Cowling

This is a major knitting stutter for me. I’ve knit it in multiples, this one being my third. It’s Joji Locatelli’s Bobble Cowl. She is of the view that it’s “a perfect way to use up a single skein of yarn.” I agree that it’s pretty close to perfect. I knit this one in Kokon Yarn Bleu Fingering Weight. It’s put up in 437 yard 100 gram skeins. I worked 12 repeats of the 48 row pattern and used up about 360 yards. I’m confident I could have knitted one more repeat. But I felt the length was good at 12.

Obviously, the pattern is mostly a matter of short rows. That’s an easy skill to master. Still, especially at the start of the pattern, I usually need a bit of help recognizing the correct spot to turn. When working the wraps & turns in the first half of the pattern repeat, when the pattern says work to “6 stitches before,” I worked until the 7th stitch from the wrapped stitch gap. I slipped that 7th stitch to the right hand needle and moved the yarn forward. I turned and that created the wrapped stitch. This count means that the stitches will bunch in 6-stitch groups. That works out so that you end the wrap-and-turn sequences in the first half of the pattern repeat with 3 stitches left, the 3rd one being wrapped. That’s the same point where the sequence ends in the second half of the pattern repeat.

Here’s another look at my Kokon Bleu version.

I decided to knit up a gifted skein of Yarn Snob’s A Good Fingering in this same pattern. This is their Holiday Flower Power colorway. Again, for my 4th Bobble Cowl, I worked 12 repeats.

If you’ve wondered, Locatelli’s pattern sensibly doesn’t call for knitting into the wraps as you pass them in any subsequent rows. In garter stitch the wraps don’t detract from the pattern.

The pattern begins with a provisional cast-on so that you’ll have live stitches at the ready to join with your last row of stitches. I use Lucy Neatby’s easy crochet cast-on. It unravels perfectly and easily because all the stitches in the first row are knit stitches. Instead of working Kitchener grafting, I work a 3-needle bind-off. That’s because I sometimes have trouble keeping an even tension while grafting garter stitch. I don’t mind the resultant seam on the inside of the cowl. But working Kitchener at the end will make for a more elegant look. And if you’re knitting for a non-knitter, there’s a more than 50% chance they’ll be wearing the cowl inside out. So if you can manage the graft at least you won’t have the added aggravation of seeing the 3-needle bind-off seam dangling under their chin.

The stitch count stays at 60 throughout the pattern. If you find that you have 2 extra stitches, it might be that you forgot to bind off two stitches at the end of the bobble. Ahem. I’m guessing that you know how I know that.

The Bobble Cowl is big favorite of mine.

Next up is Loop Knallerbse, by Petra Peinze. Stop laughing. It’s not a cowl for a baby giraffe.

Isn’t it cool in a very warm kind of way? I knit mine in Queensland Collection Perth using the Golden Wattle colorway. For some, this sock yarn won’t feel properly next-to-the-neck soft. But I’m not sensitive to that. So it’s a little prickly. So am I sometimes. It suits me well.

This Ravelry freebie is definitely worth your time. It’s so long that you can even pull it up over your head as a snood. Because snoods don’t only have to be mesh bags holding hair at the back of a person’s head. Loop Knallerbse qualifies as a “wide ring of knitted material worn as a hood or a scarf.” New Oxford American Dictionary. I just love that word. Snood. Snood. Snood.

The blues, again

It’s time to sing the blues again as in 2020. First up in this blues redux is Benjamin Matthews’ conveniently named Art Deco Redux. I worked mine in Malabrigo Rios in the Teal Feathers colorway. Rios is right up there among my favorite yarns for knitting worsted weight hats. And Teal Feathers is a beautiful vibrant deep blue.

Some don’t like purling in the round. That’s not a problem for me. The reverse stockinette sets off the gradually increasing height of the rib section very nicely. The simple architectural design ends at the crown with some excellent swirling decreases,

Next up is Vanessa Ewing’s Dodging Raindrops Cowl. I knit mine in MCN Fingering, by Sun Valley Fibers. It’s 80% Merino,10% nylon, and 10% cashmere goat. I’ve been enjoying fingering weight cowls these days.They can take the chill out of air conditioning or take the chill out of winter. Very versatile.

