Frost in March Hat

This year winter doesn't seem to end - and at the beginning of March it got extremely cold - in my part of the world it was minus 10 degrees. Even now - a few weeks - later it's not much better. That's why I took to wearing a hat everytime I had to leave the house. In autumn I had knitted a few new hats (e.g. U-Turn Hat and Circle Beret), but they were shaped in a way that they fitted right over head and were to small if I wore my hair in a bun - which I usually do. So I wnated to knit a roomier hat, something a bit slouchy so that my "hairdo" would fit comfortably.
I decided on something with a short row construction, that is worked sideways and knitted flat. It starts with a provisional CO, is knitted in wedges and ends by grafting the edges together. The first 14 stitches are worked in garter stitch which provides a ribbing.
Their are two versions of the pattern - one to the exact size and gauge as given below, and one more general version so that you can adapt it to your head size.

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






Materials

• 60 to 70 grams of Worsted weight yarn - the sideways effect will be shown best when using self-striping yarn (I used Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big Color - here's a link to the yarn's Ravelry page)
• 4 mm knitting needles
• scrap yarn and crochet hook for provisional CO
• tapestry needle for grafting and to weave in ends

Techniques

• Provisional CO: My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Short rows with wrap and turn (w+t) - as shown in this YouTube video by Very Pink Knits. 
• Grafting in Garter Stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by knittinghelp.com.
• Grafting in stockinette stitch (also called Kitchener Stitch): a way to seamlessly join two rows of live stitches - as shown in this YouTube video by WEBS America's Yarn Store.

Gauge and Size

In stockinette stitch 21 stitches gave 10 cm in width and 32 rows 10 cm in height.

The finished hat measures 44 cm in circumference at the ribbing (unstretched). Stretched it fits around my head (about 54 cm in circumference). Just above the ribbing it measures about 55 cm in circumference. From the lower edge of the ribbing up to the crown it measures 23 cm.

Instructions

For the exact size as given above

Do a provisional CO of 50 sts

Row 0 (WS): k all

Row 1 (RS+WS): sl1, k47, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 2 (RS+WS): sl1, k45, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 3 (RS+WS): sl1, k43, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 4 (RS+WS): sl1, k41, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 5 (RS+WS): sl1, k39, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 6 (RS+WS): sl1, k37, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 7 (RS+WS): sl1, k35, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 8 (RS+WS): sl1, k33, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 9 (RS, WS, RS, WS): sl1, k31, w+t, p to last 14, w+t, k to last 14 sts, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 10 (RS+WS): sl1 k to end, TURN, sl1 k to end

Repeat rows 1 to 10 6 more times. Then knit rows 1 to 9 once more.

Put the stitches of the provisional CO on a knitting needle.

Hold the edges WS together and graft 14 sts in garter stitch and 36 sts in stockinette stitch.

Weave in ends.

For other sizes

Do a provisional CO of the number of sts you need for the desired height 

Row 0 (WS): k all

Row 1 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before end, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 2 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 3 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 4 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 5 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 6 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 7 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 8 (RS+WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 9 (RS, WS, RS, WS): sl1, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14, w+t, k to 2 sts before last wrap, w+t, p to last 14 sts, k14

Row 10 (RS+WS): sl1 k to end, TURN, sl1 p to last 14 sts,  k to end

Repeat rows 1 to 10 until the hat fit around your head - during the last repeat only knit up to and including row 9.

Put the stitches of the provisional CO on a knitting needle.

Hold the edges WS together and graft 14 sts in garter stitch and the rest in stockinette stitch.

Weave in ends.

Helgoland Mitts in Danish - Helgoland Vanter

Marianne Holmen from strikkeglad.dk has written a Danish translation of the Helgoland Mitts pattern. Thank you very much or rather "mange tak"!
Here is a link to the Danish version of this pattern on strikkeglad.dk.
The original (English) version can be found here.

A list of all translated versions of my patterns can be found in this blogpost.


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

Current WIPs

As usual, I have many works-in-progress (or WIPs for short) on my knitting needles. Most of them are my own ideas ... some of them will work and eventually been made into finished objects and patterns, some will be put in hibernation and maybe unearthed at a later date (usually slightly altered), and some will be frogged completely.
Here are the current ones that are most likely to be made into finished objects and maybe even patterns :)

1. Short row scarf with lace pattern inbetween - similar to the Mermaid's Garden Scarf, but not quite :) The yarn I used here is Schoppel Zauberball colorway Teezeremonie. Since the pattern is quite lacy it will look better after being blocked ...
2. The idea here, was to knit a hat completely without swatching, but with an interesting twist (or rather slant :) The finished shape was supposed to be similar  to a Pussy Hat. It took me five (yes, five!) attempts to get the closing vertical edge right(-ish) ... but it still is too roomy and slouchy to my liking. So at least the upper part will be frogged again and knitted differently - or maybe the complete hat ... (?) For this project I have used Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big Color.
3. Ever since I saw knitted pieces with square holes on the internet, I wanted to do something similar for myself - but of course without having to cut my yarn in the middle of a project. It took me quite a while to figure out how to knit them. Once you've grasped the idea this is great for mindless (TV, train etc.) knitting. When this piece is finished it will be a big wrap. The yarn I have used here is Wollmeise Lace.
4. After I had finished the Starburst Mitts in 2014, I thought it might be a good idea to do an opposite construction to them, i.e. to group the short rows around a point at your wrist or at the edge or your hand - instead of around the thumb. I gave up on the idea then, but at Christmas I tried them again. This time the shaping worked a bit better, but it still isn't quite right. But I guess I will finish these - if only just to see how they fit around my hands. It might just work once they are closed. Here I used some hand-dyed yarn from Frau Wo aus Po - leftovers of the yarn that I used for my Seitenstreifen Socks.

If you have any ideas for pattern names, please let me know. Choosing names is not my strong suit :)