Fasten Off yarn-a-long 2022!

I’m a participating designer in this event again!

The Fasten Off yarn-a-long is the only inclusive seasonal event that considers folks with differing disabilities and needs. It takes place off Ravelry and you can learn more about it by clicking through to their website.

I’m making my entire back catalogue of patterns, eBooks and workshops available for the sale, and I’m setting up the sale on Etsy, Ravelry, Payhip and Teachable, as well as this website, for the duration of the sale period! Meaning you can use the checkout of your choice to get 25% discount off whatever you’ve been eyeing up lately.

All you need to do is use code FO2022 to get 25% discount between 25th November and 8th December on each of these platforms. Use it for any pattern or eBook, and there’s no limit to the number of times you can use the code during the sale period!

There’ll be games and prizes and the chance to see what everyone else is making for the holiday season. The chat and pace of this YAL is much more chill and manageable than others, which I find really comforting - it’s hard to keep up sometimes and that ends up making you feel left out.

In previous years I’ve contributed around 20 patterns to the sale, but this year I decided to go all in and add everything. I know times are tough - we’re rationing our heating again this winter because we can’t afford to heat all of our living space, I get it. So I figured that this year I’d not restrict what’s on sale in the hope a few more folks could join in with the fun and festivities.

What’s also really cool is that the YAL database lists each and every participating designer’s patterns by inclusivity and more. In previous years folks have commended the team behind the yarn-a-long for their efforts in building an accessible database and this year they’ve stepped it up.

Hope to see you there! And feel free to share the details and image, or go all out and buy whatever catches your eye.

Free Pattern - the Striped Slouch

All of the free patterns and tutorials on this website are supported by my amazing Patreons! If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be able to continue to produce or host freebies. We'd love to have you join us and in return, you get exclusive behind-the-scenes material, member-only discounts and early access to new free content. Membership starts at $1 per month. If you'd like to, you can say thanks for the freebie via the Tip Jar.

Description

The Striped Slouch Hat features stripes in three colours over a stocking stitch background. It has a twisted ribbed brim and a gently gathered crown.

Availability

My Patreon supporters and members of The Woolly Hat Society get exclusive early access to new free patterns and tutorials. Once the exclusive period is over it’s published here on the blog.

Support

If you have a question about this pattern, pop it in a comment below. Sorry, but I’m unable to help with my free patterns or tutorials via email or private messages.

Social Media

Share your hand-knit Hats online with these hashtags!

#WoollyWormhead

#WWStripedSlouchHat

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Yarn
Yarn A: 460yd/422m/100g
Yarn B: 230yd/211m/50g
Yarn C: 230yd/211m/50g
4ply/Sock weight, single or plied yarn; solid, semi-solid or variegated yarns.

Needles & Notions
Set 2.75mm/UK12/US2 DPNs/Circular or size needed to obtain gauge
Stitch markers as necessary
Tapestry needle

Sample details
Shown in MollyGirl Yarn Unplugged Light [230yd/211m per 50g; 100% Peruvian Wool]

Shown in size 20in/50.75cm on model with 20in/50.75cm circumference head

Note
Smaller sizes, 20in or less, are likely to get a Hat from a single 50g skein of Yarn A.

Gauge
27 sts x 42 rows to 4in/10cm on 2.75mm needles over Stocking St.
28 sts x 44 rows to 4in/10cm on 2.75mm needles over Twisted Rib

Sizes
To fit size: 17 [19, 20, 21, 23, 24] in/43.25 [48.25, 50.75, 53.25, 58.5, 61] cm
Finished size: 14.75 [16, 17.25, 18.25, 19.5, 20.5] in/37.5 [40.75, 43.75, 46.25, 49.5, 52] cm
Not sure which size to make? Check my handy size and measuring guide!

Skills required

Alternate Cable Cast-on

Knitting in the round

Jogless Stripes

Increases and Decreases

Draw-through Bind-off

Blocking a Hand Knit Hat

Abbreviations

K: knit

K1tbl: knit stitch through the back of loop

P: purl

rpt: repeat

R/rnd(s): rounds

st(s): stitch(es)

M1P: lift the horizontal loop between next 2 sts, place it onto the left needle & purl into the back of it

ssk: slip next 2 sts knitwise then knit them together through the backs of the loops

How to

Using Alternate Cable Cast-on method, cast on 104 [112, 120, 128, 136, 144] sts.

Join in the round, taking care not to twist stitches. Place stitch marker to indicate start of round.

Brim

Brim Rnd: *K1tbl, P1; rpt from * to end

Repeat this round until work measures 1 [1.25, 1.25, 1.5, 1.5, 1.75] in/2.5 [3.25, 3.25, 3.75, 3.75, 4.5] cm, then work increase round once as follows:

Inc. Rnd: *P4, M1P; rpt from * to end [130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 sts]

Body

Rnds 1 to 3: With Yarn A, knit all sts

Rnds 4 & 5: With Yarn B, knit all sts

Rnds 6 to 7: With Yarn C, knit all sts

Rnds 8 & 9: With Yarn B, knit all sts

Rnds 10 to 12: With Yarn A, knit all sts

Repeat these 12 rounds until work measures approx. 6.5 [7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9] in/16.5 [17.75, 19, 20.25, 21.5, 22.75] cm, excluding the Brim, ending after a Rnd 9, or any Yarn A round.

Crown

Place an additional 9 stitch markers so that there are 10 stitch markers evenly around.

Dec Rnd 1: *ssk, knit to marker; rpt from * to end – 10sts decreased

Repeat this rounds until 10sts remain. Break yarn and draw through remaining 10sts, tighten to close.

Finishing
Weave in all ends and block as required.

