it's a gift: knitted

Here they are – the last of the 2015 Christmas knits! 

I made four super-chunky hats for various family members and this might just be the easiest, quickest hat pattern EVER. It's the Casie Hat by Robyn Devine – a perfect basic design that you can put your own spin on. I improvised some colours and worked extra length on a couple of the hats for bonus slouch. I didn't have the needles (or expertise) to do a three needle bind off, so I sort magic looped/ fudged the top of the hats. A pompom can hide a multitude of sins. 

Incidentally, the hat with the pompom was for my sister, who requested a slouchy beanie "like something Jake Gyllenhaal might wear!" Erm. Not sure what he'd make of it, but the sis seemed pleased nonetheless. Have you ever had any weird knitting requests? 

This is Cowl a la Mode, made for the other Mother-in-Law (there are two!). Straightforward and speedy, but with enough texture and stitch changes going on to keep things interesting. I used Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed Chunky for this, and while I wasn't crazy abut the acrylicy (yep, that's a word now - phrase coined) feel of it, it gave fairly good stitch definition to this make and was quite cosy. I have some lovely memories of knitting this during our trip to Paris in September *sighs wistfully*. All in all, a fab free pattern by Ellen that I'd definitely recommend for gift knitting as it's so quick, simple and fun to knit.