knits, notes, etc.

Although I'm still working on the pattern for this project, I wanted to post my notes. I will have better pictures with the pattern.

Finished Size 18" (46 cm).
Yarn Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply #277 (Smoke) and Rowan Scottish Tweed 4ply #013, 1 skein each.
Needles US 1, 1 16" needle. US 2, 2 16" circular needles.
Notions Stitch markers.
Gauge 28 sts and 36 rows to 4"×4" on US 2.

Pattern Description

Skills needed for this project include turning a hem, knitting in-the-round, and stranded knitting with 2 or 3 colors.

Beginning with the smaller needles and either a provisional cast-on or a long-tail cast-on, knit the hem in stockinette stitch for 1.25". Change to the larger needles and knit one row; Then, knit the turning row. There are two options for the turning row: Eyelets (*k2tog,yo; repeat from * to end) or purl stitches, for the female and male versions, respectively. (The completed hat picture here has eyelets.) After the turning row, knit 3 more rows before beginning the herringbone pattern.

After one repeat of the pattern, if you started with a provisional cast-on, knit the stitches from the cast-on edge together with the next row. Repeat the herringbone pattern 6-7 more times, or until the hat measures closest to 6" from the turned hem (or picot row). Begin the decreases for the crown on the next row. When you finish decreasing, there are 8 stitches remaining.

Cut the yarn, leaving approximately 6" for finishing. To finish, use a seaming needle to insert into each stitch knit-wise. Pull the yarn to gather the stitches together. Insert the end of the yarn into the hat and weave the loose ends into the stitches. If you started with the long-tail cast-on, you can now turn the hem and seam it to the body with a herringbone stitch.

Yarn Notes

For this hat, I used Yorkshire Tweed 4ply from my stash for the main color (MC). This yarn is no longer available. For the contrasting color (CC), I used Scottish Tweed 4ply, which is widely available. For the pattern, I plan to list different color combinations of the Scottish Tweed 4ply, for male and female versions. I hope you won't mind if I don't include swatches, the pattern will never get posted if I have to knit the swatches with the colorwork! I am included them more because they are combinations I want to knit, some day...

Scottish tweed is a bit thicker than the Yorkshire tweed. I knitted my first swatch with the Scottish tweed and US 2 needles. I hope that's the reason my gauge for the finished hat was not what I expected.

Needle Notes

I used one pair of 16" circular needles in the smaller size for the hem then switched to a 16" circular needle in the larger size for the body. For the decreases, I divided the stitches evenly between 2 16" circular needles. Of course, instead of using a second circular needle, you can divide the stitches evenly among 4 or 5 DPNs.