Above is the Bella Cable Hat I made for my best friend Bev for Christmas. This particular photo doesn't do much justice to the lovely green colour but the one below of me modelling it does.
The pattern is from Rowan's 'Winter Warmers' book by Martin Storey - a collection of cosy accessories knitted in chunky alpaca and Rowan's Lima/Lima Colour yarn. The hat uses the latter. I must say I was a bit dubious about the yarn when I bought it - it has a chain like construction - but it knitted up beautifully and is wonderfully soft. It's a relatively quick knit on 5mm and 5.5mm needles and the cable design maintains the interest and is relatively straightforward to remember. As I was pressed for time I made the body of the hat a little shorter than the pattern specified so the result was more snug than slouchy. Bev absolutely loved it and has been struggling to take it off.
One of my knitterly resolutions - and I really should list them on here one day soon - is to start my Christmas knitting earlier this year. I probably said this last year as well! My plan is to decide on the knitted gift relatively soon and not deviate from it - part of this time's problem was I couldn't decide between socks, mittens and hats so I made some of each! Better, I think, to stick with one project type for all. My indecision of October/November meant that I had no time left to knit some Christmas projects I had in mind for my home. You live and learn but you don't always end up putting it into practise!
