Color My World
The white lace scarf was giving me snow blindness, and I was eyeing with great longing all the brilliant colorways everyone else on this blog was working with for the holidays. So when DD requested a "knitted hat with earflaps" in a bright hue my color-starved heart leapt with joy. I bolted for the LYS and grabbed the skein of Manos #116 I had been coveting for weeks. I call it "mermaid yarn" because the turquoise blue reminds me of Caribbean waters and the variegated greens bring to mind the scales of the mermaid's tail.
Here's how it came out after blocking. It is a really basic pattern on #9 dpns (yes, I approached them with fear and trembling but I seem to have overcome my tendency to ladders) and took just one skein (138 yards) of the Manos, one of my favorite variegated yarns. It's soft, funky in its texture, and comes in gorgeous shades across the spectrum.
You cast on 70 stitches (I did 80 because I hate having my head squished and I knit tight anyway), alternate knitting and purling for 5 rows, then knit in rounds for 4 1/2 inches. Then you start decreasing by knitting 8, then knitting two together till the end. The next row is knitted even. Then you knit 7, knit two together, and continue to the end. Then knit a row even. You keep doing this with one fewer stitch between decreases until you knit 2 together all the way around. Then you knit some i-cord if you want a pointy top (I didn't so I just threaded the yarn through the remaining stitches and finished flat).
The earflaps are 11 stitches picked up from the cast-on row (I tried on the cap and marked where I wanted the flaps with safety pins). Knit 5 rows of garter (or stockinette) stitch. Knit 2 together at the beginning and end of next row. Knit the following row even. Keep doing this until you have 3 stitches left on the needle. Then you knit i-cord or garter stitch until the ties are as long as you want them (the pattern suggests 7 inches). I added tassels at the bottom of the ties and the crown of the hat because my daughter likes things a bit funky.
What a relief to escape from white lace for awhile! I needed the break! Now I'm casting on a simple seed-stitch scarf in another fun yarn which I'll show you when I've made more progress.
I can't believe I started and finished a Christmas gift within ten days of the the holiday. It can be done!
Here's how it came out after blocking. It is a really basic pattern on #9 dpns (yes, I approached them with fear and trembling but I seem to have overcome my tendency to ladders) and took just one skein (138 yards) of the Manos, one of my favorite variegated yarns. It's soft, funky in its texture, and comes in gorgeous shades across the spectrum.
You cast on 70 stitches (I did 80 because I hate having my head squished and I knit tight anyway), alternate knitting and purling for 5 rows, then knit in rounds for 4 1/2 inches. Then you start decreasing by knitting 8, then knitting two together till the end. The next row is knitted even. Then you knit 7, knit two together, and continue to the end. Then knit a row even. You keep doing this with one fewer stitch between decreases until you knit 2 together all the way around. Then you knit some i-cord if you want a pointy top (I didn't so I just threaded the yarn through the remaining stitches and finished flat).
The earflaps are 11 stitches picked up from the cast-on row (I tried on the cap and marked where I wanted the flaps with safety pins). Knit 5 rows of garter (or stockinette) stitch. Knit 2 together at the beginning and end of next row. Knit the following row even. Keep doing this until you have 3 stitches left on the needle. Then you knit i-cord or garter stitch until the ties are as long as you want them (the pattern suggests 7 inches). I added tassels at the bottom of the ties and the crown of the hat because my daughter likes things a bit funky.
What a relief to escape from white lace for awhile! I needed the break! Now I'm casting on a simple seed-stitch scarf in another fun yarn which I'll show you when I've made more progress.
I can't believe I started and finished a Christmas gift within ten days of the the holiday. It can be done!
Labels: cap with earflaps, colorways, gift, manos
posted by Nancy Herkness at 3:56 PM
11 Comments:
Awesome!
Kim in IA
Love the color, love the pattern - simple and practical. And I am so impressed with your dilligence.
Me, diligent? You must be mistaking me for someone else. :-) I think I was just so happy to be released from the bondage of white lace that all that pent-up energy flew into the hat.
Tomorrow I can post pictures... of the hat I spun the yarn for and then knit and made up a pattern for... in about two weeks! I make me sick.
That hat is lovely!
LOL, Georg!
Nancy, I love love love this and I'm not even a hat person. Fabulous job! If you ever get tired of the writing gig . . .
Thanks, Barbara! The colors are definitely right up your alley. I thought of you when I saw the yarn.
What a beautiful colorway. Thanks for the pattern as well. I may nerve myself up to try this!
You can check out the hat from homespun now on my blog...
http://weirdgeorg.blogspot.com/2008/12/homespun-hat-for-yarn-fairy-this-is-my.html
Love the hat on your blog!
Thank you!
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