Make Your Hat Extra Cozy with Felting

I don’t write about felting your knitting all that often, which is weird because my first book was all about felting. It’s one of those things that I think was popular for a while maybe like 10 or more years ago and its time hasn’t come around again yet, but felting is a great way to make knitting warmer, more durable, thicker and more protective from the elements.

A great way to try felting is on a small project like the Felt Tip Toque pattern from Kiyomi Burgin. This simple wool hat is worked in super fine yarn and has a long brim that can be folded over once or twice to give different looks. cx

The pattern has three sizes, which come out after felting to something around 20, 21.5 and 23 inches, which should fit a range of kids, teens and adults. Of course you can always felt your hat a little more or a little less if you happen to have the head you’re trying to fit handy so that you can get just the size you’re looking for.

Using lightweight yarn means that even after felting this hat will still be lightweight and have a bit of flexibility, which is why the brim can still be folded and adjusted once the felting is done. It’s worked in the round from the bottom up and you can also adjust the pre-felting length if you like.

It also has a little bit of I-cord at the top, which adds a bit of cuteness.

Head to the project page on Ravelry to see different sizes of hats worn on the same head so you can decide how you would like to knit it for yourself. It also gives a lot of suggestions for yarn you can use (it needs to be animal fiber and not superwaash, of course) and recommends felting by hand.

You can get the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Kiyomi Burgin]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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