Category: Hats

The Reson I Needed – Perhaps?

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

Well this is strange?

My much-loved blog has been sorely neglected now for well over a year and a half 😳

There is a long list of reasons for the hiatus, but I won’t bore you with them now, except to say that I have, on many occasions, woke with every intention to post later that day, but…… Instead, I will explain the reason why I am finally here.

Kelly McClure aka @bohoknits recently posted a photo of her little boy Cameron wearing a gorgeous woolly hat on Instagram. Nothing particularly unusual about that, Kelly is, after all, a knitwear designer. Except, Kelly had tagged me in on the photo because the hat in question was the Folkestone Beach hat I had designed for Olann and back in 2017.

Sadly, Olann and is no more and I never did get round to sorting out he designs I’d written for the magazine (another thing I’d put on the longfinger). Anyway, following Kelly’s post, a few of her followers mentioned that they’d love to knit the pattern themselves.

So in a bid to listen to what the universe throws at us sometimes, here is the Folkestone Beach Pattern.

Folkestone Beach is a versatile, pixie-shaped hat that will suit everyone from newborn to teenager. The bobble detail pops throughout the hat to create a contemporary textured design, reminiscent of the shingle on Folkestone Beach.  

Materials

Yarn: DK  Preemie: 53 metres/58 yards, Newborn: 72 metres /79 yards, 
6 months: 102 metres /112 yards, 12 months: 121 metres /132 yards, Child/teen: 143 metres/156 yards

Shown in: Peter Pan Merino Baby (100% Pure Ultra Soft Superwash Wool: 116 metres/127 yards per 50g) Shades: Preemie 3031 Cream, Newborn 3044 Duck Egg, 6 months 3038 Apricot, 12 months 3036 Raspberry, Child/teen 3040 Lime

Needle size: 4 and 4.5mm or size to obtain gauge/tension. You can use DPNs or circular needles, whichever you’re most comfortable with.

Notions:  Stitch markers, tapestry needle

Size

Finished measurements

Preemie: 12 inch circumference
Newborn: 14 inch circumference
6 months: 16 inch circumference
12 months: 18 inch circumference
Child/teen: 20 inch circumference

Tension

5½ sts x 8 rows to 1” over pattern

Special Stitches

MB: Knit the next stitch, but do not lift it off the left-hand needle. Instead, place your knitted stitch from the right to left-hand needle. You have added 1 stitch. Repeat this action and add another stitch. (You have turned 1 st into 3, all on your left-hand needle).  Knit the new 2 stitches, then knit the third stitch through the back loop.  Pass the first two stitches over your third stitch.

Pattern notes:

If knitting in the round with interchangeable needles using a smaller needle in your left hand can help with slipping the stitches off easier.

If you pull the stitches immediately before and after the MB stitch, the bobble sits higher.

When working the row after your MB row, try to draw the stitches either side of the bobble tighter, to help your bobble pop.

Chart

Pattern

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: *K1, MB, K4, repeat from * to end of row

Row 4: Knit

Row 5: Knit

Row 6: Knit

Row 7: *K4, MB, K1, repeat from * to end of row

Row 8: Knit

These 8 rows form the pattern, work number of rows as per instructions indicated for the size you are making.

Instructions

Using smaller needles cast on 60 (72, 84, 96, 108) stitches

Join to work in the round and complete 6 (6, 6, 8, 8) rows of 2×2 rib

Change to larger needles

Beginning with row 5 (1, 1, 5, 5) of pattern, work 23 (27, 35, 39, 43) rows in total. Your last row will be row 3 of the pattern.

Crown Shaping

Row 1: *K10, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: *K9, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 4: *K4, MB, repeat from * to end

Row 5: K*8, K2tog repeat from * to end

Row 6: Knit

Row 7: * K7, K2tog repeat from * to end

Row 8: K1, MB, * K4, MB, K2, MB, repeat from * to last st, K1

Row 9: * K6, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 10: Knit

Row 11: * K5, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 12: *K3, MB, K2, repeat from * to end

Row 13: * K4, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 14: Knit

Row 15: * Knit 3, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 16: *K1, MB K2, repeat from * to end

Rows 17 and 18: Knit

Row 19: * K2, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 20: * K2, MB, repeat from * to end

Rows 21 and 22: Knit

Row 23: *K1, K2tog, repeat from * to end

Row 24: *K1, MB, repeat from * to end

Rows 25 and 26: Knit

Row 27: K (for preemie size K2tog and finish)

Row 28: *MB, K1, repeat from * to end

Rows 29 and 30: Knit

Row 31: *K2tog repeat from * to end

Finishing

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail and thread through remaining stitches.

Fasten off and sew in ends.

If you do block the hat, be careful not to squash the bobbles.

