Tag: washable yarn

Christmas Gift Knitting; Hats For the Guys

Get an early start on hat knitting for Christmas. This page lists a few hat patterns, for free and to purchase, that work well for guys. Also, I’ve listed some machine washable yarn to get you started.

Believe it or not I have wanted to post this for a couple of years now… haha…! By the time I realize I need to share a post about Christmas knitting, it’s too late to accomplish these patterns.

The perfect gift for any guy who lives in a cold climate is a hat. They will wear something warm all winter, and probably loose a few along the way.

I’m a sucker for a fold up brim on my hats. It adds warmth around the ears, but some people prefer a simple flat ribbing. Often a pattern can be knit either way.

Awesome Hat Patterns for Men and Boys

When it comes to hats, most styles are perfectly suitable for men or women, but here is a list of hat patterns created to please a man.

  • Taconite, by Virginia Sattler-Reimer – Worsted weight yarn – three styles
  • Dustland, by Stephen West – DK
  • Botanic, by Stephen West – Worsted
  • Men’s Basic Hat – FREE pattern, aran yarn- folded brim
  • Bankhead – FREE pattern, worsted
  • Dual Loop Beanie – worsted, ribbed beanie – folded brim (See the one I knit at the bottom of this page.)
Cats wearing wool hats and scarves.
Image by Tyli Jura from Pixabay

Yarn

Most likely the men and boys in our lives would like hats that are soft and comfortable. But they also usually prefer darker colors and easy care. They will toss a dirty hat into the laundry pile and pop it into the dryer. So that is the trouble. Hand-knitting gifts for someone who will not treat is as a hand-knit.

I prefer to knit with nice organic wool, which is warm, but it always requires hand-washing. Superwash merino wool is pretty easy to find, but often it should not go into the dryer. Man-made acrylic yarn is something I never use, but might be the most perfect choice for guys.

dogs wearing winter hats
Image by Tyli Jura from Pixabay

Pairing up Hat Patterns With Easy Care Yarn

I have raised three boys so I know a bit about what they like. For all their lives (and they are all over 21 now) they wore black clothing, or colors as close to black as possible. I have one daughter as well who did bring color into my life! The boys have not changed and if I want to knit something for them, it had better be in drab, dark,”boy colors”.

Sock yarn is easy care, but a heavier weight yarn makes knitting quicker. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Remember that washable wool / super wash will tend to stretch when washed.

Image by Tyli Jura from Pixabay

It’s honestly pretty easy to find washing washable yarn, but most yarns recommend to “lay flat to dry”. Not many hand knits can go into the dryer. How often do hats need washing anyway?

dual loop beanie
Dual Loop Beanie
Dual Loop beanie in gray wool

Do you have any suggestions? What are you knitting this season for gift giving?

cat and yarn image

Some hats I’ve knit

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Knitting For Baby, The Free “Perfect Newborn Socks” Pattern

After knitting the Beloved baby bonnet pattern for a friend’s new granddaughter, I found this free baby sock pattern. The Perfect Newborn Socks pattern is offered for free by Tabitha Gandee and I got the pattern on the Ravelry site. I already had the CoBaSi machine washable yarn in color Bubblegum pink. (Pattern link below.)

Read more: Knitting For Baby, The Free “Perfect Newborn Socks” Pattern

Get the Free Pattern Here

Perfect Newborn Socks pattern page at Ravelry.

Some knitters complained that the pattern did not make sense in areas and I would agree. For that reason, I would not recommend this pattern to a beginner knitter, unless you are knowledgable in the way socks are knit. It could be very frustrating if you try to follow the pattern exactly.

I have made notes below for anyone who needs a little advice along the way. I’m grateful to the people who offer us free patterns, but often those patterns can have mistakes or less clear directions than a designer who requires payment.

baby socks pink bubblegum yarn

Places in the Pattern Where I Made Changes

First of all, I went up to a size 2 needle and knit with DPN’s, not magic loop. I am a relatively tight knitter and I didn’t want the socks to be too small. After washing and drying, the foot measures about 3 1/2 inches and the ribbed cuff is about 2 inches before folding.