It’s easy to see the falling raindrops in this pattern. I wasn’t sure if raindrops would be closer together at higher or at lower altitudes. I’ve been known to wonder about things like that. But this is the way the designer’s project page features the cowl, so I’m sticking to that.

It’s a fun knit. And this cashmere-content Sun Valley yarn has wonderful drape and feels great next to the skin.

You’ve seen Joji Locatell’s fingering weight Bobble Cowl once before on this blog. This time I bobbled away using Anzula’s Domino. Domino is an unusual mix of 80% merino, 17% acrylic, and 3% polyester. Honestly, the merino doesn’t shine through as much as I’d like. But what a great cowl.

Here’s a closer look at how the short rows and bobbles create the interesting design.

Though I miss the softness of the merino, Domino folds over onto itself very nicely and drapes well.

Back to hats. This is Ellissa Gilbert’s Hazelnut Hat.

The yarn is Jagger Spun of Springvale Maine’s “Super Lamb.” Gilbert’s pattern includes directions for DK  and worsted weight versions. I wanted a hat for a big noggin so I worked the 104 stitch DK version even though I used a worsted. I didn’t think that an 88 stitch hat would work for my bigheads, especially because of the twisted ribbing. The pattern directs you to twist the knit and the purl stitches. I dutifully twisted both and had the very sore hands to prove it. It is a nice effect though.

Pouffy slouchies are a thing these days. Uncuffed, Hazelnut poufs. And cuffing tames its pouf quite nicely.

A solid good hat pattern.

That’s all for today’s blues.

Strong solid color hats

Brace yourself for a hatapalooza. The theme is hats in solid colors. Gloriously pretty and deep clear colors. And even dull and boring colors. But all solids. No speckles. No variegateds.

This first hat is Kathy Zimmerman’s Back Seat Driver Hat, a Ravelry freebie. I knit mine in Sugar Bush Yarn’s Crisp, a DK weight. The colorway is Good Gold. The pattern is an easy, quick knit. The solid color is busy doing what solids often do: showcasing texture.

I have a giant pumpkin head and so do many in my neck of the woods. So I knit the largest size. A 120-stitch cast-on is a very large hat, even in DK. But I love the generous feel of this hat and that the ribbing isn’t stretched while someone wears it.

I’d like this hat more if the crown decreases were a little less fluffy. That can be solved by flipping the ribbing up to pull the hat down at the crown. But I sort of prefer an uncuffed ribbing in this one.

Next up is a classic balaclava: Easy Balaclava by Nanette Blanchard. It’s also a freebie, but you’ll have to step into the Wayback Machine, here, for the pattern.

I knit my helmet in Berroco Ultra Wool. Worked in a solid black there’s no busy yarn to obscure the simple lines of the ribbing.

And the crown decreases are nicely well-behaved too.

I made almost no modifications to the pattern. But instead of using a backward loop cast-on above the bind-off (as the pattern directs), I used a cable cast-on. And to strengthen the opening, on both sides where the cast-on met the body of the helmet, I knit 2 together. In the final decrease round, I substituted knit 2 together for the pattern’s knit 3 together. Then I closed the hat with 6 stitches instead of 4.

Next up is Rafa’s Hat, a freebie by Joji Locatelli. She says it’s “a very easy manly hat worked in worsted weight yarn…designed for a friend who (like every man) had very little requirements.”

This time I knit Rafa’s Hat in Berroco’s Ultra Wool in the “Green” colorway. Don’t you love the shade name? Not “Pond Scum in the Moonlight” or “Moss Lurking under a Wet Rock.” Just, “Green.” A no-nonsense yarn for a no-nonsense hat.

My round gauge is always way off when I knit this hat. This time, I knit the largest size but stopped the ribbing in each section at 15 rounds. After 3 repeats, I worked only 4 rounds of ribbing before starting the crown decreases. That worked well. Otherwise the hat would have been too long.

