Easter Bunny egg warmers

Spring started Saturday a week ago, since last night we have summertime, and next weekend we’ll have Easter.

While the daffodils started flowering and the ground is dryer than commonly at this time of the year, there is not much grass growth nor do shrubs and trees show definite signs of new life yet. Apart from the many birds there, which are active and vocal, but still need to be fed.

I thought I bring a bit of colour here with my Easter Bunny egg warmers that I made from my own yarn using some of my stitch patterns. They can be turned into bunnies in a nest and used as table decoration then as well.

Here’s how you can make them, if you wish:

For the patterned part first use a needle somewhat larger than you would normally use for your yarn. Make a pattern swatch to determine how many stitches are needed for 10 cm width. Then calculate how many you need for 14 cm, because that’s about the width you’ll need to knit for the bodies.

Cast on this amount of stitches and knit according to your chosen pattern chart until work measures 7 cm vertically.

Then change to stocking stitch using smaller needle. In first row of stocking stitch knit together every 3rd and 4th stitch. Knit 3 more rows in stocking stitch.

Now knit together every 2nd and 3rd stitch.

With darning needle weave a piece of yarn of the same colour between all the remaining stitches. This will later be pulled together to close the head.

HEAD:

For the chin now purl until the second stitch after middle of piece. Turn; slip one stitch.
Knit until second stitch after middle of piece. Turn; slip one stitch.
Purl until the 3rd stitch after middle of piece. Turn; slip one stitch.
Knit until the second stitch after middle of piece. Turn; slip one stitch.
Go on like this until …4th or 5th stitch…, depending somewhat on your yarn.

Then knit in the round until you reach the size of head you wish to get.

not looking much like a bunny yet

Knit every two stitches together, thread yarn through and pull together. Secure yarn.

somewhat better now

Fill head. Draw the head closing thread tightly together, knot.

FINISHING
Sew together back of body. Knit or crochet on ears. I knitted them on using this method.

Stitch on face. Secure ends

Have a nice Easter!

Double knitting - how I do it - continued

The tablet-weaving pattern used for the scarf in my last post is a traditional Finnish pattern, and actually quite complicated to weave on cards.

There is however another easy method to vary patterns in tablet weaving. Commonly you turn the bundle of cards in one direction several times, inserting weft after each turn; then you turn it back in the other direction for the same amount of times for a certain pattern. You get variations of patterns by varying these turning points.

That’s what I’ve adapted when I completed my scarf. It’s exciting to see the variations emerge that you get by this.

It’s difficult to take a picture of a long piece like a scarf; I hope the result is visible enough here.





Here is the chart again; this time I’ve numbered the rows of the charts.

Here is the sequence I used that shows the turning points, but other sequences are possible. I don’t include the original basic pattern part:

Chart row 14 –9, 9 –14, 14- 12, 12-14, 14-6, 6-10, 10-1, 1-5, 5-1, 1-9, 9-6, 6-12, 12-9, 9-14, 14-12, 12-14

Double knitting - how I do it

Now – as promised – here’s my description of the way I do double knitting, which I used to knit the pattern from the tablet-weaving book. I used my own yarn, and two needles size 4mm.

In double knitting you simultaneously knit two layers of fabric. They can be separate layers or intersect, like in this example, where the same pattern appears on front and back of the work piece, with colours inverted. Because you knit two layers, you have double the amount of stitches on your needle than you would have if you knitted just one layer as usual. The finished project usually looks like stocking stitch on both sides.

Now, there are ways to double knit two-colour patterns, which I avoid. In one way you use both differently coloured yarns in each row. I always hated fiddling with these. I prefer to work with one thread. In the other method you use slipstitches and work with one yarn only, but you have to move back to the beginning of each row to take up the differently coloured thread there. I find this confusing.

So I came up with the way described here which avoids both of the above. The pattern, however, appears elongated when compared to the chart. I don’t mind in most cases, and when creating one’s own chart one can take account of this if it is to be avoided.

If anyone knows of others that use this way I’d like to know. I know there are now a lot of knitting videos, which I can’t watch with my slow connection.

Okay so, here is the chart for the pattern:

Because you knit back and front layers simultaneously, every square in the chart stands for two stitches. There are 16 stitches in the chart, so for a double knitted scarf with this pattern you’d need to cast on 32 stitches, plus 2 edge stitches = 34 stitches.

