The Christmas knitathon begins - Vanessa headband

Last weekend was London's Knit and Stitch show - if you have never been to one, I thoroughly recommend it, for the atmosphere, bargains and the vast array of yarns that you have probably never heard of before (yarn from camel anyone?). I spent another crazy day walking , being totally overwhelmed by choice despite my promising myself that I would be decisive this year! That plan of course went totally out of the window, and I wandered around for 4 hours, grabbing bargains and luxury delights left and right (as well as the occasional non-craft-related item).


So, like last year, this marked the time to get a start on some Christmas knitting. Although I have decided to make fewer presents this year, I thought it would be good to at least get a few done early to avoid the mad rush in December, and also to lift my knitting spirits, which have been destroyed by my inability to finish the sweetheart sweater (it has not been touched since I last blogged, obviously intarsia is proving to be some sort of nemesis for me).

First, I decided to work on the Vanessa headband, for a friend who wore a very similar one all of last winter - need to give the girl some choice! This headband comes in two widths and has a wide cable running through it that I think makes it look really pretty. It is knitted with bulky yarn and 8mm needles, so a very fast knit indeed, especially if you choose to go for the narrow version.

Apologies for the colour, the sun has left the country

And here is a close up

 The yarn is Mirasol Kutama (naturally bought at the Knit and Stitch show), and I think you will agree is a beautiful bright blue, even if my crappy pictures don't capture the colour very well. It is 100% wool but very soft, and was nice to work with, ie not too unwindy or sheddy. I wish I had bought more of it to be honest as it was a bargain! The narrow version of the headband used around 30g of yarn, so there is a little left that could be potentially combined with some of my numerous scraps to make another headband.

I also made another High-street cap - being such a fast knit and using so little yarn makes it the perfect gift. The yarn here is James Brett Chunky with merino (a brand I have only ever seen at the Knit and Stitch show) and is a very decent wool mix. In fact I bought it last year to make a bow scarf for the recipient, so now she will have a matching hat.

Just as a note, I decided to knit the first pattern repeat with 6mm needles to make sure that the hat sits a little more tightly on the head, switching to 8mm needles for the body. And did an additional pattern repeat, so now it does cover the ears more. I am much happier with this one than the one I made for myself, but I guess this is why it is usually good to experiment with a pattern before making one as a gift!