Top Down Inside Out hats

It's December and it's trying to be winter here but one day winter, one day fall (rain) isn't really doing it. The odd day of snow is still getting me in the holiday mood. I'm coming down to the end of my Christmas knitting. Wow. Just a couple of things left on my list. Pat, pat, pat on my back.

I finished an experimental hat. It's black

 so of course, it's not so great to photograph but I'm really happy with it. This started with a photo of a hat from Pinterest that my daughter sent me saying "I want this, I want this". So here I am doing the mom thing. I looked all over Ravelry and couldn't find a pattern exactly like it. So I bought some yarn from the odd ball bin at a yarn store and started. I hadn't used this yarn before and I was changing the needle size and I didn't want to do a swatch first (shhh, did I say that out loud?!) so I started at the top.

I cast on 8 sts, so awkward at first but once I had about 24 sts on my needles I was good to go. I did check my gauge once I had some fabric and then went to the Need A Hat bible book to find the number of stitches I needed for my gauge. Good thing I have a copy or two around.

The only difficulty with knitting from the top is the cast off. I'm a really, really tight caster offer. A tight line at the brim is soooo not nice. I also wanted that "store bought" look where the ribbing appears to go around the edge. I trolled around the internet and found a sewn-off tubular bind off. It's a Kitchener Stitch variation so if you don't mind Kitchener stitch this might work for you too. It's a bit of a pain to begin with because you need to have 6 times the width of the cast off amount of yarn on your sewing up needle (that's 6 x 22" hat, that's a lot of yarn). Pulling the yarn through each stitch at the beginning made me wonder if this was worth it but it totally was. I love it. It's stretchy and has the proper look I wanted. I will definitely do this again.

 Experiment was successful and is in the Christmas present pile. Now to the real deal. This hat is in fingering weight. I love a light weight hat. This is the fun part, I'm knitting it inside out.

 This is the correct "look" of the hat. B who wants to do all that purling? Inside out means more knits than purls and is working perfectly.

Now it's my carry around project , The pattern is set and now I know I have a great cast off that will work when I get to the slouch hat length. Makes me a little giddy.
-Deb

First Gauge-Free workshop

Even though it's looking like spring here, I did a workshop yesterday on mittens. But not just any mitten. We worked on mittens from a different perspective.

Have you inherited yarn? Did all of it have labels to tell you what it was and the suggested gauge? No? What do you make with mystery yarn?

You can make mittens without knowing the gauge at all. Not once during the knitting of these mittens does gauge come into play. This was my first run through of this idea and look at the lovely little sample mittens the knitters at the Beacock Library made.

They learned that you can make a mitten in any size with any yarn. Do they look happy with their mittens?

Had a whole lot of fun. Thanks knitters in London, ON.
-Deb

No Swatch Needed - Any Gauge

I know, and in your heart you know, that we should all be swatching for every project but sometimes it's great to jump into a project without this first step. Choosing the right project will ensure a good outcome.

Several years ago I gave a talk at a local spinning guild and the comment was made several times that spinners are not always able to make yarn in commercial gauges. So knitting up their homespun becomes a challenge. To respond to this, I went home and wrote up The Gaugeless Hat. (Check out these patterns on our Cabin Fever site if it's easier than the links I've included.)

It starts by casting on for the I-Cord tail at the top. As you work the stripes, the hat gets bigger and bigger. When it's long enough you then check your gauge, measure the head of the wearer, do a simple multiplication to find the number of stitches needed for the body of the hat and work the number of increases needed to get the correct number of stitches for the size of hat you want. It works with any yarn. It's fun and easy and we've been sent some wild looking hats made from this pattern. Fun yarns definitely figure largely in these spectacular hats.

So a hat, knit from the top down works great.

Also bags work. They don't have to fit anyone! They are large hats with handles, aren't they? They're fun and fast to knit. You can felt them, use any weight of wool you like, put patterns in or knit them plain. I use the Felted Satchel every week. It holds my bank deposit books very nicely.

Our favourite two bags are the Sheepstring Big Bag

 and the Fairisle Tote which is fantastic size for knitting projects.

Our newest bags are in the Need An Accessory book. I'm really happy with the straps on these bags. They don't stretch, yay. This is the latest one I've knit. I have several more in my future. I think they make great gifts.

You can knit swatchless without feeling guilty!
Happy Swatchless knitting,
Deb
For printed copies of any of these patterns email us: info@cabinfever.ca

Swatches can Lie!

Oh, no. This is terrible. Swatches can lie. Not for everyone but maybe for you and definitely for me. If you find that lots of your garments are bigger or smaller than you thought they would be, read on.

When you knit a swatch are you very careful? Are you looking at every stitch, knitting slower than usual? Are all your stitches perfectly formed and looking beautiful. Do you knit a large swatch? What happens when you knit while chatting with a friend, or as your mind wanders, or while watching TV?

You got it. Your gauge can change. When I teach classes I have the knitters work a swatch, cast on for their sweater and work several inches of their top down sweater. Then we check the gauge again. In every class, one third of the knitters have found that their gauge has shifted. Usually they have loosened up and every once in a while someone has tighten up.

What to do?!
1.  Rip back and start again with smaller or larger needles to get the correct gauge. I think we've all done this one.

2.  Continue on and work to a smaller or larger size to compensate for the gauge shift.

3.  For knitters working out of one of the Cabin Fever multi-gauge books there is a good solution. Continue to work with your New gauge and change to a new set of stitch numbers that correspond to your New gauge.

There's a very good reason I write these books. I don't get gauge and, I admit it, my gauge changes.

Say I started out working 20 sts = 4" (same as 5 sts = 1") according to my swatch. Now I'm 4" down my top down sweater and I discover that I'm really working at 18 sts = 4" (4.5 sts = 1"). Yikes, my sweater is going to be too big. At this point I can continue knitting and working my raglan increases as usual, towards the stitch numbers for the Bottom of the Yoke. But now I'm going to work to the stitch numbers for my New gauge instead of my original gauge (especially the Back) so that my sweater will fit.

The top chart is the number of stitches for the Bottom of Yoke for my size, assuming I'm working at 20 sts = 4" gauge (top chart). At the Bottom of the Yoke, in my original gauge, I want to knit until my Front has 44 sts, Sleeve has 60 sts and Back has 88 sts. BUT my gauge has shifted to 18 sts = 4". So I'm going to move to the line of stitch numbers for my New gauge (see shaded line on bottom chart).

Now, working in my New gauge, I'm going to work until my Back is 78 sts (instead of 88 sts at original gauge). This will ensure that my Back, and therefore my Front, will fit for my size at the New gauge which I will maintain for the rest of my sweater. I'm knitting at a looser gauge than originally planned, so I will work my Back and Front with less stitches to get my size.

This works for many, many knitters. It saves the stress of ripping out or recalculating all your numbers. Just shift to a new line of stitch numbers that correspond to the gauge you are now knitting.

Your swatches may be wonderfully truthful. You may get gauge and maintain it. I hope you do. But if you don't, these multi-gauge books have an added advantage for you.

These numbers are out of one of the Need A ... series of Multi-gauge books by Cabin Fever. http://www.cabinfever.ca/knittersbooks.html ;

www.patternfish.com/collections/73

Questions? I'm sure you have some.

-Deb

 Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate hearing from you.