Meet Basalt, the fourth Cuboidal Hat

In this next post introducing the Hats from my new Cuboidal collection, we look at what is probably my favourite, should I have to pick one. Basalt is a cloche style, but it’s more than that, too.

Following on from the split or open concept with Nethere, with it’s offset blocks, we offset in a whole other way to create an asymmetrical look. You may think of this as wedged rather than offset, and I can get behind that. Either way it’s not even.

I’m kinda hoping you can tell I had a lot of fun designing these Hats!

Basalt also takes the border to a fresh new level. Here, it’s an integral part of the Hat and it wouldn’t be the same without it. Should you work this one in a different square style be mindful to use one that has a half and half nature to it, as that extra depth is needed to ensure the Hat sits as intended. That’ll make much more sense when the collection is published, I promise!

Basalt, like Nethere and Bedrock, pushes the boundaries of Hat styles. Wear it asymmetrically for a vintage cloche style, or wear it centrally for a brimmed effect. Personally I love this cute little brim, it’s another throwback to the vintage designs of the Sixties in the UK, and I presume the US too. It’s slightly playful, a tad sporty, and frames the face beautifully.

With this design we also get an idea of the variety of square styles - this one is more complex, creating a strong geometric pattern with a lot of visual depth.

Which way would you wear ‘Basalt’?

About the Cuboidal collection…

As with all of the patterns in this collection, the sample is shown in Malabrigo Arroyo. I find it gives me a nice firm squishy fabric on 2.75mm or 3mm needles, at a gauge of 28 sts to 10cm/4in, which is perfect for garter stitch. You don’t want a loose fabric with these Hats as they’ll stretch, and a firmer gauge ensures the Hat lasts longer before stretching out.

The whole collection is pretty much an any yarn, any size collection! I provide tables covering 8 gauges across 12 sizes, but armed with a gauge swatch and a bit of maths, you can achieve beyond the range provide - the construction of the Hat is the same regardless of the size you’re making or the gauge of your yarn. And the eBook will also include a chapter on head measuring and calculating yardage!

And in case anyone asks, this collection won’t be split into individual patterns. I talk about it more in length on this blog post, but in short the patterns are tutorial heavy and splitting them out just doesn’t work.

The collection will be $23/€19/£17 when published - September 2022 - and members of The Woolly Hat Society will get an exclusive new release discount!

Follow along with the #CuboidalHats tag on Instagram and learn more via the Cuboidal blog category.

Say hello to Nethere, the next Cuboidal Hat

This is the third post introducing my new Cuboidal collection. Nethere is a bonnet with a difference!

This bonnet style introduces a few new things to Cuboidal collection, the first being staggered or offset squares.

Remember in my previous post where I said that each design used a particular square style to show what could be achieved? Nethere does just that - if it were knit with a different mitre square style the effect would be very different.

The next thing this pattern introduces is a split Hat, split at the brim or in the body, but either way it doesn’t go all the way around. And that makes a difference to the Hat’s structure and how it can be worn.

Because of this split, negative ease plays out slightly differently, too. With a style like this I’d aim for slightly less negative ease if you’re not sure, rather than more. The beret or even the beanie can handle more, but this one won’t want to be pushed - or over-stretched - in the same way.

Nethere also introduces the concept of the border. It’s not been apparent with the previous Hats - Bedrock, the beret, doesn’t have a border at all and Portal, the beanie has a very thin and subtle one. With This bonnet the border becomes a must.

Because the Hat isn’t a complete cylinder there will be different edges of the squares visible in different places. So to finish it all off and continue that brick-like effect, a border is worked on the edges that are left open, or borderless. The pattern will walk you through how to do it, where to pick up the stitches and how to work the corners. And each square style has a unique border pattern, to ensure any stripe or colourwork pattern is continuous. It’s really rather clever, if I may say so myself!

And the final fun new thing? The bonnet doesn’t have to be a bonnet. Turn it around a full 180 degrees and it becomes a helmet. Yup, it can totally be worn this way - it’ll sit comfortably, keep your ears warm and frame your face in a way no-one expects.

