• Home
  • Suggest A Craft
  • DIY Newsletter

Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

  • About CraftGossip
  • Our Network
    • Bath & Body Crafts
    • Candle Making Ideas
    • Crochet Ideas
    • Cross Stitch
    • Edible Crafts
    • Felting Patterns
    • Glass Art
    • Home & Garden Ideas
    • Indie Crafts
    • Jewelry Making
    • Kids Crafts
    • Knitting Patterns
    • Lesson Plans
    • Needlework
    • Party Ideas
    • Polymer Clay
    • Quilting Ideas
    • Recycled Crafts
    • Scrapbooking
    • Sewing Patterns
    • Card Making
    • DIY Weddings
    • Not Craft Ideas
  • Giveaways
  • Roundups
  • Store
  • Search

Knitting For Speed or Knitting For Pleasure? Both!

January 8, 2009 by Terrye

What did I find for you today? A free shipping coupon from Annie’s Attic! I personally like free shipping sales, almost better than percentages off.

Just recently became interested in speed knitting. Why? Can’t say, other than that if there’s a technique out there that people are doing and I don’t know about it, well, let’s just say that being raised with four brothers may have brought out a bit of a competitive side. Just a bit. So I hear that speed knitting is all the rage and I have to check it out.

The very first place to check such a thing out is, of course, YouTube. And then Knitpicks runs a close second. So toddling off to YouTube, I found a plethora of speed knitting demos, mostly they are doing a continental style of stitching on steel needles, but not all of them. Annie Modesitt does a speed knitting and purling thing that I just cannot comprehend.
Anyway, go to YouTube and search for “speed knitting”. And then go to KnitPicks and search for the same thing. I tried some of the techniques and did indeed speed up my knitting a bit, but it’s still in the concentration phase.
While you’re on YouTube, check out the backwards knitting video. Sooooo simple!

Next Pattern:

  • Book Review - Knitting Socks: Quick and Easy Way to…
  • Knitting Tip: Using Interchangeable Knitting Needles
  • Get a Jump on Summer Knitting with this Great…
«
»

Have you read?

Knit a Hat with a Flock of Chickens

It’s well known (among knitters, anyway) that knitters seem to love chickens as a motif and a subject of our knitting projects. The Emotional Support Chicken and all the other chicken knitting patterns are just the beginning of our devotion to farmyard friends. 

For example, there’s Farmer Dennis’ Chicken Hat. This free pattern from Stacy Black is a simple worsted weight beanie sized for adults and decorate with a couple of little rounds of colorwork fences and a flock of chickens strutting around the body of the hat. 

You don’t need a lot of any of the colors for the chickens, their facial features or the fences, so this is a great project for using little leftover bits from other projects. The main color for the body of the hat is less than a skein using the yarn suggested, so you might just have everything you need in your house to start stitching up this hat right away. 

The colorwork is presented as a chart, with a 16 stitch section that repeats around the body of the hat. All the color changes are shown on the chart but I think it would be easier to knit the whole chicken in the chicken color and add the eye, beak and other features using duplicate stitch when the knitting is done. That way you don’t have to carry those yarns around the whole hat for just a few stitches. 

As the name suggests, the original hat was given to a farmer who shared their eggs, but anyone who raises chickens or just has a thing for the fowl is sure to love this cute hat. It wouldn’t be too difficult for someone new to stranded knitting or reading charts to make, either, so if that’s you, give it a try. 

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Stacy Black]

Knitting Patterns for Little Chicks

Tiny Hens to Knit

Categories

baby hat Baby Patterns Beginner Book Reviews cardigan Christmas CraftGossip Giveaways Craft News and Events Free Kntting Patterns Giveaways! Hats Knitting Articles Of Interest Knitting Patterns Knitting Technique & Ideas mittens Quick scarf shawl patterns socks Sweaters

RSS More Articles

  • Cozy Up Your Holidays with This Stunning Christmas Blanket!
  • 5 Must-Know Secrets to Turning Your Suburban Home into a Profitable, Sustainable Homestead
  • Recycled Paper Cylinder Face Art – A Colorful Win for All Ages
  • 12 FREE Summer Digital Stamps to Download
  • Today Only: 50% Off When You Spend $50 at Crochet.com!
  • Today only 50% OFF When You Spend $50 at KnitPicks.com
  • Kids and Adults Will Love this Paper Version of Tetris
  • Knit a Hat with a Flock of Chickens
  • That Time a Thrift Store Employee Shamed Me – And Your Honest Responses
  • DMC American Camping Embroidery Pattern – A Nostalgic Outdoor Stitch for Summer Lovers

Copyright © 2025 · CraftGossip | Start Here | Contact Us | Link to Us | Your Editors | Privacy and affiliate policy