Daisy Hat Ta - dah!!

 So here she is, my beautiful Daisy Hat! She came together very quickly and I've tried the original black and white version (see previous post), a rainbow version, plus a stash busting multi colour version that used a different colour on virtually every row!! I call that one Summer Meadow.

There are some long floats which might affect your tension (it did with mine! 😄), so there are two sizes available  - regular and large. The brim is the same size on both, as is the length but the main body has an extra 12 stitches. That doesn't sound a lot but it's enough to make a noticeable difference. 

You can click on the link at the top of the page (in blue), or click on any of the pictures, to take you to Ravelry. 

And don't forget to share your version with the hashtag #daisyhat  - I love to see my designs in the wild!! 

Happy Knitting everyone!   T  xXx 

A new hat design!

 My absolute FAVOURITE flower is the daisy. Doesn't have to be a big fancy daisy or a pretty colour. Just the common or garden daisy that grows amongst the grass. 

I often think it would be nice to design a daisy hat and it's Finally underway! 

It needs some tweaking - and there will be two sizes, a first for me! - but should be ready soon! 

Here's a sneak peak of version one  - 

More updates later! 

Happy Knitting 😊   T xXx

Introducing Bellamy, a Fairisle Hat

 I'm very late writing this post... again! I actually published my latest hat pattern back on May 1st, started writing this post on May 8th, and finally finishing it now, May 25th... Better late than never though, I suppose! 

Early in 2020 I heard that David Bellamy had died. If you were a child of the 70's & 80's in the UK, then you will probably be familiar with the great man. 

He was a botanist with an enthusiam that was infectious and made a great many childrens programs on the subject. He was definietly a childhood hero of mine, and I looked forard to watching him.

It was his influence that made me realise how beatiful the world around me was, especially if you took the time to get really up and close and personal with nature.

I wanted to design a hat in his memory/honour and actually started it immediately after publishing Hope Springs Hat. But it wasn't quite working the way I wanted, so I put it to one side for later. It turned out to be MUCH later - but finally I got him finished. There were a few tweaks along the way, mainly around the fruit/berrries between the big leaves on the crown. They changed shape several times - I wanted ginkgo leaves to start with but changed them to clover leaves. Then maple leaves.. then cherries, and finally, simple fruit/berries. Work them in brown and they could almost be nuts!1

But I'm very happy with him now and he was well received when published I think. Here he is, in all his glory - and if you click on the first picture, you'll hop across to the pattern on Ravelry.

I've gone a bit overboard on the number of colours used! But then the natural world is full of colour! The hat on the main photo had 17 colours I think - the pink themed one below took slightly less. But I have also tried using just two colours and that was Very effective too (scroll down).

I hope you like my tribute to a very great man and should you choose to make it, I'd love to see your version! I wonder what colours you would choose to use??.... Don't forget to use the hashtag bellamyhat

Happy knitting everyone!   T  xXx

Tardy Ta - Dah !!!

 I'm only about two months late with this post.... You may have seen it already but I designed a hat based around a previous love - Patchwork & Quilting.

Several years ago I was a slave to the cutting board and sewing machine and would spend many, many hours creating quilts and quilted items. Eventually, it started to play havoc with my back and I had to look for something else to do, and ended up with a new passion of crochet!!

Time has moved on again and now I have a passion for fairisle hats. While chatting with someone about my last hat, Boanny Starns, I mentioned that one of the stars on it looked like a quilting block - and that was a light-bulb moment!! A fairisle hat based on my favourite quilting blocks and before you knew it, I had designed 'Quilters Delight'!

In true patchwork style, it's a real stash buster as most of the colours used take just two grams of yarn or less. And there are quite a lot of colours!!

Rather than have just one star as the main motif, I devised eight different centres - and it's surprisingly easy to work those different centres following the simple instructions in the pattern.

