Sunday, July 31, 2011
A few more hats in the bag
It turned out well, but it's a little big and floppy. I think I made a gauge error -- the non-braided sections turned out much wider than I thought, and I probably should have stopped short on the top. Still, the hat fits and is very soft and comfortable.
I swear that I next made several attempts at the warrior hat, which is just beautiful, but I just couldn't wrap my head around the pattern. Instead, I brushed up on cables with this simple hat:
This one, which we nicknamed "Pinky" because of its resemblance to one of the Pac-Man ghosts (ha!), turned out great. It also reminded me that cables are not as hard as they appear. I'm going to do my best to tackle the warrior hat before the end of this project.
Finally, I combined a few of my yarns into one of my favorite crochet hat patterns, the cupcake hat!
Ok, so that's not really what it's called, but it does look like a dessert, no? In my enthusiasm, however, I forgot that this hat turns out rather small. So it's cute, but definitely for a smaller head.
I've got the 7-8 hat started, and here's hoping for cooler temps in the coming weeks so even more knitting can commence!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
5th Hat pattern The 7-8 Hat
A note on the yarn exchange scarf: It's coming! I'm still waiting on a few participants get their yarn to me. wink wink - nudge nudge. Wait until you see some of these yarns we get to knit (or crochet) with!!! Gorgeous. Should be fun!
The 7-8 Hat is based on the 2nd pattern, this one is more cloche-like in appearance, and a bit more challenging. I titled it the 7-8 hat because it has 7 sections and 8 ridges. The numbers 7 and 8 are are considered lucky numbers; 7 is more a western cultural favorite - 8 is the lucky number in the east. So I thought we could knit some luck into a hat for these ladies.
This pattern is knitted for a specific gauge. So you will want to be sure to knit a swatch and make sure your gauge matches mine – or you might wind up with a skirt instead of a hat.
Materials:
- Yarn: gauge - I used #6 needles and got 4.5 sts. to 1 inch. (9 stitches to 2inches)
- #6 circular needles (16”) and set of 5 double pointed needles same size
- 3 markers ( it is helpful to have two that are the same)
- tapestry needles
Useful information to understanding the pattern: There are three markers. I recommend making two the same and the third different. The third/different marker should be the center marker. It will always be referred to as the center marker. The other two will be referred to as the first and second markers.
Section one:
Cast on 85 sts. join. – be sure not to twist.
Place marker. (this should be the odd marker)
Knit 8 rows
Knit 10 st. Place Marker. Continue knitting until 10 before first marker. Place marker. Lift two stitches back onto the left hand needle. You will now turn the work as follows: bring the working yarn to the front of the work between the needles. Lift one stitch from left needle to right needle. Bring yarn to the back of the work. Replace the lifted stitch. Turn the work. This entire procedure is called wrap and turn.
Purl back to two stitches before the marker. You will do another wrap and turn, except that since you are purling this time, take the thread from the front to the back – slip stitch – then bring the thread back to the front, and put the slipped stitch back.
Knit to one stitch before marker. Wrap and Turn.
Purl to one stitch before marker. Wrap and Turn.
Knit 2 rounds. (don’t stop at the first marker. Continue past it slipping it as you go. When you hit the center marker this is the first round, knit one more round back to the center marker)
Purl 3 rounds.
Section two:
- **Knit to three stitches before the second marker. Wrap and Turn.
- Purl to three stitches before the first marker. Wrap and Turn.
- Knit to two stitches before the second marker. Wrap and Turn.
- Purl to two stitches before the first marker. Wrap and Turn.
- Knit to one stitch before the second marker. Wrap and Turn.
- Purl to one stitch before the first marker. Wrap and Turn.
- Knit past the second marker to the center marker.
- Knit one round
- Purl three rounds. **
Repeat the pattern between ** 5 more times. Decreasing as follows:
Section three: No decreases
Section four: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Knit to first marker. Decrease 7 stitches evenly spaced between the two markers. I purled seven stitches and then one decrease. To decrease purl two stitches together. 78 stitches total. Purl 3rd row.
