Most of what I’m doing with this blog and website is currently happening in the form of updating links, re-loading images, and otherwise continuing the smaller bits of the transition from the old blog to this one. It takes quite a bit of time, but as it’s been really hot here lately and I’ve been doing a lot of shovel-monkey work for the archaeology firm lately, there hasn’t been much knit or crochet action so I don’t mind.
I’ve also done a revision to the free Top Down Ribbed Beanie knit recipe, as I will be licensing the Good Karma Spinning Co. to offer it as a promo item with their yarns. The worsted weight alpaca/wool blend is springy, soft, and delightful, and the Yarn Randomness dk/heavy sock weight alpaca/wool blend would, I think, make a great extra-long beanie to scrunch up.
available as a free PDF download through Ravelry.com
I’m not done tinkering with it yet – for starters, I’ll be replacing the single photo on the cover with multiple views, and I’m considering adding a chart for the crown section. Mostly I wanted to have a cleaner looking layout, and I have been wanting to upgrade the free patterns so that they are all available as PDF downloads that are representative of what can be expected from the patterns for sale.
Currently listed in my Etsy shop: Handspun Hat, $35
Yarn: Jenny Neutron Star, handspun wool plied with metallic gold, "Sweet Flesh"
You can see the metallic gold rick-rack plied with the wool in this picture.
Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe
US 11 and 10 needles
Jenny Neutron Star handspun, "Candy", about 80 yards
This time it’s really finished – I ripped back a few rounds, then switched to US 10 needles and did 2 rounds of stockinette and bound it off. I like it better now, although I do feel like the hat is asking for more. Some buttons, maybe? A few crochet circles? I may have to just set it aside and walk away. It’s already quite exuberant.
About the yarn – the jennyneutronstar.com site won’t load for me, and the Jenny Neutron Star Etsy shop hasn’t had any activity for over a year. Back when I first got this yarn, quirky handspun yarn wasn’t as readily available. When I was asked to put together a few kits for the Alt Fiber show, I didn’t have much time and I really wanted to feature indie crafters. Jenny Neutron Star really came through for me and custom-spun 3 skeins to order (although I botched the wpi – this is really more like 5-6 wpi yarn, and it’s my misstatement, not hers). 2 years later, nifty handspun/handdyed yarns are thriving on Etsy, and so while I can’t find a way to direct you to Jenny Neutron Star right now, I do have a couple of Etsy favorite sellers for bulky thick/thin yarns: Terra Bella Spun does handspun/handdyed, which I’ve used to knit up similar hats. Miss Hawklet has some "scraptacular" yarns up right now that I find especially delightful, and I used some Midnight & Lulu yarn in the Springtime Scarflette I did last year. Typing "handspun yarn" into the Etsy search feature will get you pages and pages of delightful stuff! I know I have to be careful when I do that. For the next few days, my Etsy favorites (up on the top right corner of this blog) will be featuring lovely handspun yarns. I may have to go sit in my stash for a little while to keep me from buying more.
Yarn: Jenny Neutron Star handspun, "Candy"
Pattern: Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe
Needles: US 11
I was worried about running out of yarn, and used up almost every inch of it. Now I think it’s too long, which is easy to do when working at a chunky gauge like this. I think I’m going to undo the bind-off and re-knit the hem on smaller needles (I did 3 rounds of reverse stockinette – I think 2 would be better).
One of the nice things about having an Etsy shop is that I don’t have to think about whether I would wear this (or when). I love the colors and the textures but it’s just a bit much. [Ms. M, I can hear you gleefully cackling at that one - you remember what my hair used to look like, after all.]
Yarn: handspun by Jenny Neutron Star, merino wool with random pieces of cotton, alpaca, silk, and tencel.
Pattern: Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe
Needles: US 11
Pattern: Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe
Recipe is written to be used with any yarn/needle combination you wish.
Sample in photo above:
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, colorway 164 (worsted/4/medium)
Needles: US 6/4.00 mm
The Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe is now available through Ravelry as a free PDF download. As of June 2009, the PDF is topdownbeanie_v2.pdf – I’ve changed the layout and rephrased some of the directions.
Two years ago, I knit up a super-plain cream colored beanie for the kidlet, and dubbed it the Blancmange (I like to pronounce it "blaaaahmahnge" with as much Gallic flair as I can muster) because it was so dull. All stockinette, knitted hem (ribbing = too much excitement), Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in Bone. It was bored me so much that I didn’t even bother taking a photo of the finished item. That beanie got fought over by my sisters, worn until the pom-poms fell off, and then worn some more, until it got so manky looking I had to steal it back for fear that one of my sisters would wear the dingy, linty thing and tell someone that I’d made it.
It’s time to make a new one. Maybe if I go ahead and have regular espresso instead of decaf in a dirty chai soy latte, I can get it done quickly?