As I made each sample with different colours, I kept changing the pattern on the crown until - finally - I was happy with the result. This one -

I tried to use all my favourite quilt blocks - flying geese, stars, pinwheels. And the corrugated rib is a play on a colourwash/bargello quilt. Although I must admit to never having made the Dresden plate that features on the crown...

As you can see from my samples, you really can use whatever colours you have to hand for a truly one-of-a-kind hat.

If you don't like sewing in the ends, I explain how to weave them in as you go!

Click on any of the photos to take you to the pattern.

I'm already working on the next design and the pattern is being written as we speak!! To be honest, I've been working on it on and off for over a year now and finally reached a point where I was (almost) happy with it. 

This one will also feature lots of different colours, although there's no reason why you couldn't make it with a more limited palette if you prefer.

I'll try and make sure to pop back and show you when it's published, rather than two months later!! For now, here's a little sneak peak.

Happy Knitting!!

Introducing Boanny Starns

 May I introduce Boanny Starns, my latest fairisle style hat design? (Although I haven't had time to make it in several colours rather than just two yet! 🤦‍♀️)

I had barely finished adding a project to Ravelry, with all the relevant details so I didn't lose them, when Lorraine, a lady in the Shetland Islands who has tested for me, saw it and sent a message. 

I think I had called it Unnamed and she wanted to know why there wasn't a name yet but it looked very interesting. I said I had only just finished designing it and would she like to name it? She came straight back with Boanny Starns! She said it's Shetlandic for Pretty Stars -  a very pretty name that I liked very much! 

Only it had a flower motif in the middle row... How could I call it Pretty Stars if there was a Flower?!

So when I came to make it again in the reverse colours, I swapped the flower for a different star - as you can see in the photo above. The ivory background is all stars. 

This is the original  -

I put pictures of both on Instagram and asked opinions and there were several people who liked the original. And several who liked the 'all star' version. 

So I decided to do two separate patterns, one with the original flower included which I called Boanny Flooers, and the Boanny Starns version. A proper 2-for-1 offer! (Also known as a BOGOF!)

You'll find it in my Ravelry Store, along with my other hats, blankets, shawls, scarves and poncho. 

Click HERE to go straight to it, or click any of the photos.

It has a very pretty crown too!

My next design is already well underway - I just need to start the actual writing! 😄

Have you made one of my designs? I'd love to see a picture if you have. Even better, if you're a Ravelry member, perhaps you could create a project and link it to the pattern so everyone can see it? 

Happy Knitting!    T   xXx

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

 I do hope you managed to celebrate together, either in person or virtually. 

We had a quiet day at home, which was actually quite nice. 

We had had the bad news from the government that we would be entering 'Tier 4' on the south coast today, so I made my Hope Springs Hat free for Christmas  - well it had been free during the first lockdown, so it felt like the right thing to do. 

It proved very popular again and I was delighted to see this today  - 

Woo Hoo! I had seen it gradually climbing up during Christmas day but at some point during the night it got to the top! It isn't there anymore but it got there and I managed to grab a screenshot!!

If you would like a free copy too, click the link in the sidebar to pop across to Ravelry and use the code Hope at checkout. 

Be quick though, it's only valid until midnight tonight, UK time. 

And please consider linking a project of your version so we can all see it 👀 . If you would prefer to buy a ready made hat, there's also a link to my Folksy Shop in the sidebar too - there's a pink version of Hope Springs Hat still available. 😊🎅

Here's to a MUCH BETTER 2021! Stay safe everyone ❤❤❤

New Design - Finding Balance Hat

 I have just published a new hat design!!! Really happy with this design at last, although it was a long time in the making...

I started out wanting to make another fairisle style hat with several colours but kept getting stuck with my colour choices... I wanted to use Shetland Sprindthrift again but with only online ordering available, some of the colours I chose didn't go together as well as I had hoped... There was a lot of re-jigging and eventually I gave up!