Wouldn’t this hat be cool with that perfect circle of crown decreases knit in a bright yellow?

This next hat is a frequent visitor to the blog: Aimee Alexander’s Boon Island. Not a freebie, but worth every penny. This is the 5th time I’ve knit this pattern and this time I decided to use Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash Solid in the “Gold” colorway. Here’s Boon Island as a slouchy.

Here’s the hat cuffed and showing off its underside. If you work this hat with care, in terms of weaving in ends, it’s almost a reversible.

Here’s the tidy crown decreases.

The next pattern and yarn are both new to me: Susan B. Anderson’s Baker’s Hat and Louett’s Gem’s Fingering weight.

I used a cable cast-on, alternating between knit and purl stitches. It worked out well and made for a very neat edge. My stitch gauge was correct. My row gauge was off. At the end of the twisted-rib stitches, I was already 8 inches from the cast-on (rather than 7.5). I eliminated the extra rounds (5 for my size) and just started decreasing at the end of the twisted-rib rounds. Whether because of the yarn or the pattern, I’m not sure, but I needed to sternly wet-block this hat to tame the ruffle that formed just after the ribbing, as the hat moves into its stockinette section.

The Baker’s Hat crown is a bunch of organized elongated puffy folds. Normally that wouldn’t sit well with me. But for some reason I feel like it works here. Maybe the audacity of how exaggerated they are makes those puffs more acceptable. And, once again, the simple twisted-rib section shows to good advantage in a simple solid yarn.

This last hat is Smith’s Hat, a Ravelry freebie designed by Sanne Kalmbacher. From my first look at the design I imagined Smith’s Hat in a solid, mostly to show off the unusual structure with its twists of ribbing. I knit mine in Plymouth Yarn’s DK Merino Superwash. The colorway is Copper Heather. I see you rolling your eyes already. OK. Heathers are not solids. All I can say is that this “heather” isn’t a heather. It’s a solid. Nice yarn, too.

‘Tis a very strange knit. Which is what drew me to it. It’s given some folks fits to knit. It did for me too but then I found some assistance from other Raveler’s project pages.

The puzzler is how to get that slanted rib panel to slice its way across the hat.

The M1L and M1LP are worked typically, though the abbreviation key sets out the directions in a way I’ve not seen before.

For the M1L, I picked up the horizontal bar from the front, put it on the left needle point, and knit it through the back loop.

For the M1LP, I picked up the horizontal bar from the front, put it on the left needle point, and purled it through the back loop. Purling through the back is an unpleasant maneuver. Sharp needle points make it easier. Purling through the back closes up a little hole that will otherwise appear in a rather prominent place.

There is a horizontal bar to pick up on every round. Especially at the beginning, it’s a little hard to see. It’s a bit tucked to the nonpublic side, maybe because there’s some pulling going on from all this stitch manipulation.

My fairy godmother on this project is Raveler ESB4. Ethel has line-by-line instructions on her Ravelry Smith’s Hat project page for rounds 6-11 as you leave the twist and form the M1Ls. They work perfectly. Basically, Rounds 6-8 create 3 stitches as you exit the twist, and 3 disappear just before you enter the twist as a result of knit 2 togethers. Same for rounds 9-11. The first trio of rounds creates a set of 3 knits, while the last trio creates a set of 3 purls. As those trios “grow” they become a full 3-stitch vertical rib. I know that if you haven’t already knit this it’s probably not making much sense. But it all works out.


I’m not thrilled with the crown decreases, especially at the start. But that very prominent line of decreases mostly fades into the background once it’s on a head. Felted Head says the hat is quite cozy.

I’ve been doing a good bit of knitting with solids partly because I’ve been gravitating to lots of texture in my knits. Both are good trends. Comforting. Soothing. With nothing to hurt your eyeballs.

