Seitwärts Hat - or Sideways with Stripes

This easy hat can be knitted up fast - using about one skein of yarn plus some leftovers of the same weight. Apart from some intermediate techniques, it is quite an easy pattern. The techniques are the use of the magic CO at the start and grafting at the end. So it may be a good project for a beginner who wants to practice these techniques.

As you may have guessed, seitwärts is the German word for sideways.


This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.






Materials

• about 60 to 70 grams of DK weight yarn - I used one full skein (as MC) and the leftovers from 3 other skeins (CC1, CC2, CC3)
• 3.5mm circular needles
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends
• two stitch-markers

Techniques

• Judy's Magic Cast-On is a technique that gives you live stitches on both sides of your needle - it is generally used for toe-up socks (e.g. in this pattern), but it can be used for other purposes as well. Here's a written description (from Knitty) and here's a YouTube-video by Cat Bordhi and another YouTube-video by Very Pink Knits. 
• Grafting in Stockinette Stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam that looks like stockinette stitch https://youtu.be/W7i5JwEReW0
• Grafting in Garter Stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam that looks like garter stitch - as shown in this YouTube Video by knittinghelp.com.
• If you don't like grafting, you can use the Three Needle Bind Off as an alternative: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0

Gauge and Measurements
In stockinette stitch, I had the following gauge: 34 rows gave 10 cm in height and 24 stitches gave 10 cm in width.
Since you're knitting sideways until you've reached the desired girth the height of your hat (i.e. the width of your knitting) is all you need to get right at the beginning. The hat I knitted with the gauge above measures 21 cm in height, so if you want to a different height, adjust your CO accordingly.

Instructions
With MC do a magic CO of 2x50 stitches - i.e. on each of your needles there are 50 sts.
Turn your piece so that you're looking at the side with the garter stitch bumps.
Set-up Row (WS): ktbl 15, pm, ptbl 35 (now your at the point where you change to the other needle and turn), p35, pm, k15
Row 1 (RS): sl1, k all
Row 2 (WS): sl1, k to marker (or k14), p to next marker (or p70), k to end (or k15)
Repeat rows 1 and 2 nine more times and then insert stripes:
In CC1: knit rows 1 and 2 twice
In CC2: knit rows 1 and 2 twice
In CC3: knit rows 1 and 2 twice
In CC2: knit rows 1 and 2 twice
In CC1: knit rows 1 and 2 twice

Then continue rows 1 and 2 in MC until the hat is wide enough to fit your head.

Of course, you can do any striping pattern you want. The striping pattern I choose is mainly due to the amount of yarn I had left over, plus I wanted something non-semetrical.

Once the lower edge fits around your head (when you stretch it a bit), finish the hat as follows:

• Knit 50 stitches (to half of the row). Make sure, that you are really in the middle of the row, i.e. count your stitches, because it isn't fun to undo grafting if you have not counted correctly (believe me!).
  Graft 35 sts in stockinette and 15 sts in garter stitch.
• Alternatively, turn the hat inside out and do a three needle BO.

Weave in ends and block.

La Chocolatière Mitts

Shortly after finishing my knitted Helgoland Mitts, I thought that it might be a good idea to pursue the same concept in crochet ... and it actually worked better than I had hoped. As with the Helgoland Mitts, it took me quite a while to write up the pattern, given that I finished them in March. But - finally - here it is.

These mitts are crocheted flat and each in one piece. They are started at the thumb, which is worked flat and joined into a tube. Afterwards, the main part starts with an additional chain, and then is worked back and forth around the thumb. Working through the back loop only gives them an interesting texture.

As to the name, the finished pieces reminded me of creamy, wavy layers of a rich chocolate cake.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.




Materials

• a total of about 40 to 45 grams of fingering weight yarn in two colors (called C1 and C2) - I used beige and dark (chocolate) brown
• 3mm crochet hook
• 2 removable stitch markers (e.g. safety pins)
• tapestry needle to weave in ends 

Size
The finished mitts - as knitted by me - are about 19 cm long. The width is adjustable - in part 3 of the pattern.