I decided to concentrate on getting the balance of the motifs right first, working with just two colours - and then re-introduce more colours. But once I had the motifs just right I really liked the look with just two colours. Really really liked it! So I wrote the pattern with just two colours and called it 'Finding Balance', as the name seemed to fit not only with stripping it back to the basics to 'find the balance' between the motifs but also trying to find a way to balance all the crap this year is throwing at me and everyone else... I'm sure crafting helps us all find a way to find balance.

I made my first sample using Drops Nord, a gorgeously soft and squishy alpaca/wool/polyamide mix. A 50g ball in each of two highly contrasting colours is enough to make two hats.

It's available on Ravelry here - Finding Balance Hat 

It's available on Ravelry here - Finding Balance Hat 

I have decided to support the Shetland MRI Scanner Appeal, so until the end of 2020, I will be donating 20% of my sales of the pattern to them.

Although they have raised enough to buy the MRI Scanner, they still need a building for it, train the staff and all the associated running costs. It's a massive project for a small community.

 UPDATE:   Finding Balance proved to be quite popular and I sold a few of my first hat design Hope Springs as well. I was able to make a donation of £51 to the Appeal. 

If YOU  bought the pattern, then THANK YOU!  

Please pop across to Ravelry and take a look -  Finding Balance Hat 

Happy knitting!!!!  Tina xXx

Special offer for September

 Thank you to everyone who bought Looks Like Rain Scarf during last month's offer! 

The end of August was considerably cooler than the start and I even wore my scarf indoors a couple of times! 🤪 I didn't go as far as wearing a hat - but I did look at my hats.... 

So I figured maybe it would be nice to have an offer on my Hope Springs Hat. So for the rest of September, you can save 20% on Ravelry, with code Autumn. 

Click HERE to pop across to the pattern page. Don't forget to use the code Autumn at checkout,  and share your version with #hopespringshat . 

And if you've been popping in regularly to check on the launch of The Allsorts Blanket - the fully written version of the Tooty Stripey Blanket, then I'm pleased to say it's nearly ready and I hope to publish by the end of the month! 

Woo hoo!

Foray into Fairisle, parts IV, V, VI, VII ..... etc etc.... And a Ta - Dah!!

Well, we've now been under lockdown due to coronavirus for over 6 weeks...

Such a  scary time to be living in for so many people. I really appreciate being in a country where the government is doing everything it can to support everyone.
I've been working from home which is not the simplest thing when much of what you do is paper based!! Many of my colleagues are also working from home but actually gardening and sunbathing... I'd like to be knitting more and working less but there you go.

It almost seems pointless now talking about my next step in my Foray into Fairisle, as I have progressed so much since my last post that this needs to probably be part 10!!

Having made the grey and gold affair, I then hunted out the 4 ply I had safely tucked away for the day when I was ready to knit with it myself. I had asked a friend to make me a pair of mittens several years ago and there was a lot of yarn left over. I took the precaution of buying an extra ball of the background colour so that one day, far into the future, I could use it myself.
Well, the day had come and I got it out, bought the hat pattern that matched those mittens and tentatively got started!! On what felt like very tiny needles...
It turned out to be easier than I thought and grew surprisingly quickly. Although, I will admit that I had made the first pattern repeat of the little flowers before I decided maybe I should have gone back and re-read that tutorial I mentioned weeks ago by Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits. It was at that point that I realised I'd been doing it wrong all these weeks with all my Baa-ble Hats! I'd been holding the dominant yarn in the wrong position... So if you're just starting your own #forayintofairisle , then please, go and read this tutorial first.