Joji Locatelli and Madelintosh


This is Joji Locatelli’s Suburban Wrap, knit in Madelintosh Tosh Merino Light. I was gifted three skeins of this yarn. Gulp! I wanted to find a pattern that would do it justice and I believe I succeeded.

This wrap was a little hard to photograph. But it will be very easy to wear.

I thought the lace would be a challenge for me, but it worked out well.

Following the lead of a few others on Ravelry, I  knit the first stitch of each row instead of slipped it–mostly to help neaten the striped section edges. For me, that slip stitch as the yarn colors change ends up looking sloppy. Others manage it just fine. But I must not quite have the knack. Ok. It doesn’t help that occasionally I forget to slip and then you get that galumph on the edge.

As is true of others, I substituted a CDD (slip 2 together knitwise, knit one, pass the slipped stitches over) for the sk2p (slip 1, k2 together, pass slipped stitch over) that the lace section called for.

Thanks so much, good friend. The yarn was a joy to work with. Here’s my yarnie bouquet as it arrived from Jimmy Beans:

The yarn was so lovely to work with that I didn’t want any to languish in my oddments bin. Since I was on a Joji Locatelli roll, I decided to work up the rest of the yarn by knitting her long, tall Three-Color Cashmere Cowl with the remainder. Well, I needed to add one other yarn to get the required length. And Tosh Merino light is obviously not cashmere. So let’s just call this my More-Than-3-Color-Not Cashmere Cowl.

You know from my recent posts that orange and I are having a good run. I think my partial skein of Classic Elite Yuri was just the thing to make this cowl pop.

 

Yep, that does nicely.

Fall at the lake is hat weather’s start

Long  Lake has been spectacular lately. This was the view one day this week about an hour after sunrise. The weather is crisp. OK, the weather’s pretty cold. It reminds that winter isn’t far away.

Time for hats. This purple one is Claudia Eisenkolb’s Not Cabled. I knit mine in Berrocco Ultra Wool, a worsted weight superwash that is a new favorite of mine. Not Cabled just looks like it uses cables. The illusion is achieved by merely working knit and purl stitches.

In this view you get a better sense that this isn’t cabling.

And, as always with hats I like to knit, the decreases successfully continue enough of the pattern to create an attractive crown.

This sunny hat is Lion Brand’s Seed Rib Hat. The pattern calls for  a DK weight. I used Stonehedge Fiber’s Shepherd’s Wool DK. My sense is that this hat will be a hit in my holiday choose-your-gift basket.

OK. People will likely say “I like the pompom” and overlook that the crown decreases nicely continue (and properly dispose of) the pattern stitch. But as knitters we will be pleased by what’s under the pompom, a series of organized crown decreases.

Given the death of Classic Elite and its yarns, this next hat might be called “Ode to Classic Elite Fresco.” But it’s actually Susan Mills no-nonsense Fresco Simply Slouchy Hat available now, via Ravelry, as a freebie.

Such a sweet and simple thing. And knit up in sportweight Fresco, it’s kitten-soft.

Next up is Joji Locatelli’s free pattern Rafa’s Hat. I decided to knit mine in a skein of Worsted Merino Superwash Hand-dyed, a Plymouth yarn that I’ve had in my stash for a good long while. Speckled yarns don’t entice me much anymore. But I think this pattern works well in this yarn.

A very simple crown decrease. And it works!

And finally, an oldie-goodie, knit in Berroco Comfort to satisfy the wool-adverse.

It’s the delightfully named School Colors Hat AC-53. It’s a Fiber Trends pattern by Betsy Lee McCarthy, available direct from the Fiber Trends website and on Ravelry. This hat has a trick up its sleeve to create the double roll. The trick is all about the rolling and not much about the knitting. I’ve knit many of these and posted about them on my blog. I get questions about how to form the double roll. The answer is to finish knitting and then just do exactly what the pattern says. Exactly. Without any overthinking. The double roll will happen. This pattern was released back in 1492 and, no, you haven’t discovered that the roll doesn’t work.

The crown knits up neatly even though Comfort shows the decreases more than I think ideal.