You can download a pdf version of the pattern here (please let me know if you spot any mistakes)

Hope to be back again soon

Happy Making

(By the way, that’s Thom on the stairs watching me)

♥ Follow me on Bloglovin Here ♥

Quick Hat For The Simon Community

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

warm and woolly

The Olann and Warm + Woolly Campaign for The Simon Community is in full swing.  There are shops and businesses getting involved and signing up to be ‘Drop Off Points’, there are library’s up and down the country popping up campaign posters and we’ve even been on the radio.  Not that I managed to hear it though, as my broadband was awful on the day 😦

Anyway, as some of you probably already know, I’ve been involved in the odd charity knitting campaign in the past and as a result have written a few, easy knit patterns, that are listed on the pattern page here.  (must tidy them up now and make them all uniformly me as Leftfootdaisy).

Quick Chunky Hats
Quick Chunky Hats

One of them, The Quick Chunky Hat, was originally used for our Chernobyl Children’t Trust collection.  I opted for a standard chunky yarn, for a couple of reasons.  The first –  it’s mighty cold in Belarus and chunky hats tend to be cosier.  Secondly, double knit yarn tends to be the most popular weight here in Ireland and if you hold two strands together when knitting, it makes a chunky = Great for using up your ends.

Going back to my original pattern with fresh eyes, so to speak, it occurred to me that the addition of a longer band, might be more beneficial when it comes to keeping out the cold.  Ears are more delicate and therefore sensitive to the cold, so a folded band would add extra warmth, where it’s needed.  The longer band also gives the individual a couple of options on how to wear the hat, depending on what they find most comfortable.

evolve

Those lovely people over at Thomas B. Ramsden (they distribute the yarns from Robin, Wendy, Twilleys and Erika Knight), gave me a couple of balls of Evolve Chunky from Wendy in different shades, for the magazine and I wanted to make good use of the remaining yarn.

3261_Nougat

Each 100g ball of Evolve Chunky contains a generous 180 metres/197 yards of yarn.  The fibre composition is 10% Alpaca, 50% Wool, 40% Acrylic, which when knitted to the recommended tension of 14 stitches to 20 rows on 6.5mm needles, produces a lovely, light, warm fabric ideal for most projects.  There are 10 shades of Evolve Chunky available, each with it’s own subtle changing tones and should you want to investigate further there are some lovely patterns available to support the yarn too.

2015-10-13 10.26.03

I’ll update the pattern when I get a minute, but if you do want to knit this hat in the meantime.  It’s the largest size and everything is the same except at the beginning I ribbed for 21 rows instead of 7, which then means you have to work until the hat measures 9 inches before you begin to work the crown shaping.

2015-10-21 16.08.36

I’m pretty sure I have enough left to knit a second hat too, maybe I’ll stripe it with some of the blue?

Before I go…..

Did you notice that my URL has changed?

I’m now officially fibrestrumpet.com on the interweb (thanks to Shane, Dina’s beau).

💖

 

♥ Follow me on Bloglovin Here ♥

Toasty & Textured

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

2014-12-16 15.23.01

 

 

I feel like I’ve wasted so much time this week trying to post here, Ravelry and Facebook without any success because our internet has been so poor 😡  So the first thing I did when I arrived at the shop this morning was upload lots of photos to store in my various media libraries, ready for the next few posts.  I also managed to get the pattern for my latest hat Toasty & Textured up on Ravelry at last too ⭐

The hat is knitted in 1×1 moss stitch with Rico Essentials Big on 7mm needles.  I’ve also knitted up a couple with Rico Flame and will try and persuade Dina, to let me take a photo or two 😉 at the weekend to post here.

January can be a difficult month for some after the extravagances and the build up of the festive season, even the most positive among us can feel like the wind has been knocked out of us a little.  I’m fortunate in that Dina’s birthday is on the 16th, which gives us something to enjoy and this year she’ll be 25!!!  So to ♥celebrate♥ I’ve made the pattern for Toasty & Textured free to download until the end of the month with the coupon code 25. 

Be sure to enter 25 before you checkout and remember to share you’re projects so we can see.   The hat is super speedy to knit and will work for both men and women.  I’m hoping to find a couple of sneaky hours to have a play with combining some of my stash yarns and will post photos of the results here if they work.

Happy Knitting!

♥ Follow me on Bloglovin Here ♥

December Chill

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

2014-11-29 16.38.51

Following on from my Ophelia post, a good few of you asked about the pattern for the hat Dina was wearing.  Ever organised 😕 I obviously had the pattern written up.  To be fair I did, but it was on Post-it Notes rather than on the computer and it was no where near ready for anyone else to have a look at.

Since then it’s been typed up, test knitted and corrected and is now up on Ravelry Here for €2 but it’s free to download on Ravelry until Midnight on Christmas Day with the checkout code Ophelia.  (Enter it before you checkout.)

It only took the one ball and a couple of hours to knit up and should work with most chunky yarns or even 2 strands of double knit yarn held together like this one.

2014-12-16 11.27.17

 

I used 2 strands of King Cole Galaxy Double Knit.

Happy Knitting!

♥ Follow Me On Bloglovin Here  ♥