As usual here I recommend for the edge stitches: to knit every first stitch of a row into the back loop, and to slip each last stitch with yarn at front of stitch.

And also as usual, cross threads when picking up the other colour.

GENERAL RULES:

Each square in the chart stands for a pair of stitches, and a pair of two different actions.

There are two such pairs of actions:

KNIT – FRONT, or KX in my usual notation. That means knit stitch, slip next stitch with yarn in front of stitch; and

BACK – PURL, or OP. That means slip stitch with yarn at back of stitch, purl next stitch.

I have given two charts, one for the front rows, and one for the back rows. I find this easier for beginners, and it makes these general rules possible:

When working a row with dark yarn, always KNIT-FRONT (KX) the dark squares, and BACK-PURL (0P) the light squares.

When you work with light yarn, always KNIT-FRONT the light squares and BACK-PURL the dark squares.

In short: always KNIT-FRONT the squares that stand for the colour of the yarn you are using, and BACK-KNIT the squares that stand for the other colour.

How do you follow the charts?

Each row in the charts is worked twice, first with dark yarn, then with light yarn like this:

Work first front row with dark yarn
Work first back row with dark yarn
Then work first front row with light yarn
Work first back row with light yarn

That means you would work the first row of front and back charts, ignoring the edge stitches here, like this:

1. With dark yarn following 1st row of front chart: KNIT-FRONT once, BACK-PURL three times, KNIT-FRONT twice, BACK-PURL four times, KNIT-FRONT twice, BACK-PURL three times, KNIT-FRONT once

2. With dark yarn following 1st row of back chart: BACK-PURL once, KNIT-FRONT three times, BACK-PURL twice, KNIT-FRONT four times, BACK-PURL twice, KNIT-FRONT three times, BACK-Purl once

3. With light yarn following 1st row of front chart BACK-PURL once, KNIT-FRONT three times, BACK-PURL twice, KNIT-FRONT four times, BACK-PURL twice, KNIT-FRONT three times, BACK-PURL once

4. With light yarn following 1st row of back chart: KNIT-FRONT once, BACK-PURL three times, KNIT-FRONT twice, BACK-PURL four times, KNIT-FRONT twice, BACK-PURL three times, KNIT-FRONT once

This looks complicated here, but should become clear by doing.

The stitches on the needle may look confusing, until you’ve done the last light row of these four.

When you’ve knitted all rows of the charts like this, flip them vertically, and then work from the second row of the new bottom. Do the same again when you’ve reached the top, and so on.

It is of course possible to repeat this design horizontally. Here is my computer simulation of how it would look.

One can make up one’s own designs and charts on square paper, like I’ve done for this one:

Happy double knitting!

A loop closed

Since the great thaw we had quite nice and mainly dry weather. A few frosty nights, but some days actually felt like spring, when the birds did sing.

I was, and am, at several things in knitting, that’s why I didn’t write much here. Two jumpers, one is finished.

Knitters may know that it is difficult to get back to a project and finish it in the spirit that initially made you start it when you got distracted for too long, because that spirit has vanished.

I discovered a hat and scarf I had started to knit from yarn handspun from my softest sheep, and dyed with plants, many years ago. I also found some unused bobbles of that yarn. It was the softest and finest yarn I ever spun from my sheep. And I remember well my first and only attempt to dye with indigo, and how disappointed I was that I didn’t manage to get a darker blue. Now I love this blue.

I unravelled the scarf and used part of the hat as collar in the jumper I’ve knit from that yarn now, top down. I didn’t care much for design; the main interest was how far the variously sized bobbles will go.

Further than I thought, actually. At the bottom I used some yarn from another sheep, and intentionally a small border incorporating some of the new yarn from the flock. This will be a feel-good jumper at home.

By knitting it I closed a circle, or a loop. And of course while knitting I thought back. I was also reading Fintan O’Toole’s Ship of Fools at the same time. Funnily the main reason why I didn’t do any crafts for many years was related to property, when I was voluntarily actively involved in trying -and in some cases succeeding – to prevent property development. Didn’t local politicians regularly bash us then in the media?

