Tincanknits’ Barley

bluebarley2This is the hat, Barley, in tincanknits’ free set of patterns designed for beginning knitters and the rest of us drawn to straightforward, easy knits: The Simple Collection. Don’t confuse Barley the hat, with Rye the socks, Wheat the scarf, Malt the baby blanket, Oats the Cowl, Maize the fingerless mitts or the sweaters Flax and Harvest. It’s a wonderful collection, complete with special on-line tutorials to help the knitter over any bumpy spots.

My blue Barley is knit in Lion Brand Martha Stewart Crafts Extra Soft Wool Blend. Here’s a few more views:

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All the patterns in the collection include sizes infant through adult. Egad! And all are free. Here’s an infant-sized Barley knit in Berroco Comfort, an easy-care acrylic with a wonderful range of colors.

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I even tried a Barley variant (that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it), where I substituted reverse stockinette for the garter stitch insert and made the insert a few stitches wider:

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And, all together now….awhhhhh!

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Small fry Rambling Rows

This is another Rambling Rows, the brain child of Cottage Creations’ Carol Anderson and Pat Penney. It’s the smallest of the versions the pattern provides. On size 7 needles, knitted up in the worsted weight version of Berroco Comfort, it is 28 inches by 34 inches. To me, it seems like it would be an excellent size for a car seat cozy.

Comfort has great color selection: 66 solids, 13 heathers and 14 print shades. Color choice is not always my strong suit, but I am pleased with how these play together. Quite a 60’s sensibility, including avocado, burnt orange, dark brown. There are a lot of stitches to pick up as each of the individual 55 mitred blocks are connected together. Comfort was a bit splitty for that task. But with just a bit of extra care it worked out fairly well.

 

Three Windschief Cowls

This is Stephen West’s nifty quick pattern: Windschief. I’ve knit four of them so I’d say I’ve gotten my $6 worth out of the pattern already! The pattern includes a hat, which continues the cowl’s twisted rib swath through the crown section. I’ve knit that as well and it worked out very nicely.

These are knit in Berroco Comfort, a wonderful skin-friendly worsted spun in 50% acrylic, 50% nylon. It has a nice bounce-back effect and great stitch definition. If you can’t find the color you want, maybe it doesn’t exist. Comfort comes in 66 solids, 13 heathers and 14 prints. On top is Olive (9781), Sprig (9721) is on the left, and Dried Plum is on the right (9780). Comfort is a 16-ply yarn that is presented as being split-resistent. I didn’t find it so, but think a bit of splittiness is a small price to pay for this much comfortable.

Here’s a few closer looks at the cowls:

 

 

Chameleon Cap


This is Nicky Epstein’s Chameleon. It’s available through her website.  It’s also been published in Nicky’s excellent The Knit Hat Book, in the 1997 Winter edition of Knitter’s Magazine and in Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Knitting. Chameleon gets around, I guess.

All this coverage is well deserved. Chameleon is a simple hat. It can be knit flat or in the round. The stitch pattern is easy to learn and easy to quickly see mistakes if you happen to fall asleep at the switch. But it’s lively enough to hold your interest.

Chameleon’s brim can be folded back.You can roll the brim and it holds the roll nicely.You can add a nice sturdy tassle or pom-pom, bend the tip as you see fit, and wear it with no fold or brim. It’s even cute worn Robin Hood style, with a folded cuff that is narrow at one end and wide on the other.

Chameleon is worked here in Berroco’s Comfort, a 50% nylon, 50% acrylic easy-care blend that is soft as can be. This was the first time I knit with it and it’s definitely on my list for using again. Good stuff. I’ve knit this hat at least half a dozen times.Try it in Noro Kureyon for a stunning stylish look. Great pattern.