These are top-down socks and I cast-on with the German Twisted cast-on. Then I did the more simple 2×2 rib without cabling.

I followed the pattern fine until the end of the Heel Turn section. For the last Row 3 knit, I did not do the SSK and simply knit across the 8 stitches, because the count was correct after Row 2. But, if you stop knitting after Row 2 you will be in the wrong place to continue.

After knitting that last Row 3, I knit four more stitches onto that needle. Then, with a new needle I knit the next four stitches and began picking up the stitches for the Gusset.

With the next needle, knit across the top of the foot with 2×2 rib or the cable rib, whichever you are doing. After that, use a new needle pick up the nine stitches along the side and knit the four stitches left onto that third needle.

Now you will have three needles. Two needles are holding stitches for the Gusset and 1/2 of heel, and the other is holding the front / top of foot stitches. In the pattern, the writer has four needles being used, but all 16 top of foot stitches can easily be worked on one needle. The fewer DPN’s the better IMO.

Three needles to knit foot of sock
Getting my stitches onto three needles to begin the decreases

Doing the Kitchener Stitch at the Toe

After decreasing quickly at the toe area, the Kitchener Stitch will round out the toe. This stitch is done with a darning needle and is not terribly difficult, but it’s something I have to look up every time I do it. I also used it when I knit the Glissade colorwork mittens.

On YouTube I like the slow motion Kitchener Stitch video by Very Pink Knits which is easy to follow. She shows us what to do with the last two stitches on the needle as well. The yarn will be coming off the back needle to start, and you need a darning / embroidery needle to do it.

Kitchener stitch sock toe
baby sock kitchener stitch

These ended up being cute little socks that will complete the Hat and Sock set for my friend’s granddaughter. I would make them again, and I also like the CoBaSi yarn for baby things. It washes and dries nicely – and can go in the washing machine and dryer! There is no wool in it which works well if a baby could be allergic. I washed them by hand, but it’s good to know that a new Mom won’t have to.

Perfect Newborn socks pattern knitting
knitting divider

Keep Reading

Washable Watch Cap Knit Inside-out

A watch cap is pretty simple to make, and can be quite boring once the casing on is done. Any knit one, purl one, pattern can take ages to finish. But it is good and easy enough for evening knitting, when no pattern has to be followed … and I could be drinking wine.

Sometimes I begin a hat with one pattern in mind and switch to another once I get going. I must have some type of ADD or something, but I am doing that a lot recently. (See the Curly Snowflake Hat)

I’m getting a start on some hand-knit Christmas presents for my kids and have wanted to knit a hat for my youngest son. I have some washable Lorna’s Laces yarn so I got started.

Beginning the ribbed watchcap
Cast on 144 stitches and knit one, purl one… on and on

I have tried to do a Tubular Cast-on, but I failed to pull it off. So, now I stick to the Old Norwegian / German Twisted cast-on, which is stretchy and nice for a hat.

I cast on 144 stitches to a size 4 needle. I’m not sure where I got that number or which hat specifically I planned to knit. I have Churchmouse Classics, Ribbed Watch Cap and Beanie pattern, which I have wanted to try, and also a Stockinette Wachcap in my Hat’s On book. Both are similar but the Churchmouse hat has a different decrease at the top, and it’s knit inside out. Neither pattern suggests that number for a cast-on, but I ended up doing the Churchmouse crown decreases. Since my stitch numbers were different I had to do some figuring.

This is “sock” yarn, and the Churchmouse cap calls for fingering yarn also, but in smaller needle sizes, with a larger number cast on. So my hat is looser. But I didn’t begin with this pattern in mind!

