and cold office) months.

I mention all this over here today for a specific reason. A Head for Trouble is currently in preorder and Turjoman is running a special that ends this week, so I wanted to make sure you knew about it if you want to check it out.

Anyone who orders the printed book/ebook combo of A Head for Trouble this week will also get a digital copy of the six-pattern mini-collection A Head for Fashion, which includes five hats and a pair of mitts inspired by fashionable ladies of the past. If you don’t want both the printed and the ebook version, you can order one and still receive one free pattern from the mini-collection.

This book is really cute and I hope you’ll check it out if you’re into vintage fashion. If you see anything that catches your eye, I’d love to hear about it!

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Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

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!