Knitting

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Oregon Wool Used for Team USA Uniforms — And Knit Your Own Hats

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Ralph Lauren has been the outfitter for the US Olympic team and Paralympic Team for years, and the company likes to use American-made fibers when it can. That’s why Oregon’s Shaniko Wool Company has once again been tapped to produce items for the team. 

Shaniko Wool Company and its partner ranchers have been tending sheep continuously for more than 100 years, and this year they’ve provided wool for sweaters, mittens, hats and more for the Olympic teams. Shankio Wool also provided the wool that made the navy blazers worn by Team USA in the opening ceremony at the 2024 Paris Games. 

The same family owns Imperial Stock Ranch, which supplied wool for uniforms in 2014 and 2018 as well. 

For the opening ceremony Team USA uniforms included winter white toggle coats and trousers, as well as turtleneck sweaters with stranded knit patterns, an American flag and Olympic rings, all made with American wool yarn from the Shaniko Wool Company’s co-op of growers. 

You can buy some of these items from the Team USA Shop, where the men’s toggle coat runs almost $2,000 an the opening ceremony Paralymics sweater is almost $700. 

The earflap hat is a mere $327.99, but as you might imagine some intrepid knitters have already interpreted these classic designs for home knitters to make their own. 

Mercy Crimm has a beanie worked in red, white and blue with the snowflake pattern from the Team USA hats. The pattern is a free download on Ravelry and it comes in three sizes. The motif is charted but it’s a pretty easy one to follow. The pattern uses worsted weight yarn. 

Another free Ravelry download comes from Susan Rainey, whose intepretation of the hat is a little more literal. This one includes the ear flaps and tassels of the original, and is also worked in worsted weight yarn. It has four size options and is worked from the bottom up starting with the earflaps, with a chart for the colorwork. The designer calls the tassels “a little fussy,” but also notes they make the hat, and I agree. 

Are you planning any special knitting while watching the Games this year? I’d love to hear about it!

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Stitch a Simple Sack Hat that Looks Like a Turkey

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]