March 25, 2008 – December 10, 2008: $126.00 raised through sales of the Mug & French Press Jacket pattern! I sent the donation off to Doctors Without Borders today. If you aren't familiar with Stephanie Pearl McPhee's fundraising arm for DWB – Knitters Without Borders – please check out the info page over on the Yarn Harlot blog. The pattern is still available for free (please look in the left sidebar for the appropriate link); if you choose to buy the pattern (which is more detailed and gives instructions for working it from the sides down instead of from the bottom up), $4.50 of the pattern price will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, and the remaining $1.00 will be used to cover PayPal fees and hosting costs.
The Matilda knit cloche hat pattern is available in the July/August 2008 issue of Frankie magazine!
Australian readers, I do have some kits for sale in my Etsy shop, and the kit includes the Tillie brim option and the Rosie crochet flower pattern.
I have not gotten my copy of the magazine yet, so I’m not sure if it mentions that the cloche hat in the photo has two rows of trim covering the seam, not just one as the pattern calls for.
Both worked in lightweight 100% cotton yarn, these warm weather hats are quick and easy to crochet. Jules is a short beanie-style cap and Julia is a sunhat with gently flared brim. Both hats have the option of a cord threaded through eyelets for a snugger fit or just a different look. Meant to be casual and easy to care for, these hats are easy to fold or roll up and toss into a bag. Julia’s brim can be smoothed out to a gentle, even flare, or allowed to ruffle gently. For a stiffer, sturdier brim, you may want to include millinery wire in the last round or two of stitches.
Two versions of the pattern are currently available: one using North American (Canada/US) and one using Canadian/UK crochet terminology. Both versions give measurements in metric and non-metric.
Sizes: xs (s, m, l, xl) 18 (20, 22, 24, 26”)/46 (50, 56, 61, 66cm)
Crochet hook: E/4/3.5mm or size to get gauge
Gauge: 20 sts/14 rounds = 4”/10cm in half-double crochet (UK: half-treble)
Yarn:
Jules: S (M, L, XL): 1 (1, 1, 2) skein(s) each Color A and Color B
Julia: S (M, L, XL): 1 (1, 2, 2) skein(s) each Color A and Color B (M will use just about the entire skein of Color B; you may wish to have more yardage on hand just in case)
Color A: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Skinny Cotton (100% cotton 150yds/137m), Birch [undyed creamy white] (or color of your choice)
Color B: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Skinny Cotton (100% cotton 150yds/137m),
Sprout [spring green] (or color of your choice)
About the yarn: Skinny Cotton is a dk/sport weight/3 Light yarn (Australia: 8-ply) composed of 8 strands of tightly spun 2-ply which are then spun together fairly loosely. It makes a firm, slightly stiff fabric that is soft against the skin and which resists pilling. Possible substitutes for Jules include Blue Sky Alpacas Handspun Organic Cotton DK, Cascade Cotton Rich DK, Classic Elite Provence, Ella Rae Baby Cotton, Hemp for Knitting allhemp6, allhemp6Lux, Cashmere Canapa, and hempton; Rowan Pure Life, Tahki Cotton Classic DK, and Vickie Howell Collection Craft. Possible substitutes for Julia include Hemp for Knitting allhemp6 and allhemp6Lux, and Tahki Cotton Classic DK. For Julia, getting a fabric stiff enough so that the brim will stand away from the face is more important than getting exact gauge.
Abbreviations Used
ch = chain
st = stitch
sl = slip
sl st = slip stitch
dc = double crochet (US/Canada: sc = single crochet)
htr = half treble crochet (US/Canada hdc = half-double crochet)
inc 1 = increase one stitch; for this pattern, work 2hdc into 1 st (Australia/UK: 2htr into 1 st)
rnd = round
instructions for different sizes given as XS (S, M, L, XL)
Currently the pattern has written instructions only. Schematics and charts will be added at some vague date I call "the future". With that in mind, the pattern is currently priced at $3.75 USD and available as an instant download through Ravelry (please note that you do not require a Ravelry membership to make purchases). If you purchase through Etsy or this page, your name and email will be added to a list so that I can send you the charts and schematics at no additional charge when they become available. Ravelry members who purchase now will automatically have an updated version in their Ravelry personal pattern library when it becomes available. This means that if you buy now, you will eventually have the full pattern, which will sell for at least $5.50!
RAVELRY (both US/Canada and UK/Australia/NZ versions included)
Pattern: Four Corners Headbands
Knitscene Winter 2007
As of August 2010: the pattern is currently available in the free eBook, “How to Crochet Granny Squares with Crochetme“. This does not include the instructions for how to dye the motifs with food coloring.
Pattern with accompanying article on dyeing the motifs with food coloring is available for sale as a PDF download through the Knitting Daily Online Store.
Don’t want to wrap wool around your head? Try the pattern in a lightweight plant fiber, like Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton, Hemp for Knitting allhemp6, or or Hemp for Knitting Hempton.
