1989 on my mind

December has been a frenzy of pattern writing, knitting, ripping, some minor cursing, more knitting, more ripping, designing, and enough spinning to adhere little bits of pink fluff to every surface in the house. (Including my pants.) It's unfortunate that there couldn't be more blogging on that list, but I was determined to finish one specific thing before I blogged again, and I am at last done. I present my newest hat pattern, simply named "1989".



This hat pattern was written for an adult's head, but can easily be sized down (or up, for a large adult's head) by altering needle size and yarn weight. Recommendations for how to alter the size by changing yarn weight, gauge, and needle size are given in the pattern, to allow you to knit any size from preemie to very large adult. The version you see here was knit in worsted weight yarn on size 7 needles, in a mystery yarn given to me by a friend. It uses about 50 grams of yarn, though you might want a 100 gram skein to be on the safe side. If you are unsure of what yarns may work with the hat, I give a few recommendations in the pattern, and would be happy to give more recommendations if necessary. I also knit a version in charcoal grey Harrisville Highland:



Click here to see any of the photos in those mosaics close up.

This hat is designed so that an adventurous beginner can knit it, but so it will hold the attention of a more experienced knitter. It is knit in the round, and involves a variety of types of increases and decreases to create the patterning. I give detailed instructions for all of the shaping in the pattern.

The main patterning is charted out, with a full chart key, as well as the above-mentioned explanations of all of the increases and decreases. The crown shaping of the hat is written out, round by round.

This hat was a really fun, quick knit for me. I'm not a fast knitter, but each hat took about one weekend day. I almost ran to the LYS to get a skein of Noro, because I am eager to see how beautiful it will look in a striping or variegated yarn. Hopefully a few of you will choose to use such a yarn, so I can see how it looks!

The cost of the pattern is $5.50. Click the button below to purchase it. You will automatically be emailed a download link for the PDF:

If you'd prefer, you can also buy it directly from its Ravelry page.

Please let me know if you have any questions, any problems with the pattern, or just want to know more about the hat! There is an explanation for the hat name in the pattern. But if enough of you seem curious about it, I'll write up the explanation in a future blog post, too.

Saturday Shortie

It's not even done, yet, but I'm so proud that I can't wait to share.



Welcome to my love affair with Dream In Color Smooshy. I'm using the Nightwatch colorway on 2.25 mm needles. The design is all my own, previewed in the previous post.

I almost feel like this is cheating, because the sock is turning out to be so much more interesting than what I had sketched out. It's as if it has a mind of its own, patted me on my little head, and took over the design process. When I say this is a self-designed sock, please take that as literally as possible. I'm nowhere near as clever as this sock is.

The best part? It gets even more interesting (in a completely different way) after the heel turn.

There's a dry dusting of snow on the ground (a preview of what's to come tomorrow?), I haven't spun in a week, I have a beautiful sock to finish, 3 patterns to write up, 2 patterns to design and then knit up, and only 48 hours until the work week starts again. If bad things come in threes, I think good things must come in dozens.