Multiple new skills learned: check. New-to-me yarn: check. Fast finish: check. Amazingly great hat: check! I’m happy I gave myself this little break from knitting my Tag Team Sweater — it can be so rejuvenating in the middle of a long project to shift gears for a minute or two. And this hat is immensely satisfying, both from the process and the product perspectives: fun to knit (the Portuguese way!) and one of the grooviest things I’ve made.
Pattern: Gorro Montanhac by Rosa Pomar (previously seen here)
Yarn: Blackthorn (undyed/#7016) and Wynter (gold/#7650) both from Classic Elite Yarns
A few notes:
- My favorite kind of pattern these days boils down to “Cast on X stitches. Knit the chart,” and this fits that bill. Love!
- It’s charted from the wrong side, as the Portuguese knit from the wrong side. So the “right-slanted decrease” (the first in each pair) is actually left-leaning when viewed from the front. Knit it as an SSP. And conversely, knit the “left-slanted decrease” as a P2TOG. (Of course, if you’re knitting it from the right side, that would be SSK and K2TOG.)
- I realized I haven’t really dealt with charted colorwork decreases before, so I’m not sure if it would be done differently here in the US, but I was momentarily confused by the decrease and the stitch next to it (which it actually consumes) both being present in the chart. In case that should confuse anyone else, note that the paired decreases are right up against each other — there are no worked stitches in between. So whereas the chart makes it seem like stitches 8, 9 and 24, 25 continue to be worked all the way to the top, they actually cease to exist as you work row 26.
- [edited to add:] I skipped row 37 of the chart, the last work-even round, just to speed up the decreases that tiny bit for a less pointy hat.
- The pattern calls for aran-weight yarn with US10/6mm needles and a gauge of 4 sts/inch. I went up to a bulky yarn and US10.5/6.5mm needles, because hats tend to be small for me, and my gauge is still smaller than Rosa’s! Her hat must be 20 inches and my finished circumference (before blocking) is about 19, which just fits my big head. I may gain a little room in blocking, but FYI.
- Love this yarn, but I’m also eager to do it with Rosa’s own Beiroa.
Anyway, I’m smitten, and there are more of these in my future. Here’s this one on Ravelry.
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Great hat! The Yellow/White really worked with this pattern! I´ve downloaded it too… just need to find the right yarn. I´m curious about the technique used, and will have to do a bit of research.
Oh, that somehow brings back the colors in my memory of my childhood kitchen … lemon & cream ! Sweetness. Adorable design !
Really beautiful! Congratulations!
Decreasing on the purl side makes for a nicer-looking decrease on the knit side, which sort of can’t be done when you’re (traditionally) knitting in the round. So, another reason to knit Portuguese.
(I pinned this photo to my Knitting board on Pinterest this morning without realizing it was yours. Love the yolky yellow color. )
My decreases are a little lumpy but hopefully they’ll even out in blocking.
So cute! Love the pattern.
http://thelaststraggler.wordpress.com
Have you noticed how your hat’s motif (and that of craftydoula’s on Ravelery) are flipped from everyone else’s? I’m trying to wrap my head around why that would be…
Maybe everyone else worked it from the right side?
I don’t think it is because they were working form the right side, they just started with the darker colours on different positions in the chart.
There you go. I was making it way more complicated thinking that maybe they had started from the other side of the chart or something…
Gorgeous knit! I love the colours you chose, and now you have me wanting to try out this Portuguese knitting! I’m also a HUGE fan of the mid-way side project, as much as I wish I was a monogamous knitter ;)
Well, you have utterly impressed the Preissmans! We are all in awe.
I knit up one of these hats a couple of weeks ago. It was my first time knitting from a chart, and it was a great beginner project until I got to the decreases. It took a marathon call with my sister to figure out which decrease was which, but I’m thrilled with the finished product. I’ve started in on a second one, this time with three colors. Now to find the time to knit it!
It was definitely a head-scratcher trying to figure out whether the chart was from the wrong side and what that meant the right-side decreases wanted to be.
That hat is so, so great. And to think I got to see it in progress: priceless! You’re the coolest.
Absolutely beautiful! You must teach me!
Lovely! Did you make any changes to the pattern? It seems rounder at the top than those I have seen from Rosa. Thanks.
Oh, thanks for reminding me. Super minor, but I did skip the last work-even round.
Thanks Karen. A like the way it looks.
I love this hat, too, and I’ve started the pattern. I never work off charts and am a bit confused by this one. There are 32 stitches on the chart, which I guess means you repeat it 1.5 times to complete the circumference of the hat. However, beginning from right to left, when you’ve purled the first 32 stitches, do you then turn around and go right to left back another 32 stitches, and then left to right again for 16 stitches? I’m so confused!
Hi, Eteffi. You never work any row of a chart more than one direction. You work from right to left across the bottom row of the chart, then repeat that same sequence again (and again) until you reach the end of your round. Then you move up to the next chart row.
In this particular case, you’re working in the round — never turning the work over, only working from one side of it — so you also only work one direction across the chart. Every round of knitting and every row of the chart is worked from right to left. (Working from charts when knitting flat is a different matter, but you can tackle that another time.)
This chart is a little unusual in that, as you said, you only work a partial repeat at the end of the row. That would be charted a little differently here, but it all works out the same.
Ah okay, I guess the whole working in the round bit was what was confusing me with reading the chart. Your explanation makes perfect sense. Thank you!
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Glorious!
I’m Portuguese but I am a self-taught knitter, so I learned almost everything I know online, and ended up learning the non-portuguese way! I didn’t even know knitting inside out was a thing here. The explanations on how to work the decreases you have here are LIFESAVERS, so thank you so much! I was getting very frustrated trying to work this one out! And yours turned out so beautiful, too!
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