Tech knitting

As we're about to head off to RUSSIA, I've been thinking about what warm clothes I have and whether they'll fit the bill. I'm pretty well stocked with thermals, scarves and gloves, but my warmest hat which is a great woollen beanie from Insidious Fix in New Zealand (and only $5 - bargain!) unfortunately is a bit scratchy against my forehead so not so good to wear for long periods of time.

Solution? Buy a new hat?? Nooooo... Find out a way to line it!

And that's when I stumbled upon this great blog called 'Tech Knitting' which has a couple of posts on lining hats with polar fleece.  You can either line a strip of polar fleece at the bottom, or go the whole way and fully line the hat.  Of course, seeing as we're going to RUSSIA FOR CHRISTMAS, fully lining was obviously the way to go.

We're really lucky in that we've got a great fabric store just down the road from our house called 'Fabrics Galore' and so yesterday (a very cold, sleety Saturday morning) I headed down there and incredibly fortuitously, managed to find the exact colour polar fleece I wanted as a bargain £2 off-cut.  Score!  So much cheaper than the pre-made fleece hats I'd seen for sale.

Back to the house and the sewing began.

This is pinning the lining to size

Getting the first stitches in - sewing the tube shut

Having sewn most of the tub shut, pinning the top of the hat to size.

I look like a rooster!

Sewing the hat at the top.

Pinning back the front of the hat so it fits better.

Making the big cuts!

Hard to see, but I also had to pin back and sew the beanie because it was a bit big (always has been really).

Finished lining, now to sew it to the hat.

Getting it all pinned and in place.

Starting to sew.

Nearly done.

Finished!  Slightly uneven, but...

...I think it looks great!  No cold head for me.

 And there you have it - even a total amateur can do some tech knitting (well, in my case, tech sewing).  It only took a few hours and was really easy to follow with the great instructions.  This is the post if you're interested, and if you're a knitter, definitely check out the rest of the blog, it's really interesting.  Although I'm sure her socks aren't a patch on Emmy's wonder socks!

(Update: Adrian pointed out that I've lined the hat inside out!  So the fleece lining is actually the wrong way round...d'oh!  Ah well, it's all about learning these things isn't it...)