Section five: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Between markers decrease 6 stitches as above. 72 stitches. Purl 3rd row.
Section six: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Between markers decrease 7 stitches. Purl five, purl to together. 65 stitches. Purl 3rd row.
Section seven: Purl one row. Begin second purl row. Between markers decrease 5 stitches. Purl five, purl to together. 60 stitches. You must get 60 stitches on this round so adjust as necessary.
Crown: If you haven’t already, switch to double pointed needles. I put 15 stitches on each. You can also remove the first and second markers. Leave the center one as reference until you don’t need it anymore.
The crown decrease pattern is as follows:
- Knit 10, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
- Knit 9, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
- Knit 8, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
- Knit 7, knit two together, a total of 5 times.
- The pattern should be visible at this point. Continue until you have 10 stitches left.
- Knit two together 5 times. Break yarn with a tail, using tapestry needle, sew tail through last five stitches and pull snug.
Weave ends in.
Now, of course. This hat isn’t without it’s problems. If anyone has a brilliant ideas how to do the wrap and turn better on the purl side that would be great. I wound up with nice gaping holes (see picture below). The only way I can think of to fix that is to make a new stitch there on the final full knitted round and then purl two together on the first purl round. But that is a lot of remembering. There must be a better way to do this. All thoughts are welcome!
And lastly - if you would like a pdf version of this pattern so you can print it out - email me at pinkknit@mail.com. In fact if you want a pdf of any of the patterns let me know.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Catching up with hats!
This beautiful submission comes from Rod. Rod works at Nangellini one of our sponsoring knitting shops. It is an absolutely beautiful hat.
Thanks Rod!
Raija sent me this image a few days ago - she's got four hats of the second pattern! Aren't they fabulous? Thank you Raija!
And this gorgeous hat is from Terry. The story behind this one is special. Terry's niece requested that Terry make one for us in honor of her mother who passed from kidney cancer. This beautiful hat is an orange based yarn with lots of pink in it. The orange ribbon is for kidney cancer.
Thank you Terry - this is truly a special hat.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Reminder... Yarn Exchange scarf
Hope you've started Michael's beautiful Warrior Hat! I'm in Western Massachusetts and am going to Webb's today to pick out yarn. Very excited about that.
We still need a few more participants in the yarn exchange scarf... so we've decided to extend the deadline. If you can pick up yarn this weekend, and mail the yarn in on Monday, July 18th, (or get it to me sometime next week - if you know where to find me) that would be fabulous. Please drop us a line to be expecting it. There will soon be a crochet pattern for the scarf as well.
Hope your summer is going well!
Best - Tara
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Pattern 4 Warrior Hat
Warrior Hat
Size 6 needles
Gauge: 5 sts per inch
CO: 96 sts
Connect in the round and place st. marker. Establish 2X2 rib, continue until you have a 1” brim.
Purl for 1 round.
Begin Chart A:
• Always follow chart from right to left
• Repeat 12 st center 7X per round
• At the end of row 16 P to last 2 sts, place them onto CN to back of work, remove st marker, K2, replace st marker, K2 sts from CN, continue Chart A
Purl 1 round.
Begin decrease rounds: (all even numbered rounds are purled)
• (P6, P2tog) 84 sts remain
3. (P5, P2tog) 72 sts remain
5. (P4, P2tog) 60 sts remain
7. (P3, P2tog) 48 sts remain
9. (P2, P2tog) 36 sts remain
11. (P1, P2tog) 24 sts remain
13. (P2tog) 12 sts remain
Cut a 6” to 8” tail, thread through needle and pass through remaining sts, pull tight and weave in ends.
Block as needed.
Chart A:
key
The cable pattern for this hat is adapted from Elsbeth Lavold from her book: Viking Patterns for Knitting.