Griddle Stitch Beanie - Free Crochet Pattern

Recently added to the Handcrafting with Love website, the Griddle Stitch Beanie is quick to make. This free pattern is available in 2 sizes. The stitch pattern creates an interesting texture and the hat is designed to fit snugly for maximum warmth.

Two and a half to 3 ounces of worsted weight yarn makes a hat. Make a solid color hat or add stripes for a great way to add interest and use small amounts of leftover yarn. The Griddle Stitch Beanie is a great project for a quick gift or to donate to charity.

Where Do You Get Your Yarn?

At our knitting/stitching group meeting at the library yesterday, new member Susie asked, "Where do you get your yarn?"

"In Albuquerque," I replied.

"From Audrey," Sandy said.

Not quite the answer that Susie was looking for.

---

Audrey is known for shipping hundreds of hand knit hats each year to be distributed to Native American children. People frequently give her yarn to support the project and clear their closets. Audrey shares generously with the women that help knit hats, including Sandy.

Most of the yarn I've bought this year is sock yarn and worsted weight cotton purchased in Albuquerque 2 months ago. I've made 40 hats and counting for a homeless shelter, but only purchased a 1 pound skein of yarn to make hats.

Last October, Bonnie arrived at the library with 3 kitchen trash bags of yarn. Her daughter-in-law found it at a garage sale and negotiated the price down to $15 by telling how Bonnie and her friends knitted for charity. Bonnie selected what she wanted and brought the rest to share with us. A bag full came home with me. I'm making hats with most of it.

Three months ago, I moaned about how fast the scrapghan I'm crocheting was using my scraps. Our next meeting, Audrey brought me 6 skeins of yarn. Skeins, not scraps. I'm knitting a few hats for Native American children to reduce the skeins to a scrap-like quantity for the afghan.

Two weeks ago, our library group divided some yarn that someone left for us with Gayle, our library staff person. I came home with 3 different skeins of variegated yarn. Great stuff for hats.

So where do you get your yarn?

Knitting Club - July - 1st Thursday

We had a good sized group at knitting club yesterday. I was working on the heel flap of one of the socks I'm knitting. The first hour, that mostly meant I was repeatedly picking up stitches that kept jumping off the needles. They finally got tired and quit misbehaving, so the second hour was much more productive for me.

Cathy was knitting the mate to this sock.

Cathy also brought this drop stitch scarf to share. She's knitting it in a lovely ribbon yarn.

And there were lots of hats. Audrey is shipping the "Indian Hats" to the project organizer at the end of July. A woman in one of Audrey's other groups has made over 100 hats. Audrey will probably ship over 400 hats that she has made and collected from friends.

Connie made this hat with a top-knot. This hat will go to Children's Mercy Hospital.

Kathy gave Audrey this brightly colored Indian Hat and was knitting another one.

Bonnie brought these 4 hats to contribute to the project.

Sandy gave Audrey these 6 hats yesterday. Audrey gives Sandy a lot of the variegated yarn that people give her.

Sandy was crocheting an edging on this light red fleece blanket. It's an unusual shade of red. Almost pink, yet still red.

Carol was working on a beautiful dark red afghan that was nearly finished. The knit and purl stitches created a marvelous, rich texture. My camera refused to capture any of the beauty of Carol's work. Despite repeated attempts, the photos I took are so bad, I'm not sharing them.

I wish everyone in the States a safe and happy 4th of July weekend.

Knitting Club - June - 1st Thursday

Knitting club met today. Two hours of bliss with fellow stitchers and chatters. A variety of projects were worked on, but show & tell was dominated by hats.

Audrey makes hundreds of hats for Native American children. Several women from the various groups that she knits with make hats to contribute. Someone brought her a few today. I don't know who, because I arrived late. In the fall, Audrey ships the hats to someone who works for (or used to) the Bureau of Indian Affairs and they distribute the hats to the Indian Reservations.

There is only one knitted cap pattern used for these hats. We call it the Indian hat pattern. With different yarns and different stripe patterns (or no stripes at all), every hat is different. A few more people took a copy of the pattern home today.

Kathy wove in lots of yarn ends to finish this pink and green Indian hat.

Audrey was working on a purple and red Indian hat.

It's not an Indian hat, but I did the finishing on this Vanilla Twist hat during knitting club and then knit on my socks.

The Vanilla Twist hat is a free pattern from Knitcircus. I made the small size and omitted the cables on the brim for a more masculine hat. The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in the color dark sage.

As the Vanilla Twist pattern is written, the spiral purl pattern on the body of the hat will not spiral. I added 1 more stitch to make the design spiral properly. Some have used the stitch pattern instructions for working flat.

Three More Caps

Over the last 2 weeks, I've made 3 more caps for our AT&T Telecomm Pioneers project for a total of 21 so far this year.

This first hat was knit from the top down, starting with I-cord and increasing to the full diameter. The variegated yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in the color Watercolor. My goal was to finish the skein of Watercolor, but I still have a small ball left. The brim is knit 2, purl 2 ribbing in Dark Sage Red Heart Super Saver.

This hat is crocheted in Griddle Stitch (alternating single and double crochet). I love the texture. The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in Dark Sage.

This hat is knit from the pattern Poppy by Justine Turner of Just Jussi. You can see Justine's hat patterns on her website and download the free pdf files.

Poppy is designed as a baby/toddler hat. I used Red Heart Super Saver in medium purple and US size 8 needles (5.0 mm) to create a larger hat. I made a couple of minor modifications including knitting the band in the round, omitting the tab.

The hat was quick to knit and I plan to give it another try since the hat is a bit smaller than I'd like. It's a very stretchy design and stretched to fit on my model, though the hat size is more appropriate for a smaller head.