Tidal

Tags

Anna Gratton, free pattern, hat, Knitting, New Zealand yarn, Wellington Underground Market, Wonders of Wool, Wool

It seems that this week is hat week!

Inspired by the gorgeous chocolate wool I used for the ribbed beanie, I decided to knit another in DK weight yarn this time.

I finished it last night.

This one is called Tidal.  The undulating twisted stitches remind me of how the exposed seabed looks at low tide.  Knitted in Anna Gratton’s Little Wool Co. DK pure wool naturals in the natural dark chocolate colour, Peat.

I really like it.  It does all the right things for me – looks good on my head, covers the ears and keeps the neck warm, and it’s not too tight and not too loose.   And there is just the right amount of patterning on the hat to suit my sensibilities.

I’m hoping to have the pattern ready in time to have a hard copy at Anna Gratton’s stall at the Wonders of Wool market, but no promises.  If it is, it will be free with yarn purchase (there will be 100g skeins of natural DK yarn as well this time).

In any event, the pattern will be available for download from my blog within the week.

Bo – a textural cowl

Tags

Anna Gratton, Bo, cowl, free pattern, Knitting, Little Wool Co., New Zealand yarn

Today I am happy to bring you my newest free pattern:  Free pattern: Bo

Knitted using fingering weight hand-dyed yarn from Anna Gratton’s Little Wool Co.

While the particular yarn shown in the pattern, a silk/wool/mohair mix has now been discontinued, Anna continues to dye beautiful yarn that is perfect for this pattern as her colourways are translated across a number of bases.  A substitute yarn is recommended:  Little Wool Co. mohair/merino 4 ply (fingering) weight.

A variety of easy stitch styles in this cowl provide knitting interest and texture, while at the same time allows the knitter to showcase the beauty of a variegated yarn.

Yarn:  Anna Gratton Little Wool Co. fingering-weight hand-dyed yarn (approx 600m for the cowl)

Needles:  4mm circular (100cm length recommended)

Happy Knitting.

The making of

Tags

FOs, gifts, Knitting, possum yarn, Supreme

I think one of the best things about the making of the two jackets was in the finishing.

Here are all the pieces for the black jacket, all laid out, ready to be sewn together.  I always feel like the elf in the story about “the Shoemaker and the Elves” when I get to this bit.

I took great geekish delight in sewing the seams and fitting the sleeves – I’ve included this picture of the navy jacket being sewn up as it shows the wool yarn I used to sew the seams.  I find that possum is generally not good for sewing up.  All that pulling the yarn through the seams tends to weaken it, and your seams will pop quickly, or you’ll find the yarn breaks during sewing.  A wool yarn keeps it together much better (not machine washable yarn though – I don’t like how it’s so slippery).

Fitting in the collar.

I quite like those ‘do it yourself’ furniture kits – like the ones in Ikea – where you have to put all the bits together to make a finished result.  Sewing up all the pieces after knitting feels a bit like that. This collar was especially rewarding.  It wasn’t until I tacked the pieces into place that I saw how it fitted in.

Inserting the zipper was slightly less delightful, but so rewarding to see a nice result.  This picture was taken after I’d tacked in the zipper – I took a picture to make sure the fronts were lying flat and the zip wasn’t wrinkled.  Somehow I can see this detail better in a photo than if I look at it with the naked eye.

I used what I call the Russian zip technique.  I blogged about it the first time I used this, so I will just refer back to the original post if you’d like to know how to do it, rather than talk about it again.  It’s my favourite method.  Such a neat result!

It was a mighty relief to see that the zip was exactly the right length for the jacket fronts!!

As you can see in this picture, this is the inside of the jacket – I’m covering over the back stitching with another edging (slip stitched into place).  It creates a very neat zip with no rough edges or edging that feels scratchy on the inside.  Apologies for the horrible pictures.  It was close to midnight when I did this…

I am afraid I was singularly unsuccessful in obtaining modeled pictures.  :-(   The jackets were cursorily admired before being stuffed into a suitcase.  Sigh. Hint to non-knitters:  This is not the way to inspire one’s Knitter to do future knitting for you.

