Knitting for Peace

Every quarter, Loving Hands sets challenges for members who wish to participate.  It's not compulsory, but it does sometimes act as a means of publicising the needs of different charities.  The charity Knit for Peace are able to send items to Syrian refugees who are sheltering in Kurdistan, and given that winter weather will soon be on us, these people with inadequate shelter will need all the warm clothes and bedding they can get.

Two items that I have finished off may help.  First, I've made a stash busting baby blanket from squares:

It's about 30 inches by 36, just the size to wrap a little one in.  

The second make was an adult hat with a spiral pattern.  I have seen this Hurricane hat pattern on Ravelry for a long time, but assumed it would be complex to keep the the spiral going.  In fact, it is stunningly simple to do - by having 81 stitches, and knitting a pattern repeat of 10 stitches  (9 knit stitches and 1 purl), the odd stitch moves the raised purl stitch each round into a spiral:

I think that it is really effective as a design.  The one pictured was made with 1 strand of dk and one strand of 4 ply on size 5.00 circulars, and it fits me well.  I changed to dpns for the decreases because I find them easier than magic loop. I will be making more of these hats!