This post was originally going to be one big swoon over those gorgeous, Therese Timpson-designed Japanese-inspired house slippers on the left up there. But then I ran across a photo of Blue Sky Alpacas’ Techno Hat, one I’d seen (and downloaded) before, and it got me wondering if the technique was the same. It’s not; and I’m eager to try them both.

For the slippers, the bars of the “flower” are created simply by transferring four stitches onto a spare needle, wrapping the yarn around them twice, and then placing that whole thing onto the right needle. The hat is a chunky version of smocking stitch, which gives it a more graphic look. The basis of the pattern is k2/p2 ribbing. At staggered intervals, two of the rib columns (and the two purl stitches separating them) are cinched together. The process is to insert your right needle between the 6th and 7th stitches (so, to the left of the second rib column), catch the working yarn from behind and pull a loop through. Place the loop onto the end of the left needle and knit it together with the first stitch. You can see Eunny Jang demo the smocking stitch in a Knitting Daily video on this and a couple of other groovy wrapped-stitch techniques.

By the way, the Techno Hat is part of a trio of free patterns that Blue Sky is offering as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

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