Fun, huh?

What do you think of ‘Nethere’? Which way would you wear it?

About the Cuboidal collection…

As with all of the patterns in this collection, the sample is shown in Malabrigo Arroyo. I find it gives me a nice firm squishy fabric on 2.75mm or 3mm needles, at a gauge of 28 sts to 10cm/4in, which is perfect for garter stitch. You don’t want a loose fabric with these Hats as they’ll stretch, and a firmer gauge ensures the Hat lasts longer before stretching out.

The whole collection is pretty much an any yarn, any size collection! I provide tables covering 8 gauges across 12 sizes, but armed with a gauge swatch and a bit of maths, you can achieve beyond the range provide - the construction of the Hat is the same regardless of the size you’re making or the gauge of your yarn. And the eBook will also include a chapter on head measuring and calculating yardage!

And in case anyone asks, this collection won’t be split into individual patterns. I talk about it more in length on this blog post, but in short the patterns are tutorial heavy and splitting them out just doesn’t work.

The collection will be $23/€19/£17 when published - September 2022 - and members of The Woolly Hat Society will get an exclusive new release discount!

Follow along with the #CuboidalHats tag on Instagram and learn more via the Cuboidal blog category.

Meet Bedrock, the second Cuboidal Hat!

This is the second post introducing my new Cuboidal collection. Bedrock is the second design, and it’s a beret style!

The beret has been having a comeback of late and that makes me rather happy. It’s a much more versatile shape than folks realise, and I think this mitre version, with the way the squares form impacting the way the Hat drapes, highlights this really well.

The sample shown uses the simplest of the 8 square styles included in the collection, and it’s the foundation for all other squares styles. Each of the 8 patterns uses one of the 8 square styles, and all but one of the patterns, the Portal beanie shown previously, uses this foundation square in some way.

Of course you don’t have to use any one square style with a particular pattern - the collection will include details for all 8 and you’ll be able to mix and match in whichever way you want! What each of the 8 designs does is highlight one square style and how it can be used to create interesting effects - as we saw with the Portal beanie, what starts as a simple striped square gives a very 3D result.

The first set of photos shows the beret worn to one side, which is a pretty common way to wear a beret. Whether it be to the left or right, or even to the back, it takes on a familiar form.

The second set of photos, shown above, show the beret being worn high. By this I mean it sits up, it doesn’t lean in any one way. It’s not a common way to wear a beret, most are too drapey and tend to fall in one direction or another. Yet constructing a beret from mitre squares creates a different kind of fabric, and it will sit up if you want it to! I blocked this one as a circular beret, so it’s not as square as it could be, but left unblocked it will sit up like a square crown and look rather glorious.

And finally, the beret can be worn forward for a flat-cap look. You don’t work an extra brim to this to form the flat-cap shape, you just sit it or block it that way. This is another advantage of the circle-square aspect of this beret - the garter fabric and all those squares give you a structure that’s rather moldable and versatile.

Most berets can be styled this way, fabric depending of course, and I’m thinking to do a series of blog posts showing the many different ways you can style the beret! Or any Hat, really.. hmmm…

The beret introduces a shaping technique that I’ve not seen used before with mitre squares. There are a few Hat patterns in existence that use mitre squares but the technique isn’t common, and I’ve not seen this shaping method at all. What it is is a clever way to decrease the volume between the body and the brim, all whilst working the mitre squares. there are no extra rows, no separate part of the Hat - the shaping is worked into the squares. And it’s rather fun!

This Hat will absolutely love your variegated yarns, in fact it’ll love just about any yarn that has any changes of colour in it, even semi-solids. The decrease lines in the mitre squares add to the 3D effect, and couple that with a hand-dyed or hand-spun yarn and it’ll create a really striking finish. I can’t wait to see what you do with this one!

What do you think of ‘Bedrock’? What yarns might you use?