Stitches and Abbreviations

• ch: chain 
• sc: single crochet (American notation)
• sctbl: single crochet through back loop: http://crochet.about.com/od/crochetterms/tp/back-loops-only-or-blo.htm
• sl st: slip stitch: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-crochet-the-slip-stitch.html
• inc: increase by working 2 single crochet stitches into 1 sc below (in case of this pattern, it's 2 sctbl into the sctbl below): http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-increase-with-single-crochet.html
• dec or sctog: decrease by working 2 single crochet stitches together: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-decrease-single-crochet.html 
• join or connect: joining pieces with crochet: in order to join to pieces (or, in case of this pattern, the two sides of one piece) hold the pieces together with wrong sides on the outside and insert the crochet hook into both pieces at the same time, a foto tutorial can be found here (scroll down to “Joining with Crochet” http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/FEATwin08TT.php)
• [y]*x: repeat the sequence y (within the square brackets) x times
• [y] to x sts before marker: repeat the sequence y until there are x stitches before you reach the marker
• In the pattern, there will also be abbreviations for the wave sequences in parts 2 and 3, namely:
• A = inc, sctbl3, dec, dec, sctbl3, inc
• B = dec, sctbl3, inc, inc, sctbl3, dec

General Construction

• Part 1 is the thumb - worked flat and ends with joining the sides to get a little tube. 
• Part 2 starts with a chain of 36 sts and is worked flat (back and forth) around the thumb - the rows consist of the wave sequences (at the beginning and end of a row) and the increases in round sequences (in the middle of the row, around the thumb). The increases around the thumb are calculated to form a part of a flat circle. (The general idea how to crochet a flat circle is explained in this blogpost, i.e. the Kreisel Mitts crochet pattern).
• Part 3 is also worked flat, it widens the mitt to fit your hands and ends by crocheting the edges together.

Instructions

NOTE 1: all increase and decrease stitches in this part are crocheted through the back loop of the underlying stitch only.

NOTE 2: Please note that the sequences in brackets don't always match the number of stitches left (e.g. it might say [dec, sctbl 5], but there are only 4 stitches left) - that's OK. Just continue with the sequence until the condition is met and then stop (in case of the example above, just make one decrease and sctbl the 3 stitches to the end)

NOTE 3: Whenever you encounter a marker, work that stitch and replace the marker up to the current row - unless indicated otherwise.

First mitt

Part 1 (Thumb)
With C1
Row 0: ch 10 and 1 turning-chain
Row 1: sc 10; 1 turning-chain
Row 2: sctbl 10; 1 turning-chain
Row 3: sctbl 8, dec; 1 turning-chain
Row 4: sctbl 9; 1 turning-chain
Row 5: sctbl 7, dec; 1 turning-chain
Row 6: sctbl 8; 1 turning-chain
Row 7: sctbl 6, dec; 1 turning-chain

(Your piece should now be as high as half of your thumb circumference. If it's too small for that you can add an even number of "sctbl all, 1 turning-chain"-rounds.)

Row 8: sctbl 7; 1 turning-chain
Row 9: sctbl 6, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 10: sctbl 8; 1 turning-chain
Row 11: sctbl 7, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 12: stbl 9; 1 turning-chain
Row 13: sctbl 8, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 14: sctbl 10; 1 turning-chain

Now your piece should look like in illustration 1.

Fold the edges together (chain edge and your last row) and connect.