Crown, wrong side
Crown, wrong side, which is how it’s knit

The Decreases at the Crown

I was curious as to how this type of inside-out knitting and decreasing would look. Well, if you were curious too, there you have it. In my photo above, which is the wrong side – but knit as the right side until the end – you can see the four decrease sections.

Ribbed watchcap
Ladders! Ugh

The photo above is how the hat looks when it’s turned rightside out. As I was knitting on my DPN’s I had such trouble trying to keep the yarn tight to prevent “ladders”. You can see my difficulty in the finished product. Between each decrease section there is a weird row that doesn’t look right. That is the change between DPN’s where the yarn was looser. I pulled the yarn tight to try to prevent this, but it didn’t work.

I have never had ladder problems before, and I blame the stretchiness of this yarn. I bought my Lorna’s Laces Grand Street Ink color a while ago on sale somewhere, and it’s not cheap. This yarn is nice for making washable items which can also go in the dryer. This hat is for my son who will not be washing anything by hand!

Notes and Observations

I was glad to be done knitting this hat! Haha… But, I would like to try the actual Churchmouse pattern – correct cast-on with the correct yarn – maybe in the “beanie” without the long, rolled brim. It would mean less knitting before the decreases.

Next time I would use something like Rauma Finull wool, which I use for colorwork hats. I think that would turn out very nice, but then it would need hand-washing, so couldn’t give it to my son!

There is the dilemma. Knitting for boys is tough.

finished watchcap hand knit
Finished watchcap – washed and drying

Washable Yarn For Knitting Baby Garments

Although I have four grown children, I have no grandchildren! In fact, at the moment, none of my grown kids are married. Now that I have begun knitting again, I love some of the baby and young child knitted projects I am seeing. (I will write a post listing some favorite designs soon.)

Moms have very little time to themselves and I don’t think they would like the idea of hand-washing garments for their kids. Lots of yarn requires hand-washing only, or machine washing on gentle and drying flat. I’m looking for yarn that can handle washing and even machine drying.

How to Find Natural Fiber Yarns That Go in the Washer

After knitting up a couple of pink baby hats as starter projects, I gave them as a gift to a friend. Unfortunately they were knit with merino yarn that had to be hand-washed. Now that I know better, gifting hats to new parents means knitting in yarns that wash well in the machine, and if possible, can go into the dryer.

Top of baby hat spiral with decreases

Lots of cheaper yarns (usually made of acrylic) are easy to care for – I will list some acrylic yarns at the end of this post. But these yarns are not as soft and unique as natural fibers. Most really nice yarns must be hand washed, so I’m looking for the in-between choices.

Without buying every kind of yarn out there, how do I really know what yarns to choose? There is no easy answer except to search online (unless you have a local store). A good place to start is Ravelry, where knitters leave comments about specific types of yarn. Search for the type of yarn, then view the comments about it. Sometimes there are a lot of opinions, and sometimes not. I’ve spent a lot of time reading reviews to create this list!

All prices are estimates of what I saw at the time of writing this post.

Rowan Baby Cashsoft Merino

This is a yarn I have been considering for a while now. I wanted to knit a small baby blanket and began searching for yarn. Rowan’s Baby Cashsoft Merino can be machine washed, but lay flat to dry. It is made up of wool, acrylic, and cashmere. The nicest thing about this yarn is that it comes in lots of good baby colors. ($9.95 / $10.00 for 142 yards – that is not a lot of yardage)

Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino

You don’t have to knit for baby with yarn that has “baby” in the title, but it’s worth a look if the maker has tried to create a truly soft, wearable yarn. Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK doesn’t get the greatest reviews on Ravelry, but it comes in lots of pretty baby colors.

What reviewers at Ravelry say: Doesn’t wash well – shrinks and felts. Also knitters mentioned pilling. However, reviews at Jimmy Bean’s were all good!

Cost: $9.95 for 127 yards

Red baby booties hand knit

HiKoo CoBaSi – No Wool!