Fintan O’Toole, p 117:

“…Leitrim ended up with almost one in three of its houses empty and with hundreds of houses built in villages like Dromod or Leitrim that recorded only a very small increase in population. It is a strange housing boom that leaves such places literally emptier than they were before.”

And incidentally on the front page of the Leitrim Observer two weeks ago:

“Leitrim County Councillors are calling for the Government to address the large number of empty, unfinished and derelict housing stock now evident throughout the country, with demolition being one of the options proposed.”

two projects

Anyway, I also came across my cards for tablet weaving. That made me look for my old book on tablet weaving. And I got the idea to knit one of the patterns in it using my way of “double knitting”.

It’s the pink and grey piece in the picture. The other side shows the same pattern, with colours reversed.

I’m going to describe this technique here soon, when I have finished another project I’m at…

Reversible child's jumper (8 years +)

This jumper should fit any child of 8 years+ for some time, as it has good elasticity. It can be made fully reversible. Of course it can be made in three colours of your own choice.

To achieve reversibility, please also look at my posts about weaving-in and seams. If you can decide which side you want on the outside all the time, then you can neglect these posts, and the Kw-stitches for weaving-in given in the charts.

! Please note, that the patterned parts are knitted with only one thread of yarn, for the garter stitch parts you have to knit with two threads.


These are the measurements of the finished jumper:


Materials and tools I used:

Round needle size 6 mm, 60 cm long,
round needle size 5 mm, 40 cm long

The white and light pink yarns were 500g balls of Stylecraft Aran with Wool. I used approximately 300 g of each.

The black was 100g of King Cole’s Fashion KC Aran.


Gauges:

My gauge for garter stitch, knitted with two threads of yarn, was 14 stitches and 26 rows to the 10 cm square.

The gauge for the patterned part was 28 stitches and 48 rows to the 10 cm square.

(The yarn labels give a gauge of 18 stitches and 24/25 rows for stocking stitch)

Garter stitch: knit each row for flat knitting, knit one row, purl one row for knitting in the round.

Charts for the patterns:

! Please note: Each stitch for the pattern repeat indicated in the chart is to be worked twice.

The meaning of R is explained here.


Body

! When knitting in the round, cross threads after every second row.

Cast on 216 stitches with pink yarn.

Work in rounds according to Chart 1 A, following the colour sequence twice.

Now follow Chart 1 B, where black stands for the pink yarn (the darker yarn), once.

After that you have finished the patterned part of the body.

! In the following row, using two threads of pink yarn, knit together every two stitches. You should end up with 108 stitches.

Then knit in garter stitch until you have worked 4 ribs in garter stitch.
(When you knit every row in the opposite direction, you don't have to purl. Wrap the yarn around the first stitch of the last row before turning.)


Now start knitting the back of the jumper only (54 stitches) in garter stitch.

Work straight until you have done 25 ribs of garter stitch.

Shape back neck


Knit 20 stitches, turn, knit 19 stitches turn
Knit 19 stitches, turn, knit 18 stitches, turn
Knit 4 more rows, and then cast off.

Knit 3 more rows over the 18 stitches, and then cast off.
Join yarn on other side of neck opening, leaving 14 stitches un-knit on needle.

Knit 20 stitches, turn, knit 20 stitches, turn
Knit 19 stitches, turn, knit 19 stitches, turn
Knit 18 stitches, turn, knit 18 stitches, turn

Knit 4 more rows over the 18 stitches, and then cast off.

Put the remaining stitches on a stitch holder or a spare thread.

Front of jumper

Knit in garter stitch until you have 22 garter stitch ribs.

Shape neck as for back, but after the shaping rows on each side of neck-opening work more rows until front fits back. (28 or 29 ribs of garter stitch from bottom of pink part.)

Join shoulder seems.

Collar

With 5 mm needle and one thread of pink yarn only, pick up 96 stitches around neck opening for collar.

! Please note that each double-thread-stitch on stitch holders shall become two stitches now.

You should have 36 double-thread-stitches; these make 72 new stitches. Pick up 16 more stitches at front, and 8 more at back. (72 +16 +8 = 96)

Work 20 rounds in 2k,2p rib. Then work according to Chart 1 A. Follow the colour sequence once.

Cast off using the pink yarn.

Sleeves

Turn jumper inside out.

