Summer Yarn Destash

My goal this summer is to knit up as much of my stash as possible and give what I knit to charity.  I am starting with hats made of worsted yarn.  I have two big boxes of Lamb's Pride worsted yarn and that's what I'll use.  Here's a photo. There is probably more in stray areas but this is most of it.

I'm going to use a generic hat pattern. There will not be any stockinette knit hats as I get bored too easily.  I'll be using many of the stitch patterns I've  used in my sock knitting (see Knitting Only Socks) along with some from Ravelry and other sources on the Internet, and from knitting books.
 
Here's what I'm doing. I'm using a 16" size 5 circular needle.   Most hat patterns using worsted weight yarn  call for a size 8 but my work looks sloppy when I use larger needles, so it's size 5 needles for me.

I'll need about 50 grams of yarn to make a hat for a teenager or an adult so the first thing I'll do is make sure I have at least that amount of yarn in one color weighting  it using a kitchen scale.

I'll cast on between 80 and 100 stitches.  The number depends upon the number of stitches the stitch pattern requires and if I'm making a hat for a teenager or a woman.  I think for men I'll need to go up a bit--maybe to 110 or perhaps more.

I'll do some kind of ribbing for 7-12 rounds. My favorite ribbing is K1 through the back loop, P1 but I'm also going to use K2, P2 or K2 through the back loop, P2 or garter stitch or seed stitch, or maybe a simple cable.  I'll look for more as I look at hat patterns. I like a variety!   I want to use different stitch patterns for the body of the hats.

The body of the hat will vary from 5-7 inches in length.  When I'm ready to decrease, I'll divide the stitches by an even number. For example, if I have 80 stitches I'll use a division of 10 stitches and knit as follows, changing to size 5 dpns when I can no longer use the circular needle:

Round 1: Knit 8 stitches, knit 2 together all the way around
Round 2: Knit even
Round 3: Knit 7 stitches, knit 2 together all the way around
Round 4: Knit even
and so on until I have 4-6  stitches left.

I'll end with an i-cord or pull all the stitches together and add a pom-pom or maybe just a knob of yarn on top.

There will be one post per hat which will include the number of  stitches I cast on, the pattern used for ribbing, the stitch pattern for the body of the hat, and where I was/what I was doing as I knit. Oh!   And a photo too.

I want to make as many hats as possible using one color.   As you can see from the photo, much of my yarn no longer has ball bands so I can't  always include that information.  Some I know have been discontinued.   Yes, that's how long I've had this yarn!

When I'm left with balls less than 50 grams I'll start figuring out two or three color patterns I can make.  And when I'm done with the worsted weight yarns, I'll  start using my stash DK yarns. I'll make both hats and mittens from that yarn and as much of  this yarn is  pastel,  they'll probably be mostly children and baby items.  I also have a lot of fingering weight gray yarn which I'll double and use to make men's ribbed hats..

If you've read my sock knitting blog you'll know I like to give my projects names based on the color or pattern and I'm going to do that with these hats and later, mittens.  I'll also include what I was doing as I knit.

So where are these hats going?  I've chosen The Maine Mitten Project as the recipient and they need to be there by the end of September.  I hope to have a lot of hats and mittens by then!