About the Cuboidal collection…

As with all of the patterns in this collection, the sample is shown in Malabrigo Arroyo. I find it gives me a nice firm squishy fabric on 2.75mm or 3mm needles, at a gauge of 28 sts to 10cm/4in, which is perfect for garter stitch. You don’t want a loose fabric with these Hats as they’ll stretch, and a firmer gauge ensures the Hat lasts longer before stretching out.

The whole collection is pretty much an any yarn, any size collection! I provide tables covering 8 gauges across 12 sizes, but armed with a gauge swatch and a bit of maths, you can achieve beyond the range provide - the construction of the Hat is the same regardless of the size you’re making or the gauge of your yarn. And the eBook will also include a chapter on head measuring and calculating yardage!

And in case anyone asks, this collection won’t be split into individual patterns. I talk about it more in length on this blog post, but in short the patterns are tutorial heavy and splitting them out just doesn’t work.

The collection will be $23/€19/£17 when published - September 2022 - and members of The Woolly Hat Society will get an exclusive new release discount!

Follow along with the #CuboidalHats tag on Instagram and learn more via the Cuboidal blog category.

Introducing Portal, the first Cuboidal Hat!

As we inch closer to September I’ll be introducing each of the 8 patterns in my new collection. I’ve taken a different approach to construction and design with these, and you’ll get a peak by looking at the #CuboidalHats tag on Instagram and via the Cuboidal blog category.

Portal is the first design, and it’s a beanie style!

One thing to keep in mind with each of the Hats is that several of them can be worn in different ways; they push the more traditional woolly Hat style boundaries in more ways than one. And while the humble beanie may be the simplest of the styles in the collection, it too has options.

The collection includes 8 different mitre square options, each of them exploring and combining colours in different ways. Because the squares are combined in a modular fashion the overall effect becomes greater than the sum of it’s parts - and Portal shows that off brilliantly.

What starts as a basic square with a simple stripe pattern becomes an optical illusion when combined in 3D Hat form! The pattern includes notes on making sure the stripe formation is continuous so you can achieve the best results.

The beanie itself verges on a slouch style, and that extra length can be worn as shown, or it can be folded up. Because head sizes vary greatly and there’s no direct relationship between head circumference and head depth, you may find that the extra length really isn’t all that extra on you, or it may be too much. If you find it’s the latter then you can work one round less in the body and deepen the border to your liking - it’s up to you!

What do you think of the first Hat, ‘Portal’?

About the Cuboidal collection…

As with all of the patterns in this collection, the sample is shown in Malabrigo Arroyo. I find it gives me a nice firm squishy fabric on 2.75mm or 3mm needles, at a gauge of 28 sts to 10cm/4in, which is perfect for garter stitch. You don’t want a loose fabric with these Hats as they’ll stretch, and a firmer gauge ensures the Hat lasts longer before stretching out.

The whole collection is pretty much an any yarn, any size collection! I provide tables covering 8 gauges across 12 sizes, but armed with a gauge swatch and a bit of maths, you can achieve beyond the range provide - the construction of the Hat is the same regardless of the size you’re making or the gauge of your yarn. And the eBook will also include a chapter on head measuring and calculating yardage!

And in case anyone asks, this collection won’t be split into individual patterns. I talk about it more in length on this blog post, but in short the patterns are tutorial heavy and splitting them out just doesn’t work.

The collection will be $23/€19/£17 when published - September 2022 - and members of The Woolly Hat Society will get an exclusive new release discount!

Rachis is now live!

We’re kicking off woolly Hat season in the northern hemisphere with my Rachis pattern!

There was such a positive response to this design when I shared photos of it online earlier in the year that I switched the publishing schedule up! This is a memorable, soothing knit and watching the yarn unfold on the needles, with the way the stitch pattern plays with it, is rather fun.

Grab a skein of Caroline DK from Third Vault Yarns or rummage through your stash for something suitable. Either way, whether it’s a semi-solid or an opinionated variegated, this pattern will make the most of it.

Members of The Woolly Hat Society will want to check their inboxes or spam folders, the newsletter went out this morning!