With round needle 6mm and two threads of pink yarn, pick up 52 stitches around armhole. Then knit flat in garter stitch. This is somewhat awkward first, but will get easier after some rows done. A second round needle, if available, can help for the first few rows.

After you have worked 3 garter stitch ribs, decrease 1 stitch at each edge.

After 4 garter stitch ribs, work with two threads of white yarn. Decrease one stitch at each edge after every 4 garter stitch ribs, until you have 32 stitches left on needle. Work another 2 ribs.

Then, with one white thread only knit next row, making 2 stitches out of most, not all double thread stitches. You should arrive at 54 stitches.

Now work according to chart 2, following the colour sequence twice.
In last row cast off: treat the stitches as given for the last pattern row. That means you just draw the slipped stitches over each other.

Work the other sleeve in the same way.

Join sleeve seams and darn in loose ends.

While waiting for the yarn from my sheep...

…I’ve done a few more projects with other yarns. I still try pattern variations in one piece, so this scarf is probably too patterned, but one can imagine how a scarf done in one of the colour patterns alone would look like.

I used cheap chunky yarn from Lidl. The main aim was to see how the colour patterns come out with such thick yarns.

Here is one colour sequence shown in detail:

I also made two more bags. Front and back are shown. This one was knitted with yarns from Traub and Kerry Woollen Mills, and then felted:

For that one I used a rather heavy woollen Aran yarn I bought in Germany last year. It is also felted – and, at the second attempt in the washing machine - shrank a lot!

Here is a pair of mittens made from the same yarn:

I also made a child’s jumper. I’ll have pictures of it up soon I hope, together with an instruction how to make it.

I'm now really looking forward to my own yarn, which should arrive next week!

Have I done any projects recently?

Did I knit any projects recently? I did in fact.

With the yarns from Kerry Woollen Mills I made some hand puppets. I’m always seeking projects where both sides of the fabric can show, and I felt hand puppets that can be turned inside out might be an idea, so I have done some experiments on them. I'm not quite happy with the heads yet, but problem is when I've done one I can't remember exactly how I done it; so how each head turned out had always an element of surprise. Also stitching on eyes and noses so that they look like that on both sides, and still manage to darn in the end of the threads is a bit of a challenge. Anyway, here they are:

The three on the right are the three on the left turned over.

I also made a little handbag with the Kerry Woollen Mills yarns to see how they felt. It finally turned out smaller than expected, but I still find the result quite cute and funny. The inside of the bag is shown as well here:

My mum was visiting - it's now already a month ago. We had a lovely time and it was nice knitting together. She also came with me to Knitaholics anonymous, the knitting group in Carrick-on-Shannon. It's "a free monthly meeting of knitters, cocheters, stitchers and folk who'd like to learn", and it meets every second Sunday of each month from 1 to 3 pm in the cafe of Carrick cineplex. I nearly forgot to mention that the group featured in one of the back issues of Simply Knitting.

My mum was impressed by the knitting method common in Ireland which is unfamiliar to her, whilst she impressed with her speed of sock knitting. Myself was at my first sock. After she was knitting so many socks for me in the past I took the chance this year to ask her to teach me how she does it. And I really got into it after a while, especially the straight parts became easy routine. Here is my pair finished. It looks exactly like my mum's socks, but I'm not cheating, I've done them myself:

Because the pattern swatches are still my main knitting activity, mum knitted a cushion for me whilst she was here in one of my colour stitch patterns. Two different colour sequences were used for each side:

The cushion was knitted with Traub yarns, and that reminded me that I haven't shown an earlier project knitted with the same yarns. It's a larger bag, also felted:

I will stick with the swatches for some time now I'm afraid. I've only recently discovered a new method that makes it possible to arrive at several new stitch patterns from each of those I already have. So there's much left to explore here.

Mixing Yarns

It isn’t easy to source yarn grown on Irish sheep. So I was quite happy when I had made contact with Kerry Woollen Mills to find that their woollen knitting yarn, which they sell via their website, is a blend of Irish and New Zealand wool. (I actually had contacted them to ask if they could spin my own sheep’s fleeces, they need at least a batch of 2000 kg, however.)

