Pattern Release: Onward top-down hat recipe

There are days when I need to acknowledge unpleasantness, but keep moving forward. On those days, my motto is onward. I made this hat as a tactile reminder to myself for those days.

I took the letters of onward, encoded them as numbers, and then charted those numbers, using my methods for encoding words as patterns. The marked squares were turned into purl stitches, and thus I made this stitch pattern.

This is a top-down hat. It can be ended when the yarn does if necessary; the pattern has sufficient purls in it that it doesn’t curl. A shorter hat will be a cap; a longer one can cover the ears for warmth; an even longer one can be slouchy. Knit the crown and some ribbing in a contrast color if desired. I have seen this hat worked to good effect in solid yarn, tonal yarn, variegated, and self-striping. Gradient would also be fun!

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Spindle Hat: Katherine Whorl

Announcing the Katherine Whorl spindle hat pattern! (Payhip link)

Many spindle whorls are decorated with little circles, and so this hat is covered with many circles created by crocheting the traditional Catherine’s Wheel stitch pattern and then outlining the circles with chain stitch. The hat name is a bit of a pun on the traditional stitch pattern name: whorl because of spindles; Katherine in honor of the five women named that in my knitting group who all spell it with a K.

I wanted to combine several of the crafts that use yarn, so I embroidered my circles and knitted the brim (instructions for an alternate crochet brim are provided). Use surface crochet to create much the same effect as the embroidery.

I’ve found that crocheting with a single strand of yarn and knitting with the same yarn doubled makes the two match up well in terms of both stitch gauge and appearance. I made use of that principle in this hat.

This pattern is intended for confident crocheters who know a little knitting. No in-depth tutorials are provided.

Whorled spindle hat

So my friend Sarah Sipe and I have been designing hats inspired by spindle whorls. She designed one that was more broadly inspired, and it’s in today’s KnittySpin! Lots of spindles have circles, stripes, chevrons, or zigzags. This one has all of them and is a lot of fun to knit. I like that it’s top down. I like that the top is based on the pi shawl increases rather than the kind of increases I use. (I like them both, but they look very different.) I knit two samples for her; one is the commercial yarn hat that’s on the official page. The one above is knit in Mountain Meadow Wool Cody.

So much fun!