A Sudden Fascination

I've developed a sudden fascination for patterns which depend on proportion, actual measurements of the person for whom the item will be made, the gauge of the yarn being knitted up on the favorite needles and the room to improvise.    I found a perfect Beret pattern online and you can check it out at  Beret Recipe - A Kirsten Kapur Design.  I have been so delighted with its versatility that I've been knocking them out these past few weeks.  Here is one for which I specifically spun yarn.  

The two-ply used to make the body was lightly spun english long draw.  Then that yarn was dyed with un-spun roving which I used to make the thickNthin two-ply for the brim.  It's just been through the washer and is now drying on a plate.

Here is a detail of the yarn texture so you can see how the mild variation of the body yarn, knitted stockinette, works with the greater variation in the brim yarn which is purled for bumpy effect.  

In addition, on this beret, I've knitted in ribbon holes around the bottom of the brim because there is no ribbing to adjust the size.


I'll be running some gold ribbon through that later, and I can see that this version of the beret will be excellent for dour colored men's berets of the Scottish military variety.

For the most part, though, I've realized that it is far more time and cost effective for me to use commercially prepared 100% wool for the body of these berets and  save my hand spun for detailing, like the brim above and this slip-stitch detail to the right.

The  dark brown is Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool and you can see the glossy sheen of the lanolin they leave in this yarn.  The orange-yellow-red is the last of the roving I space dyed in a roasting pan with Scarlet and Sunshine Yellow Jacquard Acid Dye and then spun worsted and Navajo Plied. 

I found this slip-stitch pattern from my copy of Homespun And Handknit which is so old and used that I've had to put it in a 3-ring binder via plastic page protectors.  I believe this slip-stitch pattern was first documented by Barbara Walker in her knitting stitch treasury as a "honeycomb" type stitch.  When off the mannequin the colored squares do recede.

With the rest of the Dark Brown I'm knitting up matching fingerless mittens that I will be adding a small picot edging to at knuckles and thumb using the last of the Navajo Ply. I'll be offering them as a set on Etsy.  And where did I get the Hobo Glove pattern? The web of course.  I like to have my thumb knuckles covered so it was necessary for me to find a good generic pattern for mittens and I did with the Forepaw Socks  pattern designed by Judy Gibson.  Who, I might ask, with monkey toes can possibly resist a pattern called Forepaw Socks?  They WILL fit me and any other medium pawed woman.

I feel as though I'm finally armed with a great pair of patterns that provide a decent canvas on which to display novelty and art yarns in the future.   Next post will be of my simple patterns on wrist watch bands, sometime next week.