The pattern was well written and clear.  I’d definitely knit it again for anyone needing a basic jacket.  It fits very well, and the collar folds over to create warm, windproof protection around the neck.

Yarn:  Supreme Possum Merino in navy and black respectively

Pattern:  Adult unisex raglan jacket, a free pattern by Patons

Revision time: Cafe hat

Tags

cafe hat, designing, FO, free pattern, Knitting

About two and a half years ago (wow, time flies!), I released the pattern Cafe Hat. Here it is in its original glory:

Although I loved the look of it, and it was absolutely the hat I wanted, there was something about it that obviously didn’t sit too well with other knitters. It might just be the abundance of free hat patterns already on offer.  I’ve since gifted the hat in this picture to someone else, but I’ve always wanted another one for me (perhaps this is the one that won’t make me look like a cancer patient, as my older son so “tactfully” puts it).

I had guessed there might be something wrong with the pattern, but I’ve never had the time/inclination to revisit the pattern to find out why.  I had every intention of doing this during the past winter, but with the mild weather we had, I think I wore a hat only 10 times!  Not great hat knitting motivation!

As I had time on my hands this week, I decided what better opportunity than now!  Well, I soon saw that the pattern could have been written in a more logical manner.  And I had made a couple of mistakes in it (blush).

Hats are a great way to use up that odd ball and a half in your stash.  For this project, I knitted the new hat in the now discontinued Rowan Tapestry (a single spun DK weight).  I’ve had a couple of balls sitting in my stash for quite a while, and I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to use them up!

It came out well, and it’s a lovely colour, but something wasn’t quite right…the back didn’t sit the way I wanted it to.

I went back to my original possum yarn (this time in Zealana’s Rimu) to see if I would be happier with the look:

Yes, much better.  This pattern suits a yarn with more ‘body’.  I decided to also take an inch off the length to avoid that “mushroom puff” effect that a lot of slouchy hats tend to end up with.  You can see that the slouch is more rounded, and doesn’t puff at the top of the head.

Perhaps I should also talk about the thinking behind the pattern… one of the things I hate about knitting slouchy hats is all the increasing and decreasing you have to do.  It’s so tiresome, yet I like the slouch part.  This hat uses a method that gets around the increases and decreases whilst still producing slouch:  I simply changed the needle size.

You start at the brim with a reasonably tight 3.75mm needle and cables (to prevent too much stretch and the hat dropping over your eyebrows after extended wear).  Then you go up to 4.5mm for the mid-section so it doesn’t squeeze the skull, and then change to 5mm for the majority of the crown, to produce slouch and a nice loose fit around the top of the head.  No increases required, and only some very quick decreasing at the top of the crown to bind off.  It seems to work.  The level of slouch can be adjusted in the length of the crown to suit you – make it shorter for a beanie/toque effect, or even longer for those who like the very long floppy hat.

It’s a fast and easy knit.  I also put in a simple slipped stitch cable for the brim for interest.

The original pattern also included a plain ribbed brim, however I decided to remove that version from this edition.  I think having too many instructions in one pattern tends to confuse knitters, and also, those who have knitted it have only chosen to knit the cabled brim.

So without further ado, I present the revised edition of the Cafe Hat, complete with corrections and technical edits!  (And even if it still doesn’t become more popular, at least I’m happy with the technical accuracy of the pattern!)  Free pattern: Cafe hat

The hat comes in three sizes:  S, M and L

Needles required:  3.75mm (US 5); 4.5mm (US 7) and 5mm (US 8) circular (23″/60cm) or DPN.  You’ll also need one set of DPNs in a smallish size for the crown decreases (I have said 4mm or 4.5mm but you can even use 3.75mm – it doesn’t matter.  It’s only for about 6 rows, and the small size is to avoid gaps between stitches when you decrease rapidly at the end).  And a cable needle.

Enjoy!