Woolly elves & angels

The day before christmas eve may not be the perfect time to release a new pattern, yet Castiel is the perfect seasonal Hat. Knit from the Natural Dye Studio's Angel DK, the yarn adds it's own special touch to the delicate lace pattern.

The delicate lace panels grow up from the ribbing in the brim and adorn the body. The crown shaping is worked into the lace panels, so although there is a slight gather at the crown it is still worked in pattern. The pattern comes in 4 sizes, from 17"/43cm through to 23"/53cm, and is provided in both written and charted format.

Castiel will be the January KAL Hat over in the Ravelry group, and as a thank you for all your support and helping us build our new home in time for the holidays, use the Rav coupon code woollyangel to get yourself a 50% discount!

And why the name Castiel? As well as being the angel of Thursday (today!) whose colour is pastel green (the colour of the sample) and whose month is November (when this Hat was designed) he is also the fictional angel character from Supernatural, which we happened to be watching the evening I knitted the final version of this Hat. A perfect name, don't you think?

Staggered

Here we have another new design and this one is ideal for the men folk. It's a great, quick knit and is suitable for beginner knitters wanting to try knitting in the round.

Staggered features alternating tall and short ribs around the brim and body creating an architectural feel, with a reverse stocking stitch crown.

(I do have permission to share these photos btw, so you need not worry that I'm jeopardising our relationship)

And here's the more suitable, modelled shots that are featured on the pattern that allow you to see the detail more clearly:

So there we have Staggered. And now Tom has another Hat. I hope you like at as much as he does!

Happy Birthday Mr. Tom!

My partner in life, father of my son and Hat model extraordinaire.

Happy birthday lover! x

The Hat with no name

The light has been poor here today, yet we managed to get a few shots of another new design for Twisted Woolly Toppers (even if they aren't quite in focus!)

The thing is, we don't know what to name this Hat! I've quite a few designs with spirals and twists in them, and I think I've exhausted all the obvious possibilities... has anyone any suggestions?

It's knit from Jamieson & Smith Shetland Aran - the perfect yarn for this kind of detail - yummy!

Urbanista in reverse

Jo @ FreeStyleFibre asked about seeing how Urbanista looks in stocking stitch, i.e. in reverse; I also had a comment/message though Ravelry asking the same thing. I'd got it into my head that we took reversible photos at the time but I couldn't find them, so we quickly took some more photos this morning! Tom wasn't keen to be snapped as he hasn't had a shave.. but he wouldn't be Tom without stubble, right?

You'll notice in this last photo how the short row wraps appear - when I knitted this one I chose the reverse stocking stitch to be the right side, and picked up my wraps accordingly. I also wove all the ends in on the stocking stitch side. Bear in mind this Hat has been thrown about a lot over the last year and wasn't washed or blocked before these photos, so the inside isn't looking quite as tidy as it did ;)

If you want this Hat to be fully reversible then you will have to accept that the wraps will appear neater on side than the other - being stocking stitch colourwork, they won't be completely hidden. Taking care with those ends and how you change colours in the right angles makes all the difference to the finish, but if you know which way you'd prefer the Hat to look before you start you can throw caution to the wind and not worry so much about how neat it is on the inside!

I still owe a blog post about UK Ravelry day  - it'll get written soon hopefully......