This is a little story about how I knit a hat for free, and you can make one too. I did not use a pattern for this hat as by now I've knit so many hats and have such a solid relationship with DK weight yarn that I felt I could give a simple DK hat a go with no problem. It turned out great! But don't worry, if you'd rather not wing it and make it up as you go then I've got some pattern links below.  Just grab your colorful scraps and your needles and download one of the patterns below and knit your own hat for FREE!

is knit with DK weight yarn.

is knit with 2 strands of fingering weight yarn held together.

The last picture above shows a close up of my jogless stripes. They look pretty good and it's a super easy technique.

Jogless Stripes when worked in the round:

-Change yarn color and knit this first round as usual.

-On the next round, slip the first stitch purlwise with yarn in back and knit remaining stitches.

-On the next round, knit as usual but on the first stitch give a little tug to the yarn to help align the stitch from the previous round

This works best for wool yarns and for color change rows that are 3 rows or more.

Our modeling shoot was in the flower garden, and even with our water restrictions we are still able to spare a bit for the flowers. Our flower borders are not as lush as past years, but from a distance they look fine enough. We planted about half of our flower borders and less than half of our vegetable garden and are definitely using less water than past years. 

I just finished The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer, published June 2022, and completely loved it. A German family, after surviving the horrors of Nazi Germany, end up in Alabama in 1950 to work on the space program. I was captivated and thought the writer did an excellent job helping us to understand her broken characters and the choices they chose to make. 

I watched half of the new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I was so looking forward to it, but what a complete disappointment! I'm only telling you this so you won't have to bother watching even one dismal minute of it. What a mess of a movie in every way. 

We've seen all the summer's blockbusters and loved every single one, although I admit we do have a fondness for summer blockbusters and it's nice to have them back. But do bring your hankies to Where The Crawdads Sing. Don't know if that is considered a blockbuster but it's a goodie. Monday we are going to see Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. I will settle in with knitting, squish into my big theater seat that I will put on just the right setting, add popcorn and coke and my Monday will be excellent! Hope you also have a good week to look forward to.

xo Kristen