Some people don’t want to take the chance that baby may be allergic to wool. Alternatives are usually cotton or bamboo which can be a bit stiff and unforgiving.

HiKoo CoBaSi yarn is something different and it gets great reviews from knitters! It is available at Jimmy Beans and is made of cotton, bamboo and silk. (Also see more colors at Dizzy Sheep – which offers free US shipping!) It is “soft and machine washable” and “perfect for baby garments”. Probably drying flat is best, but it can go in the dryer. Use to knit summer, or warm weather clothing. ($8.00 for 220 yards, so it’s cheap!)

Ravelry reviewers generally say good things about this yarn. It is long lasting for socks, good for people allergic to wool, great for warm weather wear. It stretches nicely and gives good stitch definition. Goes in washer and dryer! Really… I would like to try this yarn.

Babies born in summer can benefit from newborn items knit in this type of yarn. I am thinking it may be a good choice for those of us who live in warm climates year round.

As I searched for baby patterns made with CoBaSi, I found that many knitters used the yarn to make toys / stuffed animals. If you are into that, this yarn seems like the perfect choice.

Malabrigo

Malabrigo yarn is well known and loved by knitters. I’ve used their bulky Rasta yarn to knit a few hats, and Rios to knit a sweater. Malabrigo sock is 100% merino wool, and is machine washable, but needs to lay flat to dry. Skeins are 440 yards and cost a bit less than $20.

In fact most “sock” yarn will be washable. After all, who wants to hand-wash socks! But it may not be as soft as you’d like for a baby item. Sock yarn is usually fingering weight, so hold two strands together to make a thicker item.

I think I would prefer a blend, like the yarn listed below. Any superwash merino tends to stretch with washing – and I can attest to that when I knit the Polliwog Popover baby sweater in Lorna’s Laces yarn. I loved the yarn, but it did stretch like mad.

Cascade Cotton Yarn

I usually use all cotton yarn for dishcloths and dish towels, but lots of knitters use if for baby things.

Cascade Ultra Pima is a washable yarn which is all cotton. Directions say to wash in cool water and tumble dry on low setting. Cotton doesn’t have a lot of give, so this may be best for a baby blanket, bib, or something that doesn’t need to stretch. ($10.00 for 220 yards)

Mrs. Crosby’s “Hat Box”

I have a few skeins of Mrs. Crosby’s yarn and it is lovely. The “Hat Box” is made of wool, silk and cashmere and comes in a wide variety of colors including variegated colors and some pretty colors which would work for a baby. It is Sport weight, and costs around $29.00 for 317 yards.

Purl Soho’s “Posy”

Purl Soho has a washable merino, cashmere and nylon yarn called Posy. It a more expensive choice at $29.00 for 318 yards. They also sell smaller skeins of the same yarn called Pocket Posy – which could be purchased for colorwork projects. Posy has a pretty pale pink color and a few others that may be suitable for baby items.

Ravelry comments on Posy say it tends to pill, so not good for socks, or clothing maybe. Also that it seems thicker than a regular fingering weight yarn.

Just remember that it’s always a good idea to include directions for the person who will be responsible for washing the item. Most hand-knits do better if they lay flat to dry. If you are a grandma or grandpa who lives close by, maybe offer to hand wash items for the new mom and dad.

Acrylic Yarn For Baby

peach color acrylic yarn for knitting

Although I do not knit with acrylic yarn, I understand the appeal of cheap and easy care knitwear. If you know the gift-ee will simply throw the item into the wash – hot water or cold – and let it got through the dryer for sure, then a pretty man made fiber may be the best choice. Here are a few that are meant for babies, and come in nice colors.

I hope this gets you started in your search for a favorite baby yarn. I plan to try some of these myself. If you are already an experienced baby garment knitter, please share your expertise, experience and advice in the comment section.

Thanks to Pixabay for the images I used in this post.