New hat pattern

As you might notice I have a new free download pattern available on Ravelry - my Rylands Cabled Hat (click on the project number in the side bar and it will take you to the Ravelry page although you might need to login)

This has taken longer than expected to release for various reasons, not least that I got distracted knitting another Featherweight Cardie which I may have said was an extremely boring knit when I made my first one. This second one is in a lovely duck egg blue cashmere merino 4ply so it's going a lot more quickly. I have most of one sleeve and the collar left to do and then I'll share some photos.

I have also been in discussions with Jo, the creative person behind Dodoknitz yarns. She's going to design a colourway for me for a new circular shawl pattern I've been thinking about for the last couple of months. It will be inspired by some of the lovely architectural details in Manchester and will be a mixture of openwork and fine cables with a knitted on border.

That being said I have a semi-circular shawl pattern that I've been meaning to knit and write up for ages and I also now have the yarn for that. Choices, choices...

Blocking a hat

I have been very bad at blogging but I have been thinking about it and taking photos, just not actually writing any posts.

I've been knitting hats recently which is a little odd and I'm not really a hat person. The cabled hat is in the final stages of testing and will be released shortly as a free Ravelry download and when writing up the pattern I got to thinking about blocking. Rylands was blocked over a large dinner plate balanced on a jam jar (not elegant) and something I learnt from posts on Ravelry. I thought it might be useful to blog the blocking process for a hat here:

 

A finished hat - a bit scrunchy with the yarnovers not that obvious

 The hat has now been soaked and stretched over the lid of a cake tin (other round flat things work well too). A strand of yarn has been threaded through the ribbing like a drawstring

 Here the drawstring has been tightened up to make sure the ribbing stays reasonably tight and the simple lace is stretched out properly

This is the top of the hat after being stretched over the cake tin lid and once the drawstring has been tightened

To allow air to circulate here is the blocking hat balanced on a jar (and in the background our new fence) and looking like a flying saucer

Here is the finished blocked hat. The stitches have evened out and the open yarnover spiral is clearer. The columns of knit stitch stand out better and it generally looks neater

And the final inside shot. The ribbing is neater and still tight and the beaded yarnovers really stand out.

Modelled shots to come...