When I began this Fringe Hatalong Series of occasional hat knitalongs, I didn’t intend for it to become a progressive class in knitting techniques — I just wanted it to be stuff I was dying to knit! Turns out what I’m dying for is a full range of knitting experiences, to keep my queue from getting stagnant in any way. So we’ve gone from the simple knits-and-purls of Audrey to the clever stitch trick in L’Arbre to a simple bit of lace in Hermaness Worsted, and now No. 4 is a little taste of colorwork! So it’s inadvertently turning into a survey course, and I’m so thrilled to see so many knitters of every skill level jumping in, with lots of people expanding their skills along the way.
So yes: colorwork is next. I’ll tell you that it’s a brand-new pattern written just for us and it will be published here on the blog next Thursday, August 20th. Just like with the lace in Hermaness Worsted, I’ll have plenty of guidance for you if this is your first time. And because it’s a mostly solid hat with just a little bit of colorwork, it’s a particularly great place to start. Remember, it’s just stockinette in the round! You can do it.
Yardage: The pattern is written for three sizes (18-3/4″, 20″, 21-1/4″) and two heights (7″ fitted and 8.5″ slouchy). Depending which size and style you go with, you’ll need between 90 and 135 yards of your main color plus 16-20 yards of your contrast color. So it’s a good stash-buster.
Recommended yarn: The pattern is written for Quince and Co’s Lark yarn, which is a gorgeous, smooth, 4-ply, worsted-weight, American wool. It’s got excellent stitch definition (thanks to the smoothness and the plies), which makes it great for colorwork as well as lace and stitch patterns. It’s also really reasonably priced, available at a bunch of great stores (the ones with the orange triangle symbol at that link) plus directly from Quince, and offers tons of great colors to choose from. The samples are knitted in Marsh and Bird’s Egg. I have three skeins I’m trying to decide between, pictured above — Marsh and Egret? Kumlien’s Gull and Marsh? Egret and Kumlien’s Gull? Haven’t decided yet.
Stash-diving guidance: As I said, this is a good stash-buster, so if you’re stash diving, just look for a worsted-weight yarn with the same qualities as Lark: smooth and neatly plied.
Whatever yarn you go with, make sure to choose two colors with enough contrast for the colorwork motif to stand out.
If you’re an old hand at colorwork, you’ll very likely want to whip out more than one of this darling hat. And if you’ve never tried it before, we’ll all be here to hold your hand! But in the meantime, spend a few minutes reading this past post of mine: Colorwork for first-timers. Everybody excited? The big reveal next Thursday—
I better hurry up and finish my Hermaness!
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PREVIOUSLY in Fringe Hatalong Series: A handful (or two) of Hermaness Worsted
