Hooray, it’s getting to be time for another Fringe Hatalong! I’m teasing you today, of course, but this time I’m being a little more revealing than before — by showing you my Actual Swatch in advance of the pattern reveal. (If you recognize it, please keep it under your, uh, hat!) I will say that a swatch does not do justice to the finished hat — it is a truly gorgeous hat — but I wanted to give you a heads-up that it’s lace this time! My kind of lace, though, nothing frilly or fancy. Just a nice, tasty Shetland stitch that’s infinitely simpler than it looks. And it’s also charted — but it is a tiny, very simple chart, and I am going to walk you through it. It’s only 8 stitches wide and with just three different non-complicated stitch combinations, and you will see that it is totally doable even for advanced beginners. (If you’ve knitted lace before, you’ll be able to do this one in your sleep.)
All lace means is fabric with strategically placed holes in it, and all you do to make a hole is a yarnover — just wrap the yarn around the needle. If you’re a newer knitter, chances are you’ve done that lots of times unintentionally! This time we’ll do it intentionally, according to the aforementioned chart. So this will be a wing-stretcher for some of you, but how better to learn charts and lace than with a really simple project in the company of lots of helpful friends? Go ahead, dip that toe in the water!
I’ll post the pattern and kick things off next Thursday, June 18th! So be ready.
Recommended yarn: The pattern is written for Brooklyn Tweed’s worsted-weight Shelter. I will tell you that the sample is knitted in Sweatshirt, that perfect grey, and a lot of you are going to want yours to be exactly like the sample. It is so good. Shelter is available at all of these lovely stores as well as directly from BT’s website. You will need 1 skein if you don’t intend to swatch. If you do want to swatch (and I recommend you do), pick up a second skein. The hat uses 45 of the skein’s 50 grams (126 of the 140 yards in a skein). Shelter will be an especially good choice for anyone who’s nervous about this — it’s a “sticky” yarn which means if you do have any trouble and need to do a little ripping or repairing, you can feel good about the stitches staying put even when you slide them off your needle.
Suggested substitutions: If for whatever reason you won’t be using Shelter, some good tweedy worsted alternatives would be Quince and Co Owl, Harrisville Highland and Cascade 220 Heathers. For a non-tweed in a solid or semi-solid color try Quince and Co Lark, or Sincere Sheep Bannock (or her new Cormo Worsted!), or any of the hundreds of great worsted-weight yarns out there with good stitch definition (i.e. a nice multi-ply yarn). Again, you need approximately 126 yards for the hat, so if you want to swatch, make sure you’re buying enough to cover that. Many worsteds come in 220-ish yard skeins, so you’ll have plenty to work with in that case.
(If you plan to donate your hat to any of the chemo patient charities, remember to use a really, really soft yarn.)
Are you excited? I seriously can hardly wait to get started on this one. Big reveal right here next Thursday.
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PREVIOUSLY in the Fringe Hatalong Series: No. 1 – Audrey and No. 2 – L’Arbre
im in this time!
im one of those non-swatchers (seems to0 complicated and im very spot on in most cases)
but willing to reconsider if you try yet again to reexplain it
My thoughts and advice on swatching are here: http://fringeassociation.com/2015/02/11/how-to-knit-a-gauge-swatch/
If you have any specific questions, I’m happy to try to answer them!
Oh great! Another Hatalong! I loved knitting L’Arbre, and I can’t wait to see which pattern you have selected this time. Could it be a BT pattern? And I love knitting lace on accessories too, so I can see this will be a fun project. I have quite a lot of worsted weight in my stash, it will be a great way to reduce it a bit. Looking forward to the reveal next week.
I love worsted hats for putting stash to use!
I’m excited because I have leftover odd balls of Shelter just itching to get knit.
I have three different single skeins of Shelter in my worsted bin, all of which would look great for this hate, and yet I’m seriously considering buying a skein of Sweatshirt! It’s a sickness …
I am up in the Rockies without internet BUT I think I can do this with everyone. I can go into town to the library. I always want to do these with you but have commitment issues. I am in! I can’t wait. This is going to be super exciting for me!
Yes, it’s a common sickness for those of us who love wool. I’ve gone through my stash of Shelter and have four colors in single skeins and five colors in single skeins of Owl. (proof that I have the disease) I’m ready whenever you are!
Can I ask a ridiculously daft question? Why is their fringe on your swatch?
Not daft at all. Gauge tends to be different when you’re knitting flat (back and forth in rows, often purling across the wrong-side rows) versus when you’re knitting in the round (all stitches worked from the right side). So to get an accurate gauge swatch for an in-the-round project, you need to knit your swatch in the round, as well. Rather than literally knitting it in the round, though, you can just knit every row from the right side by sliding the work back to the right end of the needle and looping the yarn across the back.
Ysolda has a good tutorial on her blog: http://ysolda.com/blog/2014/6/5/swift-swatching-in-the-round
D’oh! of course! Thank you!
Yay, I’m on board. I was looking for a smaller project to distract me from my sweater.
Beautious!
I must be the only worrier about the yardage those big fringe-y swatches eat – especially from stash – and you can’t reclaim it if you need it in the end. Although I suppose you could loop v e r y loosely and not snip.
Yeah, you don’t have to cut them (unless you’ve made them too short to lay flat). And Shelter is super easy to splice back together!
Yay! Can’t wait to join in the next hatalong. I had so much fun participating in the last one. It was my first ever knitalong and now I’m hooked!
I found this tutorial for knitting a swatch in the round without cutting the swatch & getting fringe:
http://techknitting.blogspot.no/2011/02/circular-swatches-knit-flat-back-and.html
I haven’t tried it myself, but I will with this hat!
Just wanted to share that I was traveling through Wisconsin on our way to Door County area. We stopped at Firefly Fibers in Beaver Dam and I picked up one of your bags! It’s a gorgeous shop with a stunning selection, and I was gleeful to find Fringe supplies.
Cheers, Shea (a reader and fiber friend!)
Sent from my iPhone
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I’m in love already! Like others, a matter of landing on one of my (many) stash skeins. Oh… guess I’d better get the top done on my L’Arbre, huh? ;)
I’m still finishing my L’Arbre, but excited! I have never knit lace, and wouldn’t typically think I had the skills because the swatch looks so complex. However, I never thought I would be able to knit the L’Arbre, and it has been so easy! A great gift – beautiful and easy to knit!! Looking forward to this.
Just got my yarn. I’m excited!
Just got my plume shelter in the mail. I’m excited about starting!