But here is the best news: they also purchase Irish organically farmed wool and spin this into both woollen and worsted knitting yarn. The woollen is for hand knitting yarn and is available in white only in 2 and 3 ply. The worsted is for machine knitting or fingering yarn and is available in white, light grey, oatmeal and Jacob. Whilst not all these yarns are offered on their website, they sell all these except the fingering weight Jacob, as they need it for producing their own organic garments range.

I ordered 200g samples of the white organic knitting yarn (3 ply), the mid Jacob regular knitting yarn, and the light grey organic fingering weight yarn, and I was pleased when they arrived about two weeks ago.

As you can see I had no dark and bright colours of any of the three types to knit my patterns. So I took the opportunity to do what I had intended to do anyway some time: mixing different yarns and write about it here.

First I tried the dark regular knitting yarn and the fingering yarn together. I had done extreme mixes with other materials before, and it can work out nicely. If one does it, one should always use a needle size that one would use for the heavier yarn on its own. Some stitch patterns – but not all - give then a lace like effect, which I hope, is visible here:



In this case I felt the contrast of the character of the yarns too big, however. The regular knitting yarn has a somewhat rough feeling to it, whilst the loosely plied worsted spun fingering yarn feels nicely smooth.

Then I tried the organic knitting yarn and the dark regular knitting yarn together. You can see the result in the following picture at the bottom. The organic white knitting yarn is very solid – I would probably in future prefer the two-ply type; the fabric that resulted from the two is rather thick. That wasn’t what I wanted at this time, however.

So the next thing I tried was mixing the regular knitting yarn with two strands of the fingering white yarn. I had already knitted a swatch with two strands of the latter on its own and felt that makes it very suitable for hand knitting. I would love to be able to try my patterns in this yarn only.

I loved the result of this mixture, which you also can see below. I felt the colours go well together; the contrast is less bold than in the other mixture. The worsted yarn also took away much of the roughness of the dark woollen knitting yarn in the fabric that emerged.



I then decided to knit a waistcoat for a small child with this mixture. I chose a stitch pattern and three different colour sequences, one for each part of the waistcoat. Here is the finished project:

Mixing colour sequences in a work piece is usually straight forward – when all the yarn used is of the same size. That is not necessarily so when one mixes different yarn weights. In this case for example one front part turned out to be a little wider than the other with the same amount of stitches. This would matter more in a larger garment, and I recommend knitting swatches to determine the gauge and adjust the number of stitches needed accordingly, if necessary.

Here are the patterns in detail:

You might wish to compare these with the swatches of the current A Stitch A Day patterns. These and the waistcoat were knitted to the same chart.

When different yarn weights or materials are mixed, texture becomes more dominant and in most cases very interesting. There is a lot of room to experiment.

Mixing different yarns in these stitch patterns is also a good way to be able to create something when the amount of each yarn on its own wouldn’t be enough for a project.

I have much of the fingering weight and half of the dark regular knitting yarn left, so I am trying to “stretch” this supply with another yarn. I felt the 100 % wool yarn I had dyed with onion skins last year would be suitable to put into the mix, and I’ve meanwhile done these swatches:

I’m definitely going to knit another project with this mixture next. Here finally is a picture that shows a strand of each of the four yarns mentioned.

Instructions for the seasonal shaped swatches

I start giving the first general instruction for knitting the little shapes. I’ll add others in the coming days.

To become familiar with the knitting technique for the stitch patterns I recommend to read the instructions 1 - 3 (sidebar).

First I have to describe a few things that you’ll need in making most or all of the shapes, so that I can just refer back to these descriptions.

DOUBLE KNIT:

You’ll need this for roofs, heads, hats and stems. Your stitch number should be even. Just knit according to this chart:

It means:
odd row: repeat * K, X *
even row: repeat * K, X *

Note: There are no selvage stitches in double knitting here.

SELVAGES:

In the patterned parts I used what I call “double selvages”.
Additional to the usual selvage stitches indicated in the charts the second and second last stitches in a row are treated as additional selvage stitches. These are knitted in odd rows and slipped with yarn in front in even rows.

DECREASING IN PATTERNED PARTS:

To decrease a stitch at right selvage, knit second selvage stitch and first pattern stitch together, inserting needle in back loops.

To decrease at left selvage, knit second last (selvage) stitch together with last pattern stitch, inserting needle in front loops as usual.