Anyway, I corrected the way I was holding the yarn (no, I didn't unpick...) and finished that hat and was absolutely GOBSMACKED that it looked just liked the photos in the pattern!! Remarkable! I couldn't quite believe it had come from MY HANDS! Here it is, along with the mittens my friend made  -

 I then started looking for more gorgeous hats I could make.
There are quite a lot of lovelies on Ravelry when you look.... The first one I chose was called Sea Pinks and was made in pure Shetland 4 ply, which I ordered from Jamiesons of Shetland. Yes, actually in Shetland, yet it arrived very quickly. I thought it might make a slightly rough feeling hat but once washed it has this trick of 'blooming' and becoming beautifully soft and slightly fuzzy. It also blocks very well and as I have quite a tight tension, I was pleased to find I could stretch it a bit too!!!
(I decided to try and redesign the centre of the crown, so what you see below differs a little from the pattern.)

Then I looked for the next pattern and chose Harriet's Hat, a gorgeous pattern designed especially to raise funds for an MRI scanner for the Shetland islands. Currently, they have to travel to the mainland.

I only had the colours I had used for the Sea Pinks hat and again, I had taken the precaution of buying an extra ball of the background colour. This one progressed a little slower as I was having to decide on what colours to use together as I went along, rather than simply follow the pattern but it worked out just fine and I was very pleased with it. And her crown design is to die for!

Then I wondered whether a hat made with merino would work just as well. I hunted out some leftovers of merino 4 ply in ivory for the background and a beautiful hand dyed yarn called 'Rose Gold'. I had another hunt for the perfect pattern and found a lovely one called Cadha. Again, I had to make some minor adjustments to the design as I wasn't convinced there was enough contrast between my yarns but all was well in the end. I'll make another like this one day - one yarn for the background and a single variegated yarn for all the colourwork.

Then I decided I was ready to DESIGN MY OWN!!!!!!! I had quickly realised that all the 4 ply beanie style hats I had made had the same number of stitches (144) and pretty much the same number of rows (about 70).

I ordered a really good book full of  different motifs and borders and set to work putting them together. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time choosing new colours online to make it with...

The number of stitches truly is a magical number. 144 can be divided by 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24, plus an awful lot of others. I opted to stick with patterns that would all fit into a 24 stitch repeat to make the charts work better together.

The possibilities are endless but eventually I settled on a large motif for the main body with a narrow border below and above, then a fancy crown.
Crown's are quite tricky to design though!! You really need to be able to visualise what's going to happen with the decreases in 3D - you can create starts, arrows, flowers and allsorts!! I just need to find a really good book that explains the principles clearly, or a website. Not found one yet apart from this one by Kate Davies Designs but that only explains how to work the decreases and draw the chart shape.

It took me quite a long time to draw it all out, although that process was speeded up ENORMOUSLY by using Stitch Fiddle. If you've never used it to help design your own, go take a look now!! It's a free site but you can pay a small fee to gain access to extra tools, on a monthly basis if you want to, or like I now have, get 50% off by paying for a full year.

After a lot of faffing, I had my design ready and started knitting it using the new colours that I had ordered, including some lovely blues.
It didn't all go smoothly though... I kept putting progress pics on instagram and everyone said they loved it, including the crown. But I wasn't completely happy with it myself. There was something about it that really jarred with me...

I couldn't quite put my finger in it but there was something about it that was just wrong. Then someone very kind left a comment saying the pattern for the body was fine and the pattern for the crown was fine - but they were different styles. That was it!!! The body was very floral in style and the crown was geometric!
So I got the scissors out and cut it off! (I made a video of it as I don't plan on repeating it!)

( ** I'll com back and add tha little video later! **)

I must admit, regardless of how carefully I did it, I really enjoyed cutting it off!! (I have kept that crown and one day I might design a geometric body and graft them together.) And no, I wasn't worried about everything unravelling before I got it back on the needles. Remember I said it was a fuzzy yarn?? Well, I was confident that all those fuzzy bits would 'hold hands' throughut the cutting process and all would be well. And it was! Up until Fluffy came throught the ct flap while I was mid cut... I think I must have flinched slightly as I knew he would jump straight up on the table, which he did, so I cut the stitch on the row below by mistake. I had to then unpick that row but never mind. Still quicker than starting again!!

