Showing posts with label simple slouch knit-along. Show all posts



I may have had to bribe him with some chocolate to get him to pose for the photos, but the hat is done, and Owen loves it! He wore it long after the photos were taken, which is a definite sign of success!

How did your Simple Slouch Hats turn out? I'd love to share some finished photos here on the blog next week - be sure to hashtag your projects #simpleslouchKAL on Instagram so I can add them to the gallery of Simple Slouch goodness!

And for those of you that made your first hat, congrats! Hat making isn't near as hard as it's made out to sound, and now that you've mastered some of the basics of hat construction, you can move on to something a bit more "advanced beginner", as it were.

Coming up in late March or early April, we'll be doing that together, here on the blog again, with another one of my beginner-friendly hat patterns, so stay tuned for that! Thanks for knitting along!

Simple Slouch Knit Along // My Finished Hat!

Mar 9, 2015

Now that your decreases are done, you're ready to bind off your stitches and then weave in the ends. Binding off a hat is easier than almost all other garments, because you're not actually binding off anything at all, really. You're simply tying the end off by pulling the live stitches tightly together.

You'll want to cut your yarn, leaving at least a 12" tail. This way you'll have plenty of yarn for transferring all your stitches off the needle, and for weaving in your ends. Then you simply thread your yarn end through your needle and begin taking the stitches off, one at a time, in the same direction you've been knitting. Rather than knit the stitch from left needle to right, however, you're simply moving the stitch off the left needle and onto your darning needle, as seen above.

Once all your stitches are off the circular needle and on your piece of yarn, your hat will look like this.

To close the top of your hat, simply pull the yarn on the darning needle, tightening up the hole almost completely. Before it's too tight, however, slip your darning needle and yarn through the hole, and turn the hat inside out.

With your hat turned inside out, run your darning needle through the stitches one more time, to tighten up the hole just a bit more and give it a bit more stability.


Finally, you'll tie a knot in your yarn (I KNOW!!! A KNOT!) and pull tight.
 To weave in the end at the top of the hat, simply work your darning needle up and down through one stitch after another, moving around in a circle a row or two below the knot you tied.

To weave in the end at the brim of the hat, you'll need to do a few extra steps.

First, you'll thread the yarn end through your darning needle.

Second, slip the darning needle through the bump of the first cast on stitch - it will be a bit of a bigger bump than the other stitches because it was your slip knot.

Third, re-insert the darning needle, from front of the hat to the back, through the stitch the tail originally came out of. This will close any little gap between that first and last cast on stitch (as seen in 4 above), and will put your yarn back on the inside of the hat.

Then simply weave in this end as you did for the top end in the hat.

Once both ends are woven in - I like to weave the ends for at least a few inches, to keep them secure - simply cut both ends and turn your right-side out, so it's ready to wear!

Early next week I'll be sharing my finished hat photos! Be sure to ask any questions you may have in the comments, and don't forget to hashtag your projects #simpleslouchKAL on Instagram!

Simple Slouch Knit Along // Binding Off and Weaving In Ends

Mar 4, 2015

Now that you've knit your hat to the length you'd like, it's time to start our decreases! Before you get started on your decreases, however, be sure to measure your hat to make sure it's the right length.

Because the bottom edge of the hat rolls up for the first few rows, to measure your hat you'll need to hold it down as flat as you can while measuring. It will feel a bit awkward, and the hat might bulk up underneath where you're measuring, but you'll want to be sure your hat is long enough. The decreases only hapen over one or two rows, so if the hat isn't long enough it'll fit more like a beanie, with a bumpy top.

The Simple Slouch Hat uses a K2TOG decrease, which means "knit two together". To do this, you simply insert your right needle into the next two stitches on the left needle, rather than just one stitch.

Then simply knit the two stitches as though they were one stitch - wrap the working yarn around the right-hand needle,

Lift the left needle up and over the right needle, carrying both stitches with you as you go,

And finally, you drop both stitches off your left-hand needle, leaving just one stitch on the right needle instead of two.

After you've worked an entire row in this manner, you'll have half the stitches on your needles, as seen above.

You will continue decreasing along the second row, until you can no longer comfortably decrease stitches. For my hat, this meant only decreasing for about half of the row, rather than decreasing for a full second row. If you're comfortable squeaking out more stitches, then do so!



Above is a video showing the K2TOG stitch from Knit Picks.

Wednesday we'll talk binding off the top of the hat, and weaving in your ends! Be sure to ask any questions you may have in the comments, and don't forget to hashtag your projects #simpleslouchKAL on Instagram!