In other boring knitting news, I have been working on a 1×1 Top-Down Ribbed Beanie that was intended to be a holiday gift. I have just been informed that we will be doing Secret Santa this year, which is fabulous, but if I’m not the SS for the intended recipient of the hat, I’m going to be a little bit peeved at all the 1×1 ribbing I’ve been doing (even though it means that the quagmire I was going to wind up in with my "I’ll make all the gifts myself this year!" decision, an annual event which leads only to grinding my teeth, having to ice my hands, and doing a lot of last-minute Etsy shopping, will be avoided). Fortunately I started running out of the dark brown yarn and had to add stripes of taupe, just enough to perk me up and keep going instead of falling forward onto the pointy sticks. It’s Blue Sky Alpacas Sportweight, which is just lusciously soft and squishy. The colors are natural (no dye!), and combined with the plainness, makes for a nice masculine gift. Who doesn’t love soft, comfy hats? As a bonus, the sportweight makes a fabric thin enough to be a helmet liner while still providing a lot of warmth.
August 2007: Heather of Heather Knits modified the knit Pullip/Blythe Beanie pattern to make a doll wig! She used the Locked Loop Rerooting Tutorial from Puchi Collective, but using the hat instead of a rubber scalp. You could also use the Simple Crochet Beanie
doll hat pattern too, and even use a lighter weight yarn (like
fingering) by using the same rate of increasing but working until the
circle is large enough for the doll’s head, then working even to the
length you want. Isn’t this a great modification? Imagine the
yarn/felt dreadlock possibilities!
Photos by Heather Wolff.
Wig as modeled by Heather’s Pullip doll
inside of the wig
The Basic Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe, when used with 1×1 ribbing, makes a top that lies flat. Stockinette will also lie flat. 2×2 ribbing creates a lovely 4-sided point. I need to adjust the rate of increasing, clearly. I was in a little bit of denial.
See, if you pull it down snug, it will lie flat. The hem is a bit ruffly as well in the photo, although it smooths out when it’s on a real human head. I did a single crochet bind-off, which keeps it nice and stretchy. I’m thinking about redoing the top (which means picking out the cast-on) and crocheting a band and brim. I might have just barely enough yarn left – this colorway was one of the one-time only offerings that Schaefer Yarn Co. has done, so this is it. I might have something in the stash that could work, but I’m going to see if I have enough first.
Even if I have to sacrifice the new project I cast on yesterday:
…a pouch for my sunglasses.
I said I wouldn’t be writing up patterns for my latest batch of FO’s, but I did post a photo of the pinks/purples top-down ribbed beanie over at Craftster.org (the beanie shown at the top), and you know you can’t just post a photo and not tell people how they can make it too – unless you love post after post of “tute! tute!”. So I typed up the basics of the top-down ribbed beanie and I’m reposting it here. [the Top-Down Ribbed Beanie Recipe is also available through Ravelry as a free PDF download. As of June 2009, the PDF is topdownbeanie_v2.pdf - I've changed the layout and rephrased some of the directions.]
Top-down ribbed beanie recipe:
The idea here is to knit a square by using double increases and staggering the placement every other round. When the square is big enough, you just knit around and wind up with a circular hat!
Use any yarn you like with appropriate sized needles. I prefer using a set of 5 dpns, although you could modify this pattern with stitch markers if you prefer one circ or two circs (in round 1, *k2, pm* should do it).
With dpns, CO 8 sts (2 sts on each dpn)
round 1) knit into the back of each st
round 2) work 1 double increase at the beginning of each dpn (I used m1, k1, m1), k to end of needle, repeat on each dpn.
round 3) *k1, p1*
round 4) *k1, p1* to last st on needle and work 1 double increase. Repeat on each dpn.
round 5) *k1, p1*
Repeat rounds 2 – 5 until the top will fit the size you want.
A rough way to figure this out is to measure across the center from side to side (not diagonally) and multiply that by 4 to get the perimeter (which will then become the circumference of the finished beanie. For a ribbed beanie, if you want a snug fit, go for something about an inch less than the circumference of the head. If you want a more exact fit, slip all stitches to a long piece of scrap yarn, placing markers to separate the stitches from each needle, and try it on. To be really sure, wash and dry it before trying it on, just in case the yarn will shrink or expand a lot.
Once it is big enough to fit around, work *k1, p1* around until it’s the length you want, and bind off. I try to bind off a little loosely; you could use a bind-off specifically for ribbings, like tubular bind-off.
This results in a hat with a distinct curve at the top; if you’d like it flatter, work the double increases on each round. The placement of the increases right next to each other, depending on the yarn used, may be visible as a little line, or it may be visible as a wavy indentation. If you prefer to have the increases come out the sides of a central line of stitches, at round 1 (and the following odd numbered rounds), k1 and then work the double increase.
(edited July 2007 to correct error in how to take measurement)
(edited November 2007 to give variation in shaping the crown and working the increases)
The crochet rosette decorations pattern is Rosie, available for sale as a $1 PDF download.
This pattern may be used to make and sell finished hats; please let me know if you do – I’m curious!
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
