I’d mentioned knitting the 42-stitch hats earlier. I’ve got them, they’re cute, but I thought they needed a certain something to make them truly special. I’ve got six now, two each of red, purple, and blue because each skein of Brown Sheep Burly Spun makes two hats with a tad left over. So I went looking for inspiration in several spots that have trims, embellishments and the like.

Of course I checked out Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments and her new Knitting on the Edge. I won’t be buying On The Edge, too much duplicates the KE book already on my shelf, plus I have most of the sources she drew upon, so there’s very little there new to me. Nice photos, though. Useful if your library isn’t as out of control as mine, or if visual inspiration is key to your thought process.

I also looked through Thomas’ Knitting Book to check out picot point knitting, and a couple of other books that had tassels or other freeform motifs. I even dipped into my crochet resources, but crochet in finger-wide bulky yarn looks ridiculous to me. I tried out several knit flower and leaf type motifs, but nothing quite hit the spot as being bold enough for the ultra-bulky hat.

Then while taking my daily blogstroll, in a fit of serendipity, I hit on Nanette’s Knitting in Color (she of the stranded colorwork book and bunny haven). There she’d posted some directions for knitted stars, worked from the outside edge in. Even in supergiant yarn with a distinctly ruffled look her stars are perfect for my hats!

I played with them a bit, working them up in the round instead of flat to spare myself the joy of a purl side double decrease and a seam, and using a double decrease that leaves the centermost stitch on top. (This first pilot star was done with the decreases as described in the original directions). I had just enough left over from each skein of my Burly Spun to make two stars, plus have a bit extra for sewing and surface embroidery.

I’ll try to get a good shot of this one. It’s in a charcoal-grey alpaca, a notoriously difficult color to photograph.

The stuff is sport weight. I mentioned before that I got it at a Maryland Sheep and Wool Show, circa ’95 or ’96. There was a big rainstorm that year, and many of the vendors in outdoor tents were soaked through and/or blown over. The Tess Designer Yarns booth was particularly hard hit. Sunday afternoon as the owner was packing there was still a large pile of sodden yarns laid out on a tarp that were being sold as-is. I bought this one-skein orphan, took it home and dried it out and wound it, and have been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since. There’s a ton of yardage on this 8 oz. ball. I’ve barely scratched the surface and could probably do another three or four scarves with what’s on there.

My gauge over my Kombu is K1, P1 rib is roughly 6spi , on US #4 needles. This gray scarf is about 6 inches wide, measured point to point. I’ve completed about three feet so far, averaging about eight inches per hour. Both the center pattern and lace edges are quick to memorize and knit. Alternate rows of the center are K1, P1 rib; alternate rows of the edgings are all knit. Because the scarf is based entirely on a combo of ribbing and garter stitch it lies absolutely flat, without curling.

I hate to brag, but I really like this pattern – even though it’s one of my own. It’s rare I go back and do another of anything I’ve finished. Even that Dreaded Second Sock can be agony, but this is the fourth Kombu I’ve done. Two were done in Little Lola (including the same photographed on the pattern website) at a slightly smaller gauge (befitting the slightly thinner yarn). The other was done on US #7s and a 4.5 spi in pink/turquoise/yellow/lime green Red Heart variegated, picked out by a (then) 4 year old. Both my eyes and fingers hurt doing that one, but the kidlet was delighted with the all too bright result after she decided that the yarn wasn’t so scratchy that she couldn’t wear it as an "outside the coat" type scarf.

Several people wrote to ask about the 42-stitch hats I mentioned yesterday. I attempt to answer.

The pattern (such as it is) is widely available. Cleckheaton has a version that they authorize yarn shops to give away with purchase of Gusto 10 that’s written to be specific to the yardage of that product. I’ve also seen very similar hats in several of the beginners’ books so popular now, distributed as shop patterns by LYSs, and posted other places on the Web. Basically, it’s a hat boiled down to its barest essentials – a very large gauge stockinette tube with a crown formed by simple decreases. The brim is formed by the natural tendency of stockinette to roll.

1. Find at least 55 yards of yarn that knits up to about 9 or 9.25 stitches = 4 inches. I got 9 with Cleckheaton Gusto, and 9.25 with Brown Sheep Bulky Spun. The Bulky Spun hats measure a bit under 18.5 inches around the lower edge, and stretch for a comfy fit on adults. The Gusto hats are just under 18.7 inches around the lower edge.

