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Rosy, Posy, Pink & Poesy

It’s Knitting & Crochet Blog Week again! You can read all of last year’s posts here.

I’ve written before about my love of pink, especially paired with dark green. And while I magnanimously love all colours and can spend hours inventing new colour names, if I had to choose one, I’m sorry Lilac, but let there be Pink.

Last year during Blog Week, you may have seen this yarn on my shelf. Now it’s winding/winging its way to being a fully-fledged shawl. All grown up!

bulky pink shawl
bulky pink shawl

I’m using my own Fill-in-the-Blanks Shawl Design formula (currently in testing!) with the Wheatear Stitch. I’m so so so excited about this ebook, I just can’t wait to release it!

fill-in-the-blanks shawl design

“Pink, it was love at first sight” – Aerosmith

And then there’s this bottom-up, leafy number which I’m knitting in Artist’s Palette Glisten; 100% silk, except for the 100% pleasure that I’m quite certain is plied with it. It’s also been in my stash for far too long! If you’ve never understood “process knitters” (i.e. knitters who enjoy the process of knitting as much as, if not more than, the finished project), then perhaps you’ve never knit with a yarn which makes you want to watch every stitch take form. Silk takes dye particularly well, and no photos can do these colours justice. The yellow isn’t yellow, it’s gold

spring shawl
spring shawl
spring shawl

“Pink is the color of romance and a friend tells me that the girl with the pink dress at the party is the one who is selected for each dance” – Alfred Carl Hottes

Was Hottes talking about roses? I don’t know, but recently I’ve developed a penchant for polymer clay and I made this pink rosy posy heart pendant from white Cernit and coloured it with a blush…

rose heart pendant

And I think blushing must be what Emily Dickinson writes of as a “shawl of Pink”:

Shame is the shawl of Pink
In which we wrap the Soul
To keep it from infesting Eyes —
The elemental Veil
Which helpless Nature drops
When pushed upon a scene
Repugnant to her probity —
Shame is the tint divine.

One last heart/shawl in progress, which isn’t strictly pink unless I get vaguely scientific and point out that white light is a combination of all colours (think Pink Floyd prism).

heart shawl

C’est tout! Lick a pink confection, listen to Piaf, and pick a pink stitch (a pinch?) or two. Á demain…

Cornflower Garden Hat

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Cornflower Hat
cornflower hatcornflower hat

CORNFLOWER HAT PDF PATTERN – £3.00

WATCH THE TRAILER | WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL
QUEUE IT ON RAVELRY

Many thanks to my Technical Editor, Akshata Dhareshwar!

Cornflower is my idea of a carefree hat; a hat you pull on without even thinking as you head out to do a spot of gardening. Or perhaps you keep it hanging on a nail in the greenhouse, for convenience. And if your ribbing starts to sag a little because you’ve worn it so much, well, just tie it up a bit tighter! When you get back inside you can sit down with a well-earned cup of Lady Grey. It has cornflowers in it, you know!

Cornflower is knit from the brim up in a deceptively simple & fun stitch pattern that is a combination of eyelets and elongated stitches (watch the video to see for yourself). The ribbing transitions neatly into the main stitch pattern which decreases into a very satisfyingly symmetrical crown. The tie is braided herringbone-style and threaded through the yarn over holes in the brim. Like all good hats, it will knit up in a day.

IMG_1585IMG_1590
Cornflower Hat

things i love about this hat, in no particular order

  • I can use the braided tie as a bracelet, to stop a door slamming, to tie up drooping plants, or for various other stringy purposes.
  • It gives people behind me in a queue something pretty to ponder.
  • I can use it as a pouch with a drawstring.
  • I can stick all manner of found objects into the tie.
  • I can tie it onto my coat / bag / wrist so I don’t lose it! The number of hats I’ve stuffed in my pocket & subsequently lost on walks doesn’t bear thinking…
  • It’s lacy & textured at the same time.
  • It can be beribboned.
  • The tassels mirror the stitch pattern. Details make me happy. :)

On a side note, if you like lists like this, you really should read the 101 Reasons Why I Love Knitting.

cornflower hat
cornflower hat

details

YARN
‣ 1 ball Alize Cashmira [100gr; 100% wool; 300m / 328yds] or approx. 170m / 186yds of DK-weight yarn (including yarn needed for braided tie).

NEEDLES
‣ 3.5mm (US 4) double pointed needles or 40cm/ 16in circular needles for ribbing,
‣ and 4.5mm (US 7) double pointed needles,
‣ or size to get gauge.

GAUGE
‣ 16sts / 20 rows over 10cm/4in in blocked ribbing.
‣ 1 pattern repeat (18 rounds / 20 sts) is 7cm/2.75in x 7cm/2.75in when stretched.

SIZE
‣ Finished size will be 51cm/20in around the brim (to fit a head 56cm/22in),
‣ 21cm/8.25in from cast-on edge to tip of crown.
‣ The pattern includes instructions both for altering gauge for a tighter-fitting brim, and for making the hat slouchier.

Cornflower Hat

PDF PATTERN – £3.00

QUEUE IT ON RAVELRY

21st September, 2011  // 5 O'Clock, Hats, Roundelay // tags: , , , , .

Wordless Wednesday

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cornflower hat
cornflower hat
cornflower hat
cornflower hat
cornflower hat

Another upcoming pattern. I’ve provisionally called it “Cornflower”, but I’m not sure. What do you think?

10th August, 2011  // 5 O'Clock, Photographs, Roundelay // tags: , , , , .
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