Friday, February 24, 2012

CiR: WWII Era Men's Knit Cap and Matching Scarf

Dear Readers, having born with me through part of my winter craft-a-thon, it's time I let you in on some of the other projects I enjoyed. To be frank, I'm still working on some of these. Knitting takes time, people! I decided that I wanted to make matching scarf/hat sets for my family, and am impressed that I finished as many as I did. Now I have a few of these ready to mail back, but not before I get a good blog post out of them, darnit! I did a few google searches for guy-appropriate patterns, when I found one that seemed perfect, especially for my nephew. It's a WWII Era pattern distributed by a yarn company in a pamphlet of knit hats to be made and sent to soldiers. The pattern was simple enough that I was sure the men in my family would not object, but nice enough that they wouldn't look sad next to the fancy ladies' sets.
Here's the link to the pattern!
I used the beanie pattern on the top, which I found to be simple and easy to follow if you're used to working with double pointed needles. The only complaint I have is that the pattern does not provide a gauge swatch. I made an entire hat on size 4 needles, as recomended, and came out with something fit for a retro-inspired toddler. That said, I switched to size 8 needles, still using regular acrylic, I Love This Yarn brand yarn, and the hats came out perfectly man-sized and comfy. It took less than one skein, but I would recommend buying two so you can make a matching scarf! The I Love This Yarn brand is great for guy-knits because it's super soft without being visually and texturally overwhelming.
To make a scarf that will go with these hats, I figured I would use ribbing as a tie-in, but also to make them thicker and warmer. This pattern is super simple, and great for a generic "guy scarf"- not too stylized, but without the shabby or rustic look that some simple knits can end up with.

Matching Guy Scarf:
I Love This Yarn acrylic yarn on size 8 needles
Cast On 32 stitches
K2, P2 across each row.
Continue until you have 60 inches or so. You might have the recipient try it on so you can make sure it's long enough to not look silly, especially if it's for a taller guy.
Cast off.

Wasn't that simple? :)

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