I started a Mug Jacket sample in Peace Fleece and got annoyed with myself. If you check the Ravelry projects for this pattern, you’ll find a lot of very smart revisions to modify the pattern for different purposes (like travel mug sleeves) or just to make it easier to knit. Sometimes I think my desire to get something knit-to-fit or easily resized overrides my desire to make something easier to actually physically knit, which is how I wound up wrestling with the smocking stitch for a couple of repeats before deciding to just rewrite the pattern already. And so there is now a revised version available for sale – knit from the top of the sides, down to the base. The hand-drawn graph paper chart for the smocking stitch has been replaced with a chart done in Knit Visualizer. Additional photos have been added – each section has a small photo of the section being worked (the base, for example, includes a photo of the finished base).
The previous version is still available for free in the original blog post and as a free PDF download. The fundraiser version price has been raised to $5.50, with $4.50 going to Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. MSF/DWB is always in need of funds; sadly there is no shortage of people world-wide in need of medical care. If you are reading this, there is a very, very good chance that, compared to most of the world’s population, you are wealthy. If you are planning to knit a warm jacket for a mug or French press coffeemaker, chances are you can spare a few dollars to help others in need.
For those who purchased the earlier version of the pattern, as a thank-you I sent a new download link for a free download of the revised pattern. If you did not get an email from me with the download link, please let me know so I can send you the link.
Just in time for spring farmers markets! This is a pattern I worked up for the Hemp for Knitting yarn company. It’s a crochet mesh string bag with a base that doubles as a pouch, so you can tuck the sides and straps in and toss the bag into a backpack, glove box, etc. until you need it. The yarn is Hemp for Knitting allhemp3, a fingering-weight mercerized 100% hemp yarn that is lightweight, strong, and machine washable.
Hemp for Knitting is offering the pattern on their site as the #418 Crochet Market Bag, $5.50 USD; their photos show the sample they did in Foggy and Raspberry allhemp3. You can find HFK allhemp3 in 21 different colors at Kpixie.com.
I did my pattern sample in Sprout Green and Sapphire Blue:
I’m sharing the distribution rights with Hemp for Knitting and retaining the copyright, so I plan to work up another sample for photos and format my version of the pattern for sale as a PDF later this year.
Ravelry:
#418 Crochet Market Bag
Allhemp3 yarn
Hemp for Knitting
Pattern: Matilda & Tillie
Yarn: Peace Fleece Ukrainian Red
This is the "plain" brim version of Tillie (instead of the rolled stockinette hem, this has a slip-stitch hem), and I’ve made the crown about an inch shallower. After watching Gosford Park again earlier this week, I wanted to make a version more like Mary Maceachrans.
It’s a badly lit photo of a color notoriously difficult to photograph, but I didn’t want to forget to do an in-progress shot; I know that some knitters have felt really dubious about the pattern at this point. I intend to take more in-progress photos to show how it goes from this weird frisbee with warped strip to a lovely little cloche.
You can see the way the brim fabric biases away from the slip-stitch hem in this shot.
My Etsy shop is currently offering a Matilda & Tillie DIY Knit Kit with PDF download, professionally printed hardcopy, and skein of Peace Fleece Ukrainian Red for sale.
Remember this? The Mug Jacket and French Press Cozy went up as a free pattern in July 2007. More recently, I decided to offer the PDF as a fundraiser for Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres/Knitters Without Borders and as a free download on Ravelry.
So far, the cozy pattern has raised $99 for TSF/KWB!
May 07, 2008: I have revised the for-sale pattern; it is now written to be knit from the top of the sides to the base, and the chart has been done with Knit Visualizer. The price has increased to $5.50, with $4.50 of the proceeds going to TSF/KWB’s fundraising. The free PDF version is still available for free.
If you would like to purchase the PDF for $5.50, you can either use the buttons below or go to my Etsy shop. $4.50 of each sale goes to TSF/KWB; the rest covers PayPal and hosting fees. You can still get the pattern for free here on the blog or as a Ravelry download.
Pattern: Anne
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky, 1 skein (153 yds/139.9 metres)
Hook: L/8.00mm
5"/12.5cm wide, 54"/137cm long
I’m thinking about doing this in a bulky alpaca blend (like Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky Naturals in color 1004, "Polar Bear").
A fresh, modern take on a floral motif, Rosie is a quick and simple pattern that can be used with different yarns for different effects. A nice way to use up odds and ends of yarn!
Sizes S, M, L (1.5, 1.75, 2” / 3.5, 4.5, 5cm diameter)
You will need to provide your own:
Yarn : Peace Fleece Worsted or other worsted weight yarn, about 4 yds/ 3.5 metres,color of your choice (sample shown is Peace Fleece Georgia Rose)
Crochet hook: size G/4mm
Notions: removable stitch marker, tapestry needle
Skills : crochet in the round, half-double crochet
Pattern is available as a single PDF download for $1.00; this pattern is also included in the Matilda & Tillie knit cloche hat pattern PDF download.