Note: As you are constantly taking away stitches from the pattern in the gable of a house for example, you have to adjust your chart. If you get confused, write your stitches down like in this example:

DECREASING IN DOUBLE KNIT

In odd rows:

Slip first stitch to right needle. Exchange second and third stitch, moving second behind third. Put all stitches back on left needle. Knit first two together, inserting needle into back of stitches. Slip the next two stitches, then go on double knitting.

At end of row: slip fourth last stitch exchange third and second last stitches, moving third stitch behind second. Lift stitches back to left needle (4). Knit two stitches together as usual, slip two last stitches. Turn.

In even row:

Knit first two stitches together, inserting needle into back loops.
Knit third and second last stitches together.

INSTRUCTIONS:

I start with giving the instruction for the HOUSE WITH ROOF. I believe this is the easiest.

It is for a pattern chart with 4 stitches in the pattern repeat.

Cast on 17 stitches (= 3 repeats (12) + 1 symmetry stitch + 2x2 selvage stitches).

Knit 16 rows according to chart. Then - with colour of your choice - switch to double knitting. Increase 1 by knitting twice in last stitch of first row.

Make double knit decreases as described in every 3rd/4th row, until you reach desired height/shape of roof.

Starting at selvage with no thread, cast off by pulling each loop over the next. Secure loose threads along selvage and into roof.

HOUSE WITH GABLE

For chart with 4 stitches in pattern repeat.

Cast on 17 stitches as in house with roof. Knit 24 or more rows according to your chosen chart.

Then start decreasing - as described above – in every second row. When you have only 3 stitches left cut thread and with darning needle pull through the remaining three stitches twice. Secure loose ends along selvages.

St. NICHOLAS/SHEPHERD

Cast on 13 stitches (= 2 repeats of 4 stitches + 1 symmetry stitch + 4 selvage stitches; or = 3 repeats of 3 stitches + 4 selvage stitches)

Knit 24 rows according to pattern chart, or until desired height is reached.

Using white yarn switch to double knitting. In first row knit third and second last stitches together. Knit 8 rows of double knit chart.

Switch to red yarn. Double knit two rows. Then start decreasing as described above.
Keep decreasing in following rows until only 3 stitches are left. Cut yarn, with darning needle pull twice through remaining stitches. Secure loose ends.

CONIFER TREE

Cast on 4 stitches in stem colour. Double knit until desired height of stem is reached.

On separate needle cast on 7 stitches with colour B. With this needle knit stem stitches, knitting middle two of them together. With same needle cast on 7 stitches.(17 stitches)

Knit according to pattern chart, decreasing in rows 7, 11, 15, 21, 27. (5 stitches)
In next row knit first two and last two stitches together. Pull yarn through remaining 3 stitches. Secure loose ends.

BROADLEAVED TREE

Cast on 6 stitches. Double knit to desired height of stem.

With same colour after an even row cast on 3 stitches. Knit and double knit over these and stem stitches, knitting together two of the stem stitches. Cast on 3 stitches.

With yarn B start knitting according to pattern chart, but note that you will not yet start at 1st stitch of chart. In 3rd row increase 2 stitches at each side by knitting three times into second and second last selvage stitches (front loop – back loop – front loop).

In 5th row increase once at each side by knitting twice into second and second last selvage stitches.

Now you have the full horizontal repeats. Knit according to chart to desired height of crown.

Then decrease by 2 stitches at each side by knitting together three stitches. In second next row decrease one stitch in the same way at both sides. Knit one row; then cast off. Secure loose ends.

SHEEP

Start as for St. Nicholas. Knit 28 rows according to chart.

Starting at left side of work cast off 7 stitches by pulling one loop over next. (6 stitches left on needle).

Starting at right side knit 8 rows according to double-knit chart. Cast off, starting at left side as before. Keep last loop and move it to crochet hook.

Crochet along nose to top of head and into first selvage stitch.

Make two chain stitches, turn, make one slip stitch into chain.

Slip stitch into other side of selvage stitch. Make second ear like first one. Cut off yarn. Secure loose ends.

GRAZING SHEEP

As above, but make the lowered neck after 24th row as follows:

At left side of work cast off two stitches.