I set to work designing a new crown and finished the hat a second time. Now I was very happy with it, it was just perfect!!
I asked everyone on instagram what I should call it and the most popular suggestions were 'Hope' and 'Spring' - hope for a better future after lockdown and looking forward to the spring. So I joined them together and Hope Springs was born!

Ta - dah!!!!!!!

Then I had to sit and write up the pattern to go with it, work on the charts to get them just right and create the Ravelry listing. I had already decided to make it free during lockdown using a coupon code, with a small fee thereafter.

I published it just after lunch on Good Friday - and someone saw it and downloaded it within 5 minutes!! Then there was another and another, and another.... and lots of people were leaving comments saying thank you - I mean LOTS!
Then someone put it on facebook and everything got quite silly.... at one point it was being downloaded ten times a minute! And I got an email for every one...
By the end of the Easter holiday, it had been downloaded over 5,000 times but it just kept going. I've lost track of it now...

I'm really hoping some of those people come back and link their project in Ravelry so I can see what they made. One lady had made hers by Easter Monday and shared some pics! She chose very similar colours to mine -

I was so CHUFFED!! Someone actually made my design  - and straight away!!

Then another lady uploaded her pics! She used colours in her stash and must have very loose tension, compared to my tight tension, as she said she gave it to her husband. She'snow made it again, using the colours given in the pattern.

I can't descibe just how lovely it is to see other people using something I designed! 

I've been designing (and re-designing over an over...) my next hat but it hasn't been going so well... I chose some more colours and ordered them, knowing they might take a while to arrive but foolishly, whilst designing, I didn't use the new colours but the old ones.... when the new colours did arrive and I started changing the charts I'd been preparing, it just wasn't working. Plus I hadn't ordered enough different colours, they were slightly different on screen etc... I finally settled on something I thought would work and cast on - only to see someone else publish their new hat that day with an almost identical main motif!! Clearly we are using the same stitch dictionery....

Anyway, I decided to knit it up anyway and I'm nearly up to the crown but there are lots of things that just aren't doing it for me - serves me right for not swatching! I hate swatching... So I've decided it will be frogged and I'll start all over again. Frustrating... needs to be right though.

But another book arrived in the post yesterday, so I might try some borders from that one instead!!

I'm adding a photo as a reminder to muself of the one that didn't quite work.....

Well, that's all for now (it's taken nearly 3 weeks to write this...) but if you like the look of my first design, just follow the link above, or the one in the sidebar, or the one on the Shop tab - and don't forge to use the coupon code Free, or you wil be charged... As I discovered, I now have to pay fees to issue a refund, so won't be doing so without good reason anymore unfortunately.)

And if you download for free but then really like it and think it's worth buying, it would be really lovely if you went back and did just that! It would help pay for the yarn in other colours I should have bought!

Until next time, take care, T    x X x

Foray into Fairisle Part III Cont'd...

So, what did I do with that hat?? Well, in the end, nothing!
I bought a ball of silver grey and started another hat with the rest of the mustard, knowing that at some point I would run out and would then unpick the first hat to re-use the yarn.
I made the rib and got half way up the snowflake but wasn't convinced it looked better. The mustard certainly looked a lot brighter. A lot!! But not better with the silvergrey... There just wasn't enough contrast I think.
I had posted this pic on instgram, asking what people thought -

Someone suggested taking a photo in b&w as the contrast would show up clearly.

The difference is remarkable isn't it?? I would never have thought of doing that.

So yes, the mustard looked much brighter but just didn't work with the silver grey...

Back to the shop I went and bought a ball of cerise pink instead to use with the silvergrey. And I made sure I took a pic in b&w in the shop to check the contrast!!
I also decided to make another Baa-ble Hat, rather than the snowflake.

Much better!!!! Just wait til you see what I did next though!