2. Cast on 42 stitches, and knit stockinette in the round. I used plain old half-hitch cast on to avoid a tight edge, and to conserve yarn. I did the whole thing on a set of four size US #13 DPNs, but if you hate double points you could do it on two circs, or start on one short circ, then move to DPNs.

3. Knit tube until it’s long enough to both cover your ears and reach just under the crest of your head. That’s about 7.5 to 8.5 inches, including the rolled brim (which should be flattened out to measure). If you’ve only got 55 yards of a superbulky, don’t make this part deeper than 8 inches.

4. Divide the stitches into 6 groups of 6. If you’re on DPNs, that means placing a marker (or remembering the spot) in between the two center most stitches of each DPN. Finish the hat by working six consecutive rows of knit with decreases, always working a decrease just before a marker or (if you’re on DPNs), the needle’s end – that’s six decrease points around the hat. You can work either K2tog or SSK, as you prefer, choose one and work it throughout the piece. If you pick K2tog, the decreases should stack up and spiral in counterclockwise to the center. If you pick SSK, the spiral should end up running clockwise. When you’ve got only six stitches left, thread break off the yarn and thread them up on the tail, drawing them up purse style. Darn in ends.

Note that you can make this hat larger or smaller by adding multiples of six stitches. A little kid size hat out of the same weight yarn would start out on 36 stitches.

If you pick a lighter-weight yarn, increase the cast on number by units of six, how many will depend on your yarn. For example, if you’re using a yarn that’s 10 to 10.5 stitches = 4 inches, 42 stitches would probably be a bit small, I’d aim for 48 stitches and hope that the fit wouldn’t be too large.

I wouldn’t attempt this hat with yarn that’s much lighter than 2.75 stitches per inch (11 stitches = 4 inches) for two reasons. First, much of the charm of this rustic-looking funky hat depends on the bulk and body of the yarn used. The silky firmness of dense Gusto is more satisfying than the less-dense Bulky Spun. Lighter weight yarns would be even more floppy. Plus I’d need to do more experimentation to satisfy myself that every-row ratio of crown decreases would work out as nicely as it does on the heavier-yarn hats.

Finally I have to note that I don’t like knitting yarns at these huge gauges. I can knit non-stop for hours on sock weight yarn, but this big stuff tires out my fingers. Also this is the first project I’ve ever worked on DPNs where if you look closely, you can pick out where my DPNS met. Feh.

A break from the monolith of text that this blog has become.

I’ve been having an on-line chat with a knitter looking for something to do with a pile of small balls/many colors of worsted weight yarn salvaged from a ravelled back Intarsia sweater. I recommended the Ridged Raglan from Knitters Magazine #54,?Spring 1999 issue.

This is my 6-year old’s all-time favorite sweater:

Also please excuse the blurry photo. Some days the camera and I get along, others we war. Believe it or not, this is the best of ten shots.

This pattern is by Gerdine Crawford Strong, and in my opinion is the last thing?Knitters published that was a "gotta knit it" project, and the last thing I’ve made from their pages. But my disappointment in their current direction is food for another day’s post.

Ms. Strong’s pattern is pretzel-clever. It’s knit vertically, with the arm and front (or back) panel knit at the same time – decreases form the raglan lines. The "ribbing" bands at waist and cuff are actually garter stitch worked at the same time as the sweater arms/body. The idea is presented in sizes from little kid through adult XXL, and as both a pullover and as a cardigan. It calls for a worsted weight acrylic, but anything knitted to the same gauge can be used.

I hate to make more than one of anything, but I’ve done three of these sweaters. One was a two-blues cardigan in Encore (a mostly acrylic/wool blend); the one above is a pullover in three citrus colors of?Record 210, an Aran weight unmercerized cotton; and one was?a pullover in Tahki Cotton Classic, all in tiny balls salvaged from a five-pastel intarsia project abandoned by my mother. For the latter two I had to play a bit with the pattern to accommodate differences in gauge.

As you can see, there are tons of scope for fun with this project. It’s a great vehicle for using up bits and drabs. You need one color for the purl welts that?unite the piece as a whole (in my case, navy blue, orange and white respectively), but the individual stockinette stripes can be anything, from scraps leftover from several different projects to one of those hand-dyed yarns that can be so challenging to use effectively.

My only caution is that if you do choose to use cotton take care with the cuffs. Knit an extra garter stitch ridge, and try to work them loosely otherwise they can be too tight for quick dressing. Wool and wool blends however are naturally more elastic than cotton, and don’t present this problem.

If you go searching for the Knitters #54, Spring 1999, it looks like this:

A final note to US citizens – go vote or lose your right to complain for the next four years.