Illustrations

Part 2

Row 0 (C1): chain 36 + 1 turning chain - now your piece looks similar to illustration 2
Row 1 (WS, C1): [A]*3, place marker, sc around the rim of the thumb (from the inside, I picked up 24 sts, if you added a few rows between row 7 and 8 of part 1, you will have a different stitch count), place marker [B]*3
Row 2 (RS, C2): [B]*3, dec, [sctbl2, inc] to 2 before marker, dec, [A]*3
Row 3 (WS, C2): [A]*3, sctbl1, dec [sctbl1, inc, sctbl2] to 3 bef marker, sctbl1, dec, [B]*3
Row 4 (RS, C1): [B]*3, dec, sctbl2, [sctbl2, inc, sctbl2] to 4 bef marker sctbl2, dec , [A]*3
Row 5 (WS, C1): [A]*3, dec, sctbl3, [sctbl3, inc, sctbl2] to 5 bef marker, sctbl3, dec , [B]*3
(Now your piece should look similar to illustration 3.)

Row 6 (RS, C2): [B]*3, dec, sctbl3, inc, [sctbl1, inc, sctbl5] to 6 bef marker, dec, sctbl3, inc, [A]*3
Row 7 (WS, C2): [A]*3, inc, sctbl3, dec, sctbl1, [sctbl1, inc, sctbl6] to 7 bef marker sctbl1, inc, sctbl3, dec, [B]*3
Row 8 (RS, C1): [B]*3, dec, sctbl3, inc, [sctbl4, inc, sctbl4] to 6 bef marker, dec, sctbl3, inc, [A]*3
Row 9 (WS, C1): [A]*3, inc, sctbl3, dec, [inc, sctbl9] to 6 bef marker inc, sctbl3, dec, [B]*3
Row 10 (RS, C2): [B]*4, [sctbl2, inc, sctbl8] to marker sctbl2, [A]*4
Row 11 (WS, C2): [A]*4, [sctbl4, inc, sctbl7] to  marker, [B]*4
Row 12 (RS, C1): [B]*4, [sctbl8, inc, sctbl4]] to marker, [A]*4
Row 13 (WS, C1): [A]*4, [inc, sctbl13] to marker, [B]*4
Row 14 (RS, C2): [B]*4, dec, sctbl3, inc, [sctbl2, inc, sctbl1] to 6 bef marker, dec, sctbl3, inc, [A]*4
Row 15 (WS, C2): [A]*4, inc, sctbl3, dec, [sctbl2, inc, sctbl12] to 6 bef marker inc, sctbl3, dec, [B]*

Part 3
Row 1 (RS, C1): [B]*4, dec, sctbl3, inc, 1 turning chain
Row 2 (WS, C1):  inc, sctbl3, dec, [B]*4, 1 turning chain
Row 3 (RS, C2): [B]*4, dec, sctbl3, inc, 1 turning chain
Row 4 (WS, C2):  inc, sctbl3, dec, [B]*4, 1 turning chain
Row 5 (RS, C1): [B]*4, dec, sctbl3, inc, 1 turning chain
Row 6 (WS, C1):  inc, sctbl3, dec, [B]*4, 1 turning chain
Try or measure whether the piece fits your hands. If it is not wide enough, repeat rows 3 to 6.
Your piece should look similar to illustration 4.

Hold right sides together (aligning at the lower edge) and connect both sides.

Cut yarns and weave in ends.

Second Mitt
If you want one mitt to be the mirror image of the other, you need to exchange the wave sequences, i.e. every time the pattern for mitt 1 says "A", you need to crochet sequence B and vice versa. The increases around the thumb are the same for both mitts.
I also switched the colors, i.e. whenever I used C1 for mitt 1, I used C2 for mitt 2 - and vice versa.

This post was featured on Oombawka Design's Wednesday Link Party #226 . Thank you!

Halsvarmer med chevrons - Chevrons All Round Cowl in Danish

In addition to translating the Hexagon Mitts into Danish, Marianne Holmen from strikkeglad.dk has also written a translation for the cowl that matches these mitts, the Chevrons All Round Cowl. The translation called "Halsvarmer med chevrons" is available here on strikkeglad.dk. Thank you very much for this translation!

The original english version of this pattern can be found here.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.