Windowpane Hat Pattern

I have uploaded to Ravelry as a PDF, but for those (like me) who like patterns to be available online.....
PATTERN UPDATED: 1/12/14

Windowpane Hat

This hat is great for when you want some easy circular knitting, but don't feel like working plain stockinette. The slip stitch pattern looks more complicated than it actually is, and is great for those who new to colorwork. The stripes are only 2 rows each, so you can carry the yarn and avoid weaving in ends. Charted and written instructions are included.

Materials:
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes [100% light worsted wool; 110yd/99m per 50g skein]
     1 skein each of MC and CC (Shown here in Fedora. Orange was dyed with Kool Aide.)

Size 5 (3.75 mm) 16” needle, and DPNs

Gauge:

20 sts and 32 rows = 4” in slip stitch pattern, blocked

Windowpane Pattern: worked over an even number of sts.

Note: Always slip purlwise, with yarn in back

Rnd 1: Using MC, * Slip 1, K1 * repeat around

Rnd 2: Using MC, *Slip 1, K1 * repeat around

Rnd 3: K with CC

Rnd 4: P with CC

Rnd 5: K with MC

Rnd 6: P with MC

Rnd 7: K with CC
Rnd 8: P with CC

Hat:

With MC, cast on 84 stitches. Join in round and knit K2P2 ribbing for 11 rounds or until brim measures 1.5”
Switch to CC
K 1 rnd

P 1 rnd

Knit 4 full repeats of Windopane Pattern, then rnds 1-4 once more.

Begin decreases:
Rnd 1: With MC, *K5, K2tog* around- 72 sts
Rnd 2: With MC, P

Rnd 3: With CC, *K4, K2tog* around- 60 sts

Rnd 4: With CC, P

Rnd 5: With MC, *Slip 1, K1, Slip 1, K2tog* around- 48 sts

Switch to DPN’s- 16 sts on each needle

Rnd 6: With MC *Slip 1, K1* around

Rnd 7: With CC, *K2, K2tog* around- 36 sts

Rnd 8: With CC, P

Rnd 9: With MC, *K1, K2tog* around- 24 sts

Rnd 10: With MC, P

Break MC

Rnd 11: With CC, *K2tog* around- 12 sts

Rnd 12: With CC, P2tog around- 6 sts

Cut working yarn, leaving an 8-inch tail. Thread the end of the yarn onto a darning needle, and slip rem stitches purl-wise off each needle. Pull to gather stitches, and secure.

Block your hat to really bring out the stitch pattern. ♥
Feel free to contact me on Ravelry, username: grandmastatus

Hanging around the house...

So I'm still sick, and it turns out Vyvyan has an ear infection. He's pretty miserable.

But if there is a good thing about him being sick, it is that he is suddenly willing to snuggle up under the blankets. So we've been keeping pretty cozy: reading Cat in the Hat, coloring, eating soup, and taking naps. Throughout this, I have been working on something fun.

That's right: I'm making another Windowpane Hat, and this time I am going to take better notes. I am definitely the kind of knitter who fudges a lot of things as I go, and so writing down a pattern afterwards can be challenging. So far I have only made one change (the first row of contrasting color, because that solo stripe was bothering me) but I'm really going to modify the way I worked the decreases.

I was so scared of ruining the pattern that I spaced the decreases unevenly and worked fewer decrease rows than I usually do. As a result, the first hat is kind of.... butt-shaped. I know, I know, that's totally rude, but it kind of has butt cheeks at the top? That's the only way I can describe it. Now, obviously, when I put the hat on it stretches out and looks great but I'd kind of like the hat to look normal when it's just lying there, too. So the decreases are going to be re-worked, re-vamped and re-fried.

That should be done pretty soon. It really is a fun little slip stitch pattern. This second hat is done in Wool of the Andes. The brown is called Fedora, and the orange was actually dyed with Kool Aide. I like that I actually know what the yarn is for this hat.

The green one is so soft and nice, but I don't know what the heck it's made of. I know the green part is Lion Brand's yummy cashmere blend but the brown is so ancient I haven't a clue. It must be acrylic, because it came from the times before I had ever been to an LYS. But it is so soft and squishy. I want to say it's Lion Brand Microspun  because I remember buying some in the past, but I also remember Microspun as being very very splitty, which this yarn was not. Actually, I found this yarn in the form of a hat in my mom's room. A hat I had made before I understood the purpose of gauge (it would probably have made a better purse) and which I realized I could make into yarn again. And I think if I had frogged Microspun it would have untwisted and become unworkable. So I really don't know. It will remain a mystery. Which is too bad because it is a wonderful yarn, and the hat is incredibly soft.

The Wool of the Andes, by the way, is not as soft as I had hoped and I imagine this orange hat will have to go to someone with a super itch-resistant forehead. Still, because it is wool, I am looking forward to blocking it so the stitch pattern is more pronounced.

So that's what I'm up to. Now I'm going to go back to sniffling, reading Fox in Socks (with a sore throat!) and knitting.

A new design in progress...

This design sprung from my love of all things with faces. Hats with faces have become quite a trend these days, but these fun mittens are a bit more discreet.

I plan on making a total of 6 animals.

I love convertible mittens! My niece fell in love with them, too, so I'm going to try to do a child's size as well.

They are so easy, and because they're worsted weight they work up really fast. And they're kind of like socks. You know how when you're knitting a sock it's like: Ribbing, leg, heel, gusset, foot, toe. So there's always a sense of how far along you are, and it's not too long until you reach the next step? It's like that except you get through each stage even faster!

The ears for the mouse are worked in simple crochet (I don't know if you can tell but I made both the ears left ears on accident. I'm going to fix that after I'm done with the second mitten..) but I'm not sure if all the others will be. The owl tufts may be worked along the top of the mitten, with the middle being kitchnered together and the point-eared animals may have knitted ears as well.

We'll see. This design is so cute and so exciting it feels like I don't want to knit anything else! But I've had that feeling before, and it always goes away haha. And besides, I'm on a yarn diet and- aside from the owl- I don't have the colors for the other animals.

At a future date I'll get into detail on how I made these little guys. I'm off to the post office now, to mail a very late Christmas present!