Tag Archives: hat

Windshield pattern

The year is buzzing along and one of my goals this year (let’s not mention the intention to write two blog posts a month, shall we?) was to publish my first pattern on Ravelry and I’m excited to say that I’ve done it!

Introducing my Windshield hat pattern:

Windshield hat

This is a gently slouchy hat with diamond motifs knit from the top down with a folded brim. It has a few tricky techniques in it to make for an interesting project!

Windshield hat

In celebration of releasing my first pattern, Windshield is currently free on Ravelry.  I hope you enjoy it!

Berry Sockhead Hat

Berry Sockhead Hat

I’ve been meaning to cast on a Sockhead Hat for a while and, with the weather cooling off here in Sydney, and my new found love of Atelier Yarn‘s Pinnacle Merino Singles, I cast on for the simple but soothing project.

It was an easy project with a long stretch of ribbing and then lots and lots of stockinette in the round before basic decreases for the crown. It gave me a chance to practice knitting-without-looking which is something I plan to master this year.

It turned out perfect!

Needles: 2.5mm circular for a magic loop
Yarn: Fingering/4 ply 100% Merino 311 metres/340 yards
My Ravelry notes: Berry Sockhead Hat

When fingerless mittens go wrong

Sticking with my current obsession with stripes and double pointed needles, I decided to work up some fingerless mittens. I didn’t put much planning in and unfortunately I paid the price.

I looked for a pattern online with roughly the same type of yarn and used their stitch counts and general approach but I didn’t check the hand size they were aiming for and I didn’t knit a gauge swatch (oops).

My  own wrist is very thin and I have a long palm and hands. I tried the first mitten on as I was making it. I could see that it wasn’t looking quite right and I made a few adjustment because I was keen on the stripes and trying out the yarn. When the first mitten was done it floated around on my hand!  I tried it on a friend’s hand and she also found it awkwardly proportioned. Oh dear. Perhaps I could shrink and felt them, I thought, so I made the second one anyway.

A pair of hand knit mittens before felting
The pair of freshly knit mittens
A pair of hand knit mittens after felting attempt
The pair of mittens after attempted felting.

I’ve never felted anything before so after some googling for instructions I gave it a try and, while it might not appear so from the photos above, the mittens have shrunk a touch so they’re not as large as they were but they are still roomy. The wrist area above the ribbing is still too wide. The shape of the mitten between the wrist and the thumb does not follow the shape of a human hand.  The thumb hole feels slightly tight and awkward.  And they don’t even look felted! Continue reading

Learning to crochet hats

While I’m on the topic of crochet hats:

Divine Hat

A few months ago, for my first ever crochet hat, I used a pattern from Rheatheylia called Divine Hat. I didn’t write any notes as I went along so I’m not sure if I made any adjustments but from memory the pattern was easy to follow and I might have just added an extra row or two to get to the length I wanted. I think I used a multi-coloured and a solid-coloured Lincraft Cosy Wool Yarn. Continue reading