Advice please, Knitters!

[OscarWinningActress]

After you have mastered the scarf, where do you go next? I can make a beautiful (but boring) scarf and would like to try something a bit more challenging. I've looked at a few patterns but they look scary! Any suggestions for my next project?

A slightly more difficult scarf? Hitchhiker or Trillian from here:

strickmich.frischetexte.de/en

Hats.

Get some circular needles and practise knitting in the round - look on you tube for demo vids. Not anywhere near as hard as it might initially seem.

agree with hats. much quicker

You can join in with our Woolly Hugs projects - this gives you a chance to try a few more challenging things out without being committed to a big project.

You can go on to a hat (not all need to be knit in the round, although this is a good skill to have) or on to a small garment if you have someone small to knit for?

Ooh! Good ideas! Thank you so much. I've seen the circular needles but have no idea how to use them so going to watch a few videos now. I'd love to be able to contribute to Wooly Hugs too.

There's a really good book called Knitty Gritty which has some easy patterns and some sections on new skills. Or just sign up to the awesome ravelry.com and search patterns by difficulty level.

I vote for hats too - you get to do shaping and you either get the challenge of sewing up or the challenge of knitting in the round. They are much smaller than scarves too.

Whenever I have a bit of spare yarn and some time on my hands I knit hats - there is a baby garter stitch hat on Ravelry that is a particular favourite. I give them to my local SCBU.

I also make winter woolly hats for my DS as he seems to have a bigger head than the shop bought hats sized for his age.

Which garter stitch hat is that woolly?

I second the recommendation of Knitty Gritty. It's not perfect (it implies there is only one way to M1 and I got a gentle ribbing on here for thinking I needed a crochet hook to pick up stitches ) but it does very quickly take you from "can only do scarves" to "I'll give that a go".

Do join Woolly Hugs though. There are lots of 6" square patterns out there for all abilities and you get satisfying fast results plus the benefit of being part of something wonderful

This is my favourite baby hat.

If you look on the Woolly Hugs website there are lots of patterns and links for squares.

How old are your kids?

Neighborly is a really simple vest pattern which I've knitted several times for friends kids and it has got a lot of wear.

Look on ravelry for inspiration.

I find with knitting the best thing to do is find a pattern and just go for it. My first lace was a time consuming disaster which I almost abandoned several times - the current shawl i'm knitting has only taken a week.....

There's a few fairly straight forward patterns for hats. And mostly only one seam to sew up. I think that's what I'd try next if I were you. But if you try a more complicated pattern with cheaper wool it will still be a learning curve even if it turns out a disaster.