If you’ve a question about this pattern, please pop it in the comments below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Jogless Stripes

All of the free patterns and tutorials on this website are supported by my amazing Patreons! If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be able to continue to produce or host freebies. We'd love to have you join us and in return, you get exclusive behind-the-scenes material, member-only discounts and early access to new free content. Membership starts at $1 per month. You can also say thanks for the freebie via the Tip Jar.

I don’t tend to knit a lot of stripes; they’re not something I’ve ever worn and although I don’t wear most of what I design, they’re not really something I want to design with often, either! That said, I do get the urge to created stripey Hats from time to time but one thing that stops that happening is the lack of a good jogless stripe method.

I’ve taught a few methods over the years and my favourite is probably the travelling jogless stripe method used in my Anca’s beret pattern. This method I’m sharing today I tried out on the new free Striped Slouch pattern, and it didn’t fair to badly.

I used a grippy 100% Peruvian wool for these samples, ‘Unplugged Light’ from Molly Girl Yarn - your stripes may lay differently with a smoother or grippier yarn.

1) You’ll prepare for this jogless method on the last round of every colour you work.

2) Knit to the marker.

3) Then slip the last stitch of the round back onto the left-hand needle. Don’t unpick, just slip it.

4) You’re then going to knit this stitch again with the new colour.

5) The last stitch of the round has now been worked twice, and the new colour will now show.

6) Knit the next round in the new colour, stopping just before the last stitch.

7) With the tip of the right-hand needle, gently lift the stitch from the row below. What you’re doing here is lifting the last stitch when it was knit with the previous colour.

8) Then pop this stitch onto the left-hand needle so that it sits next to the last stitch.

9) Now knit these two stitches together to complete the round.

10) The round has now been finished, and the loop that was worked in the previous yarn may be a little saggy, you’ll want to tighten it up at this point to maintain an even tension.

11) And here it is, after evening up!

12) Here we can see how the jog has become much less visible after working another round in the second colour.

13) And here it is on the finished Striped Slouch Hat. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad either! I’m not sure whether it’s the grippiness of the yarn causes the join to not be completely smooth, or my knitting style or tension. But overall I think it has potential in the right circumstances and reckon it’s worth a try.

Support

If you’ve a question about this technique, pop it in a comment below or visit the forum! I’m unable to offer help with patterns or techniques via email.

Stepping in front of the camera again...

This time we decided to try taking some photos of me without a wig wearing Nettare - just me and my uber short thin grey hair - to see how they looked.

And you know what? I’m pretty OK with them! Considering how uncomfortable the camera has always made me, the panic attacks that have followed whenever I’ve tried to model, I reckon I’m doing OK. No panic attacks at all, only some mild anxiety and overwhelm from all the positive comments on Instagram and Twitter.

Which is seriously good going! Testament to the power of having the right diagnoses - ADHD and Autism - and to intensive EMDR therapy, courtesy of everyone’s support via the GFM campaign Tom set up.

The comments and feedback I received which were the most helpful were those saying they were on the fence about buying the pattern, but seeing me in the photos, someone who looks more like themselves, swung it. And that’s my aim.

I’ve been slowly working away at trying to use a wider range of models, this is something I’ve talked about before. But it’s not always easy, and trying to find older models - who weren’t me! - has proved tricky. Especially models with natural grey hair. I’ve been gifted a human hair wig which I’m in the process of bleaching then dyeing, which will give me the option of modelling with longer grey hair. It won’t be as glam and therefore as visually dominating as the cheap wig I tried before, which to me is a step in the right direction. It’ll look more real, being human hair, and it was free, except for the bleach and dye, so it’s very much worth a try.

But I still wasn’t comfortable with myself and my short hair. The wig places a little bit of distance between me as myself and the person in the photo. And yet, somehow, I took the plunge and took myself way out of my comfort zone and I’m doing reasonably OK. In fact, we’re thinking to try some more, in different environments.

Photoshoots can be expensive and time consuming. We’re fortunate enough to have a few good environments and locations nearby that we can use for free. Yet I still pay my models for their time, so they’re not free. More importantly, arranging photoshoots takes an awful lot of brain space - asking if someone’s available, arranging a date with them, arranging a location - then the make-up and hair discussions and more. That’s before any editing or photo selecting.

When we’ve a shoot arranged I can’t think or do much else for a few days before and after it, which impacts everything else. I get less creative time but more importantly I lose the flow of whatever I’m working on - hello, neurodivergent brain - which can take time to recover from but is also incredibly stressful. If we can work more with myself, Tom and Aran as models it’ll improve my work-flow as well as add us to the range of models. I won’t stop working with other models, on the contrary, but it does mean we can focus more on larger shoots with them and justify the time and money spent better.

Anyways! Went off on a bit of a tangent there. I came here to share the photos and also remind folks that the 15% discount on this pattern ends tomorrow night, 5th November 2022. Use code code SweetNectar here, and in my Ravelry, Etsy and Payhip stores.

Ravelry and Etsy both provide direct links with the coupon applied:

Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/redeem/woolly-wormhead?code=SweetNectar
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WoollyWormheadHats?coupon=SWEETNECTAR

Hope you enjoy the pattern, I’m looking forward to seeing what you make with it!

Nettare is now live!

Yup indeedy, the newsletter went out this morning to members of The Woolly Hat Society with details of the Hat and their exclusive member discount code.

To get 15% discount on this pattern between now and 5th November 2022, use the code SweetNectar here, and in my Ravelry, Etsy and Payhip stores.

Ravelry and Etsy both provide direct links with the coupon applied:

Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/redeem/woolly-wormhead?code=SweetNectar
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WoollyWormheadHats?coupon=SWEETNECTAR

I’m hoping to get some photos and video of the inside of the Hat today, as well as some flat shots of the Hat. A lot of my Hats don’t photograph well flat but I’m hoping this one will!