Last week I came across a pattern that had my hands itching to grab some yarn and find my needles. Because of work I didn’t get to do that until Saturday and by the time the day was done I had finished 4 hats. While I followed the pattern as written for the first hat, half way through the second one I was already figuring how to do things differently and by the time I started the third hat I had rewritten the pattern to my preferences in my head.
I found the original as a free pattern at www.littlehomeblessings.com and this particular is called “The Scrappy Gnome Hat Pattern”
I made my first had up in under 2 hours. Each of the rest took less than that once I had what I preferred all in one place. I haven’t written up my version yet, but at some point I will have a pattern section to my blog. For now I will just show what I got done on Saturday with more to follow.
The original pattern called for using 1 strand of bulky weight yarn along with 1 strand of worsted weight yarn, but when I first started I wasn’t finding my bulky yarn stash so I improvised using 3 strands of worsted. It works for gauge, but be aware when you do that it creates a fabric that is stiffer than using just the 2 strands called for due to the extra twisting that occurs as you work the yarn.
When I knit the second cap I found some of my bulky yarn stash and paired it with a variegated worsted weight yarn so I didn’t have to change yarns to get color variations and create interest. (I consider myself to be a somewhat lazy knitter, preferring the yarn and technique do the work so I don’t have to.) By this point I had found my 16 inch circular size 13 needles to do the first portion of knitting.
By my third attempt I had changed some things around in the working of the pattern as well as found some boucle left over from another project. I paired it up with some raspberry worsted as set off around and around. For some reason I find going around in circles addicting. (I have a simple rolled brim cap I’ve been doing for years just because I can do most of it on circular needles and I do not have to think or pay attention until I start to decrease. It’s one of my default patterns and you’ll probably be introduced to it at a later date).
My last cap of the evening was done using a heathered pink bulky weight yarn and then alternating a deep rose worsted with an off white worsted. I knew that I wouldn’t have enough of the rose to do the whole thing, so I alternated between them, carrying the unused yarn up as I worked so I could minimize the finishing work.
So there you have it. Instead of cleaning house, I spent Saturday playing with yarn and knitting hats. In looking at these pictures I think that next time I should probably do a some practicing in picture taking, but I just wanted to share these before they got given away or lost in the shuffle.
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