Knit according to chart over remaining 11 stitches, but decrease as in house with gable, until you have only 3 stitches left. Knit those together. Take up two stitches along selvage, turn, and take up 3 stitches from other side of selvage. Between them slip the stitches you already have with yarn in front.

Double-knit 6 rows.

Finish head like with other sheep.

Soft silky hat

I made this hat with the same lovely soft silk/wool mixture I used for the scarf with the enlarged pattern, using light blue as an additional colour. While for the scarf I had enlarged the original pattern four times, for this hat I have enlarged it by 2, and used two different colour sequences. The chart for my stitch pattern is given below.

What I want to do first is give a generic instruction for a hat knitted from brim to top which you could use with any stitch pattern of your choice:

1. Choose a yarn you like and two or three colours. Two colours should have a good dark/light contrast.

2. Knit a sample swatch. Measure and find gauge (amount of stitches for 10 cm)

3. Measure head circumference.

4. Calculate amount of stitches you need for this. Increase or decrease this amount by one or a few stitches so that you arrive at a multiple of the stitch pattern repeats. (which were 8 stitches in my hat). Add to this amount two stitches for the selvages. (No symmetry stitches needed here.)

5. Cast on this amount of stitches.

6. Knit according to your chosen chart. If you wish change to another colour sequence at some point.

7. After 11 cm (for larger hats a little later) start decreasing. Eliminate every third horizontal repeat by knitting together two stitches in every second row until these repeats have vanished.

8. Knit without further decreases until work measures approximately 19cm. Then knit together every 7th /8th stitch, in second next row every 5th/6th stitch, in next second row every 3rd/4th stitch.

9. Gather all remaining stitches with thread, pull tight.

10.Join back seem and darn in loose ends.

Here is the chart I used in my hat. I needed to cast on 148 stitches.

Note: rows 1-4 in the blue circle should read rows 1-2.

Scarf with enlarged pattern

If you don’t wish to concentrate on a stitch pattern for a whole project, this scarf might be a good alternative.

Only one end of the scarf has a colour stitch pattern, the main (green) part is a closed double knitted tube, the other end is also double knitted, but has open selvages so that the patterned end can be pulled through.

Yarn I used:

Traub 50% Maulbeerseide 50% Merinowolle (mulberrysilk/merinowool)
in colours kiwi (4018-1708) and purpurblau (4018 – 6501). I needed 100 g of the kiwi colour, but only about a third of the blue hank. This is a soft singles yarn to which the silk adds a lovely shine, but you can use any yarn you like.

Needle size: 5 mm

You can choose any stitch pattern from this blog for the patterned end. Make this as long as you like. Mine is 27 cm long. See instruction for the stitch pattern I used at the end of this post.

Then you knit the double knitted tube in the colour of your choice according to this chart (Depending on your pattern you might have to increase/decrease a stitch):


Make this as long as required. Best is to wrap the work piece around your neck to check. Mine is 50 cm long.

Finally you switch to the pull through end. Use two balls to knit this, one for each layer (rows 1+2, rows 3+4) and watch out not to cross the threads at the selvages. Work according to this chart:


In the last row use a larger needle and knit every two stitches together. Then pull each loop over the next for casting off.

My stitch pattern:

Now, to me all the stitch patterns here seem “magic”, but in this case I used a “magic wand” that I haven’t used yet on this blog: I enlarged the original pattern of 4th November by 4. The original is still recognisable, if you look closely, but the enlarged pattern has its own features. It results in a fabric with a much bolder appearance and a very sculptural texture.

I intend to explain in the future how such enlargements are made. For now I just leave you with the chart for this one. But first I explain how to find the amount of stitches you have to cast on for it.

Cast on for this stitch pattern: Take note that each pattern stitch in the chart has to be knitted 4 times. We need two pattern repeats for the scarf. This makes (2x4)x4 = 32 stitches. You also have to knit the red stitch, which is needed for symmetry 4 times. So we have 32 + 4 = 36 stitches. To this we add two selvage stitches on both sides, which lead us to 36 + 4 = 40 stitches.

The green selvage stitch in the chart makes it possible to hide the unused thread that is carried up along the selvage. For this, when you slip this stitch in the even rows, carry the working thread under the unused thread.

Now, here is the chart for the pattern I used. If there is any problem with it don’t hesitate to contact me here.

I recommend you read the instructions to this technique on this blog.