The website is up, and I'm back to finalizing the sideways-knit garter stitch hat patterns. This is much more interesting than plodding through the site looking for missing links and other minutia! I've been making versions of these hats for a while, but am only now getting around to finishing up the patterns.
Finding a New Yarn
Actually, my progress on the patterns was moving along very nicely until I
found out that one of my all-time favorite yarns -- Mission Falls 1824
Cotton -- is apparently being discontinued. Argh! So I started searching for a replacement cotton yarn that met my list of requirements: soft, machine washable (these are baby hats, after all), a wide range of colors, and preferably a somewhat interesting texture.
After much swatching, I settled on two possibilities: Blue Sky Organic Cotton and Dyed Cotton (love them!) and a combination of Knitpicks Crayon and Shine. Both are machine washable, have a bit of texture, and feel even softer than 1824 Cotton! My final selection really came down to color choices; for this set of hats, the Knitpicks colors seemed like the better match.
My only quibble with Knitpicks is the limited color palette for Crayon -- clearly more of a tiny crayon box than the full-fledged Crayola boxes I remember. At a minimum, I'd love to see them add cream (or white - I'm not that picky) and a lighter green; a nice, chocolaty brown and a lighter orange and yellow would also be useful. To add a bit more variety, I decided to try swatching some color combinations:
Some combinations obviously work better than others! My favorites are: Pink Crayon with Cream, Blush (Pink), or Orchid; Orange Crayon with Apricot Shine; Yellow Crayon with Apricot Shine; Red Crayon with Cherry Shine; Purple Crayon with Orchid or Violet Shine; Green Crayon with Grass Shine; Blue Crayon with Violet or River Shine, and Light Blue Crayon with Sky or Cream Shine.
12 Variations, 2 Patterns
I am splitting the 12 variations into two patterns, but am not sure what I will name them. One has all of the hats with earflaps and visors, while the other has all of the hats with pointed hems...but also some without. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for names!
Now on to revising directions for the different gauge and reknitting all of the hats in the new yarns. With a dozen hats to test, it's a good thing these hats knit up quickly!
I am looking forward to your Blossom pattern as I have a coworker's hat-loving 20 month old who needs a fix. -A cute one at that!
Posted by: Karen | October 26, 2005 at 03:28 PM
I found this via knitty and I love these hats!! I have a name suggestion: how about Pilot or Amelia for the helmet version? It looks a lot like those leather flying caps that pilots wore in open cockpit planes. Adorable!
Posted by: Meg | December 03, 2005 at 07:16 AM
I've loved these baby hats ever since I first laid eyes on them. Will the patterns ever be for sale?
Posted by: Katherine | December 05, 2005 at 09:38 AM
H there,
Love your website. I just finished a sweater with Blue Sky Organic cotton and it sheds like crazy! Even after 3 washings with Downey added in the final rinse. I'm actualy thinking of ripping it out and using the yarn for something else. Hope this helps. I don't know if knitting hats with this is its best use.
Posted by: Penny | December 07, 2005 at 11:14 AM
OHMIGOSH...totally unrelated to your post...I'm knitting up Flora and am stuck on why the petals have 10" tails. Should I use that for the twisted loops or for attaching them together? Am I missing something? Help is appreciated!
Posted by: Christie | December 07, 2005 at 11:40 AM
I had to thank you for your genius in creating the little hand-warming monsters on Knitty! I made on last night, and not only did it successfully keep my fingers warm and snug on the way to work this morning, but has provided no end of joy and amusement around the office (Graaar!).
Posted by: Eluned | December 08, 2005 at 04:41 AM
Lovely site, will pop back when I have more time, I thought by mid-age there would be more time :)
Posted by: grace | February 12, 2006 at 01:47 AM
Hello! My name is Swathi and I'm a Grade 12 student, currently doing my venture for Enterprise class. I decided that I wanted to liven up an otherwise dull project of cookie baking/candy wrapping by choosing to sell knitted goods. I fell in love with your pocket creature handwarmer pattern over at knitty.com, and was wondering if you might give me permission to utilize it. I would like to add that any and all profit earned will be donated to local charities and as such, no personal gain will be made.
Once it best suits you, could you please e-mail me your response? Thank you so much.
Posted by: Swathi | February 19, 2007 at 05:41 PM