Simple Slouch Knit Along // Decreases

Mar 2, 2015

Now that you've got all your stitches cast on, you're ready to join for working in the round and get to work on your hat! One of the reasons the Simple Slouch hat is so popular is its beginner-friendly nature. All you need to know to make the bulk of this hat you'll be learning today - the knit stitch!

Just as a reminder, this is how your stitches should look on the needles. All the bumps should be facing into the circle your needles make, so you know your stitches aren't twisted.


Simple Slouch Knit Along // The Knit Stitch

Feb 25, 2015


Who's excited to start casting on for their Simple Slouch hat today!?

This post is very picture-heavy, as I'll be sharing how to both make a slip knot, as well as perform the long-tail cast-on.I tried to get as much detail of each technique as possible, so if you're new to any of this, you should be able to follow along with ease! You should end up with stitches on your needle similar to the photo above, when you're done with these steps!


Simple Slouch Knit-Along // Casting On

Feb 23, 2015

The best way to start any knitting project is by gathering together all the supplies you'll need, and keep them all in one place. In the case of the Simple Slouch Hat, there's just the smallest number of supplies, but it's good to get into the habit of making sure all your supplies are gathered before you start knitting. You don't want to get halfway through a project and realize you don't have the next set of needles you need, or that your cable needle has suddenly disappeared.

For this project you'll need the following:

A copy of the Simple Slouch Hat pattern! This free pattern has the instructions shared on the linked page that you can print (thanks to the "print" button at the bottom right side of the post), but you can also download it using the DOWNLOAD NOW link at the top of the instructions, if you prefer to save it as a PDF to your computer.

One size 9 / 5.5mm 16" circular needle. Mine is bamboo, and I got it from a big box craft store, which is where I get all my needles.

 One skein of worsted weight yarn. I'm using Lion Brand Heartland yarn, but you can substitute any worsted weight yarn you'd like. Some great substitutes include Vanna's Choice, Bernat Super Saver, and Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn.

One stitch marker, so you'll know when one round has ended and the next one begins.

You'll also need scissors, a darning needle, and a measuring tape. These are good things to have in any knitter's kit, and by adding in stitch markers (like the one shown earlier), you're seeing everything that's in my notions bag!

On Monday we'll begin with casting on, so be sure to ask any questions you may have in the comments, and don't forget to hashtag your projects #simpleslouchKAL on Instagram!

Simple Slouch Knit-Along // Gather Your Supplies

Feb 18, 2015

During my time as a hat knitter, I've had regular requests from folks just starting out with knitting, or just starting out with knitting hats, to explain specific techniques to them. Either they've never knit in the round, they don't know what a "long tail cast on" is, they're not sure how to switch to double pointed needles, and a wide variety of other questions.

I've always wanted to start a series where I explain the hat knitting techniques I use regularly (both in my personal hat knitting and in my patterns), but have hesitated for one simple reason: videos. While I can take photos of the knitting stitches, it's always super helpful to also have videos of what's going on, and for a wide variety of reasons, I'm not making knitting videos right now. And so I've always said "someday" and put it off.

And then, last week I realized something. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of knitting videos on You Tube! Why don't I just take advantage of those, rather than re-inventing the wheel, and start helping folks knit more hats and give them away in a fun new way?!

One of my most popular knitting patterns is the Simple Slouch Hat, and with good reason. With sizes from baby through adult, this hat is the perfect starter hat for those new to hat knitting. You only need to know the minimum of knitting techniques to make this hat, which means even if you've never picked up knitting needles before you can make this hat quickly and easily! In fact, this is the hat pattern I use when I teach my "learn to knit" classes!

Over the next few weeks I'll be combining the Simple Slouch hat pattern with the idea of sharing my photos and other folks videos in a fun new series - for those who are interested, we're going to knit the Simple Slouch hat together! This is the perfect chance for those of you who don't know how to knit in the round to learn; it's the perfect time for a first-time knitter to make their first hat; and it's definitely just the right time for the seasoned knitter to make a simple hat (or two!) for charity!

I'll be sharing everything from how to cast on (using the long tail method), to the knit stitch and how to decrease, all the way to binding off a hat and weaving in the ends. The instructions will be divided up amongst a few posts over the next few weeks, so those of you who are new to any of these techniques will have plenty of time to practice!

On Wednesday we'll begin gathering our supplies, so be sure to ask any questions you may have in the comments, and don't forget to hashtag your projects #simpleslouchKAL on Instagram!

Introducing The Simple Slouch Knit-Along

Feb 16, 2015

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