Black and white sampler-side view
For these first two hats, I cast on 108 stitches using Patons Classic (worsted weight) wool and 4 1/2 mm needles. I like 108 stitches if I am doing something that pulls in a bit, like cables or colour work. 108 has a lot of ways to be divisible 3 x 36, 4 x 27, 6 x 18, 9 x 12. For more ordinary tension stitches, I usually cast on about 100 stitches, which covers stitch repeats of 4 or 5 nicely. or 98 or 105 for a stitch repeat of 7, 102 for stitch repeats of 6.. These first two hats used 9 different stitches, all from Chapter 4, Color-Change Patterns. For the first hat I started at the bottom with Pin Stripe Pattern. I did a total of 14 rows of each colour, then joined back in to the cast on edge. I continued up the hat with Three-and-One Tweed, Corn on the Cob Stitch, Pin Check, Pin Check Variation, and finished with Waffle Check. I separated each section with a knit row, then a purl row of black. I like how the hat fits and it is really cozy and warm…not that we need THAT any more this year, YEAH!!. Here is the top of that first one:
Black and White sampler-top view
I liked how the pinstripe looked, but I felt the band could be less puffy. I experimented on the second hat and did 7 rows of knit 1, purl 1 ribbing before doing 8 rounds of each colour in the pinstripe pattern and joining back to the cast on edge.
Another black and white sampler
I continued up this hat with Maltese Cross Stitch, Waffle Check Variation, and finished with Dotted Ladder Pattern. I did a two stage decrease at the top, and I liked the effect (for each quarter of the hat, I decreased on 2/3 of the stitches with the decreases heading toward each other, then when these stitches were gone, did the same thing on the remaining stitches).
Another black and white sampler…top view
I was pleased with how that looked, so decided to do the same basic thing on my next hat, this time doing half the stitches first, then the rest, but without the visual distraction of the colours.
Quaker ridging slouch hat-back view
I like how this top looks, but unfortunately maybe not on the hat I did. I used Little Hourglass Ribbing from Chapter 3, Ribbings for 14 rows, then switched to Quaker Ridging from Chapter 2, Simple Knit-Purl Combinations. As I was knitting this hat, it struck me that it was a pretty flexible stitch and the purl sections might roll up like my socks from a couple of weeks ago, so I thought it might work well as a slouch hat, which I did.
Quaker Ridging slouch hat-side view
Heather and my friend Jen both liked the slouch thing, so I decided to do another using Cross-Stitch ribbing and Banded Insertion Pattern.
Banded Insertion Pattern-side view
J decided for this one to just let the stitch itself tell me how to reduce it, even though I still have some ideas related to the last cast off. I will save them for the future. I have made notes so I don’t forget. I quite like how the back turned out.
Banded Insertion Pattern-back view
I have a group of friends that I have been meeting for coffee once a week for a very long time. Originally, we were all quilters, most of them still are. At this point, I don’t see myself ever sewing little pieces of fabric together again, but I am not willing to get rid of my very expensive stash yet just in case. Who knows, maybe the quilting bug will strike again. There is a joke in the group about brown because one of our members, Albertina, hates brown. She loves nature in all its forms but I guess not plain dirt. She loves all the plants growing in it and the animals that live amongst the plants. When we get together for coffee, often people peruse quilting books and magazines for inspiration. Whenever there is a predominantly brown one we say it is for Albertina and have a laugh.
gillianknits 