The Neala Hood

My second pattern! So as soon as I'd finished my Riverbanks, Neala decided she wanted one her self. Which brought out my creative skills again! Well I can't help it lol I do have another pattern in the works but that will have to wait!
So I give you....

The Neala Hood

This is designed to fit a 4/5 year old child, tho I did try it on my 6 year old and it fit him too, so it will fit a few, best thing is to try it on the recipient as you go along!
Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:
100g Sirdar Click Chunky in Bloom

4.5mm 24inch circs (yes I know this is small for the yarn, it give a nice dense fabric and is actually quite a nice feel!)

1 Stitch marker

Tapestry needle

Spare circ for grafting

4.5mm Crochet hook (optional)

Gauge er... well I tend to knit loose, so if you are a tight knitter go up a needle size lol

The Pattern:

Cast on 80 stitches, place marker, join in the round, careful not to twist

Row 1 Knit

Row 2 Purl

Row 3 K2tog 3 times, K1 (YO K1) 6 times, K2tog 3 times, K1

Row 4 Knit

Repeat these 4 rows twice more (3 times in total)

Knit until piece measure 5inches from the cast on (from the bottom of a wave if you catch my drift lol)

Cast off 24 stitches and knit to the end of the row

You'll now be working the piece flat

Row 1 K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, purl to last 5 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Row 2 K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, knit to last 5 stitches, K1 P1, K1, P1, K1

Repeat these two rows until the piece measures 14inches in total from cast on edge

Place 28 stitches on a spare circ and graft the two sides together using Kitchener stitch

Weave in your ends and you are done!

For the sake of looking neat, on the cast off edge, I did two rows of double crochet (american single) with a 4.5 hook, to stop the edge from curling over and used a couple of stitches to attach it to the sides of the hood but this is entirely optional and purely for aesthetic reasons, if you don't mind the curling edge then leave it!

If there are any problems in the pattern or you have any questions, give me a shout and I'll do my best to sort it out!
Hope you enjoy the pattern!




Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Must be time for another blog post!

Well at least I'm consistent with being infrequent! Its not too bad at the moment, one a month isn't a sin I'm sure!
I've actually been quite busy recently, I finished my wollmeise clapotis (which is going to be the subject of another blog post when I've actually taken decent photos of it, watch this space!), started another one involving beads (I swear its going to be worth it, even if it is lace weight and I have to stop every few stitches..) and done a bit of crochet for birthday pressies and my self, and done a pattern from the new Knitty!
The crochet first! Every few days I get one of those emails from Knitting Daily, most of the time I give it a cursory look over as mainly its patterns they are trying to sell, but some times it contains free patterns and useful hints and tips. This pattern caught my eye. Hmm stripy! And I decided I must give it ago, and made one for my lovely friend Kirsty for her birthday.

I never go hiking with out my knitting bag made in Patons sorbet

I really enjoyed doing it, and me being me and having a slight bag fetish, I stared at my sorbet yarn, wondering what colour combo to use, until it occurred to me, didn't have to follow their stripe pattern (yeah some times I'm not that quick off the mark!) and using the general bag construction, I made this:

I love it, its so cool and cute at the same time! And of course, the perfect size for an on the go knitting project (tho currently it holds my beaded clapotis for safe keeping!)

I mentioned knitting some thing from the new Knitty, now its not often I see some thing and I think omg I have to knit that right now this moment, but this one really inspired me!

Riverbanks from Knitty, in Noro vintage.
(and please meet my new model Martin hehe)

Callum wanted a go too..

The Riverbanks from Knitty just really made me want to knit it, it was just the idea of it, its basically a cowl with a hood, but it just looked so unique. Of course, I didn't do it in the same colours as the one on Knitty but I did use the same yarn, Noro Vintage, and despite a few usual Noro hiccups of knots and an entire colour missing from one place, it feels really nice and I'm glad I went with it.
A word about the pattern tho, the way it is written on Knitty is that you start with a provisional cast on and start on the upper neck and go back and do the bottom later, which is a huge faff, and ultimately pointless, luckily I had a look at other project on Ravelry before I started mine and noticed people mentioning not doing it the way it was written, so I took a closer look, and if you swap the two row patterns from the lower neck around and cast on the 78 stitches and knit those two rows, it makes no difference to the over all look, and saves much messing around later! Can't argue with that! My only problem is that Neala wants one, so I've got to work on scaling it down for her. I'm too good to my kids..

Oh oh and I've been fiddling with some script and came up with my finished object gallery! Check it out! Tis very cool :-D (obviously if you are viewing this from Facebook, you'll have to come and visit my actual blog to see it ;-) )