FO Friday: #USSstrike hat

Another week, another FO! This one is a special one as it was requested by my very knitworthy brother.

In March a lot of the universities in the UK were taking strike action in an effort to safeguard their pensions. My brother works in the university sector, and wanted a special hat to show solidarity with his fellow strikers. During the strikes, a twitter account had been created for a character called the Dinosaur of Solidarity in support of the strikers, and someone had created a pattern to knit a hat featuring the Dinosaur, which my brother requested.

The hat pattern wasn't the greatest - it suggested 5 mm needles and sock weight yarn. Erm no, that's quite a mismatch! So I ordered some aran weight yarn (a much better match to the needle size) and waited for it to arrive. Of course the yarn got delayed in the post (this was always going to be one of those projects), and when it did finally arrive and I swatched with it I realised the chart was going to be way too tall to fit on the hat at aran gauge, so I had to rummage through the stash to find something else that might work. I came up with some sportweight yarn (Bergere de France Ideal, which I have worked with recently enough to know which needles and gauge would work well with the yarn), and made a few adjustments to the pattern (I cast on 126 sts and removed the serifs from the letters; I also recharted the design so that it had row and stitch numbers, both of which make a chart a lot easier to follow).

The knitting was easy enough - I used a combination of intarsia and stranded colourwork to minimise ends - but I had to do quite a lot of maths when I got to the crown as I only had a few rows to work with when I got to the end of the chart (decreasing at 14 points always seems like a lot!).

Too tall, unravelling required...

The finished hat is great (both kids wanted it - they have no idea what it's about, but loved the dinosaur!). It needed a good wash and block to even out the colourwork, but is now with my brother, who says he likes it. And I've decided that I'm going to knit him another hat with the aran weight yarn I ordered...

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#USSstrike hat Ravelry project page (I've included full details about what I did, as well as a copy of my updated chart; I hope they're of use to someone)
Pattern: USS strike hat by Nicki Clarkson
Yarn: Bergere de France Ideal in Alpin (21821), Myosotis (20841) and Linaire (20933)

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New design: Scheurich hat and mitts set

Yesterday I showed you the Mr Bump and Little Miss Naughty jumpers that I designed for issue 79 of Knit Now magazine. Today I'm sharing the other pattern set I have in the issue: my Scheurich hat and mitts set.

The set is directly inspired by the onion motif used in Scheurich Keramik pottery. As soon as I saw the pottery, which features highly textured smoothly curved lines that look a little like the layers in an onion, I knew I had to replicate the curves in knitting.

The hat and mitts are both knitted in the round from the bottom up, starting with a 2 x 2 rib cuff and a ribbed-cable panel that starts in the ribbing and continues along the length of the item, on a stocking stitch base.

At the top of the hat, the cable reduces in size, and continues right up into the crown. The mitts have a plain thumb gusset that is worked at the same time as the rest of the mitt, and the thumbs are finished with 2 x 2 ribbing.

Each item comes in three sizes, so you should be able to find a size that fits you perfectly.

The set is knitted in Yarn Stories Fine Merino DK,* which comes in a variety of solid colours. If you fancied making a really special version of the set, I would suggest using a semi-solid such as The Yarn Collective Bloomsbury DK,* which would emulate the glossy glaze in the pottery.

The Scheurich hat and mitts set is available in issue 79 of Knit Now magazine, which is available in shops now, or you can order a copy online.

All images copyright Practical Publishing. 

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Christmas countdown 2016: Days seven and eight

Day seven

Pre-Christmas panic has started to set in, so while I've done the shopping aspect of presents, the making aspect still has a way to go. Yesterday I decided to tackle this, and whipped up a hat for my friend's daughter. Handily there were no specific requests, so I decided to try out a ball of DMC Top This!, which is a yarn and pom pom set, but the pom pom is actually a tiny soft toy. I enjoyed knitting the hat, and will post a review of the yarn in the next few days.

The Christmas tree went up yesterday, much to my children's delight. We have previously had two trees, with one featuring the precious ornaments, and a second for the more generic ornaments. This year I have gone for one tree with all the decorations, and it looks lovely.

The advent calendars keep on giving, and I really like yesterday's offerings from the Opal and Paintbox yarns calendars.

Day eight

This morning I started on a hat for a friend's son. The request was very specific: a dragon hat in red, green, blue and turquoise. I am following the Dragon Hat pattern by BriAbby, which fits the bill perfectly. I need a hat by the end of today and it must be finished by the end of tomorrow. I have swatched and used five hooks and two different yarns before hitting gauge, which doesn't bode well. Fingers crossed I have something to show you by Saturday...

The advent calendar yarns today clash spectacularly. Which had to happen eventually!

*This post contains affiliate links. See my disclaimer page for more details.*