#wwscrapalong pt3 - the stripes

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Having worked your Brim, you're now ready to start the Body! There's a lot of info here so do take your time reading through, and ask away if you have any questions.

Yesterday I said in Pt2 that once you've finished your Brim, you should work one round in your 2nd yarn purl-wise. (or, if you're going for the slouchier-by-width version, you've worked an increase round purl-wise)

For many reasons, joining in a new colour for a new stripe with a knit round just never looks as effective as joining the new colour purl-wise. We're knitting ourselves a scrappy Hat, something wonky and fun, so why not highlight all the wonderful differences between yarns and textures and make a feature of the join?

For each scrappy Hat I made I joined each and every stripe with a purl round. Regardless of what stitch pattern I'd decided to use, I purled the first round in the new yarn, then moved on and worked the stripe. When I was ready to change yarn again, I'd purl the first round and so on.

And talking of stitch patterns...

Mixing up the Stripes

Invariably when you're mixing different stitch patterns together within a design, you'd normally be aiming to keep the overall tension the same, so as to not manipulate the fabric. But we're working on something different here, and it's fun to see how different stitch patterns intermix and play together.

I used stocking stitch, garter stitch, moss (seed) stitch, ribbing and probably a few more. Through in whatever stitch pattern you've always wanted to try. If it doesn't work out, there's only a small amount to rip out. It's kinda trial by error, but also pushing your own boundaries, too, and that's never a bad thing.

Ends and Joins

The ends can get a little pesky, to be sure, but there are ways of managing them. If you know you're going to use a yarn again, you can carry it up (by twisting it with the working yarn to stop it sagging or getting caught). Or you can simply break each yarn each time, and either work the ends in as you join, or leave them all to the end.

I don't have any top tips for joining in ends as you go, but we'd all love to hear from you if you've a method that works well for you! I prefer to leave them all to the end, as that allows me to neaten up any loose stitches that might occur at the joins.

And talking of joins, there are a number of jogless methods for working stripes. I don't have tutorials for any of these available outside of patterns or workshop notes, but here a couple of tips:

Slip stitch jogless stripes:

On colour change rounds, change colours by knitting the first stitch of the round in the new colour as normal, then work to the end of the round. At the start of the next round, slip the first stitch of the new colour, then knit to the end of the round. On every following round, knit every stitch as usual.

Travelling jogless stripes:

To further improve the transition between stripes, on the round when you change colour move the start of the round forward by one stitch and work the change as detailed above (i.e. slip stitch jogless) – this method is known as travelling jogless stripes. As you any shaping (e.g. crown shaping), moving the jog may not be necessary as the decreases would help hide the jog.

For me though, with these Hats, I didn't worry too much about jogless methods - I found that the change in yarn and stitch pattern and the purl round disguised most things.

Wonky Stripes

And this is where it gets really fun.

The wonky stripes are created by short rows. I've a few tutorials you can look at that, and there are a number of different methods and a whole host of different tutorials out there - use whichever method works for you.

One thing to be mindful of is that due to changes in gauge when working short rows in the round, you'll invariably find that using two different methods - one for the right side and one for the wrong side - gives you the best results. One trick though is to work the short row at the end of a stripe, so that the purl round hides any wobbly bits that may occur. Those purl rounds are very useful things!

There's a bit of maths involved with these short rounds, and there's a reason why we're working on a multiple of 8. Let me just throw the maths out there, then give you some examples with real numbers!

Starting at the beginning of the round, your short row round goes like this, where X is the total number of stitches:

Short Row Rnd: K 15/16X w&t, P 7/8X w&t, K3/4X w&t, P 5/8X w&t, K 1/2X w&t, P 3/8X w&t, K 1/4X w&t, P 1/8X w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go (you would only work half the short rows; you work the remaining half on the next round)(where w&t = your short row method of choice)

Clear as mud? Because it's saturday night here are the short row formulas for the various stitch counts given in the chart for casting on in pt2:

48sts
Short Row Rnd: K45 w&t, P42 w&t, K36 w&t, P30 w&t, K24 w&t, P18 w&t, K12 w&t, P6 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

56sts
Short Row Rnd: K53 w&t, P49 w&t, K42 w&t, P35 w&t, K28 w&t, P21 w&t, K14 w&t, P7 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

64sts
Short Row Rnd: K60 w&t, P56 w&t, K48 w&t, P40 w&t, K32 w&t, P24 w&t, K16 w&t, P8 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

72sts
Short Row Rnd: K68 w&t, P63 w&t, K54 w&t, P45 w&t, K36 w&t, P27 w&t, K18 w&t, P9 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

80sts
Short Row Rnd: K75 w&t, P70 w&t, K60 w&t, P50 w&t, K40 w&t, P30 w&t, K20 w&t, P10 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

88sts
Short Row Rnd: K83 w&t, P77 w&t, K66 w&t, P55 w&t, K44 w&t, P33 w&t, K33 w&t, P11 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

96sts
Short Row Rnd: K90 w&t, P84 w&t, K72 w&t, P60 w&t, K48 w&t, P36 w&t, K24 w&t, P12 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

104sts
Short Row Rnd: K98 w&t, P91 w&t, K78 w&t, P65 w&t, K52 w&t, P39 w&t, K26 w&t, P13 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

112sts
Short Row Rnd: K105 w&t, P91 w&t, K77 w&t, P63 w&t, K49 w&t, P35 w&t, K21 w&t, P7 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

120sts
Short Row Rnd: K113 w&t, P105 w&t, K90 w&t, P75 w&t, K60 w&t, P45 w&t, K30 w&t, P15 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

128sts
Short Row Rnd: K120 w&t, P112 w&t, K96 w&t, P80 w&t, K64 w&t, P48 w&t, K32 w&t, P16 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

136sts
Short Row Rnd: K128 w&t, P119 w&t, K104 w&t, P85 w&t, K68 w&t, P51 w&t, K34 w&t, P17 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

144sts
Short Row Rnd: K135 w&t, P126 w&t, K108 w&t, P90 w&t, K72 w&t, P54 w&t, K36 w&t, P18 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

152sts
Short Row Rnd: K143 w&t, P133 w&t, K114 w&t, P95 w&t, K76 w&t, P57 w&t, K38 w&t, P19 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

160sts
Short Row Rnd: K150 w&t, P140 w&t, K120 w&t, P100 w&t, K80 w&t, P60 w&t, K40 w&t, P20 w&t; knit across all sts, working short rows as you go

Now, these short row rounds don't have to start at the beginning of the round. You could knit to the half way point and start there. Or the quarter way point. Or at any point, really - it's entirely up to you how wonky you want to make your Hat. You could stack a couple of short row rounds starting at the same point, work a regular stripe of two, then work a short row round from a different point to mix things up. It might help though to introduce a second marker to show the start of the short row round, to save too much confusion.

(think Brindled. Offset short row stripes can be pretty effective). But you don't have to work the short rows if you don't want to - it's your Hat :)

Mix up your stripes. Stick in a purl row when you feel like it. Have fun!

eta/lunchtime 3/7 - I found an error in some of the numbers, so I've corrected them. There's only a few stitches difference and your short rows will still have worked so don't worry, but the maths and calculations are now correct as per the fractions :)