Size Matters

I've been knitting hats. Lots and lots of hats. It started with the Baby Yoda hat (and kimono) that I made for a friend's new baby. Then, I loved the pattern so much, I made it again for a 1-year old and another for an adult.

One-year-old Yoda. Not too enthusiastic.

Sizing patterns has never really been my strong suit so I went online to try to find a size chart for heads. Unsurprisingly, I found one that I've been using and (so far) it has been wonderfully accurate. Of course, it stands to reason that some people have big or small heads and this won't be perfect for everyone but, if you want a good, average size, it works.

When in doubt, have the person measure their noggin and then you can make it to fit them exactly.

This is where you start. Adjust for fit (like if you want to cover the ears).

Bev's Country Cottage (www.bevscountrycottage.com) has size charts for hats, socks/slippers, sweaters, blankets, and even baby measurements. This is a treasure trove - especially if you like to create your own patterns. The only thing that's missing is an approximate number of stitches to cast on in order to reach the diameter you want. I'm working on capturing that, using average sized yarn (DK/Worsted) and needles (US7-8). Once I have a fairly good list, I'll post it here for download. Or... If anyone already has this, please feel free to put the link to it in our comments section.

I may be hat-girl for a while so I apologize in advance if my crafty pursuits get kind of boring. :)  It's winter and hats seem like a good endeavor.

Knit on!

- Alex

Randomness

I've returned to the land of the living...still getting both feet back on the merry-go-round...but much, much, better. As part of the process of reacquainting myself with the world (I know I've sort of "checked out" from everything for the last couple weeks) I was perusing my camera roll on my iPhone last night to see what making I've recorded while in my pneumonia haze. I think sharing the randomness of my sickness journey is a nice place to start this Monday morning.

Making strudel with Grandma a couple weeks ago.

Little pumpkin pies for the pre-k class Halloween party.

Too sick for anything but TV and knitting simple hats and mittens.

Little Bear wears his new hat indoors and out.

Super-secret family recipe baking yesterday.

Last night I dove back into the cables. I'm on the mend.

Pretty heavy on the baking and knitting. So curious. But, I've been doing some dreaming and sketching about some bigger sewing projects. We'll see what comes of it now that I'm back in the saddle.

–Cassandra

Designing Your Own

The shift happened slowly. One day, I picked up my pointy sticks and thought, "I can make a hat without a pattern. All I need is a couple of inches of ribbing, some stockinette, and a decrease." So, I (sort of) made a hat without a pattern. My first few attempts were pretty lame because I didn't have a good sense of how to decrease correctly. Some had weirdly flat tops or tops that were too shallow. Eventually, I figured out that, by referencing other hat patterns, I could develop my own method of decreasing and have a hat that looked pretty good.

Not too bad. Added icords & pom-pons.

When Cassandra and I submitted our pattern idea for the book, What (Else) Would Madame DeFarge Knit, I had been experimenting with making simple things without a pattern for about a year. Cassandra hadn't done anything off pattern that she can remember. We took a great leap of faith and, with unfounded confidence, decided to design a pretty complicated item (which ya'll get to see in a few months!)


The process was actually one of the best parts of designing something from scratch. We knew we wanted the item to have a retro look so we scoured old knitting patterns that Cassandra had inherited from her grandmother. We picked design elements we liked and then modified them to fit our purposes.

Next, we dug through a number of different stitch pattern books for stitches that would provide us with look we wanted. If you've never looked at a stitch pattern book, run (don't walk) to your nearest library or bookstore and sit with one for an hour or so. If you're not inspired by all the possibility, I'll eat one of my poorly-designed hats.

Awesome book of just edging.

Loads of great stitch patterns in this book.

Finally, we started putting it all together. Our design has multiple pieces so Cassandra tackled the largest and I took the two smaller ones. Our process for writing the pattern itself was very different. I visualized what I wanted and wrote down how I THOUGHT the pattern should read. Then I knitted it and corrected as I went. Cassandra did the opposite. She started knitting, and wrote down what she was doing as she went - correcting both the knitting and the pattern at the same time. Both ways worked and I think that it's really a matter of attacking it whatever way makes the most sense to the individual.


Our very best tip for designing your own knitting patterns is this: TEST, TEST, TEST, TEST.... etc.


I'm not kidding when I tell you that, with every single test knit, we found ways to make the pattern better and/or typos and/or general errata. It's frightening to think that, if we didn't have a deadline, I could tweak this darn thing forever.


Once you've designed your own pattern you can sell it on Ravelry or give it away on your blog or just wallow in the fact that you are now a bonafide knitting pattern designer! Whatever you choose, I can promise you that the rewards are fantastic.


I may never be Debbie Bliss or Ysolda Teague but I sure am proud of the work that we've done and I absolutely can't wait to design our next project.


- Alex

The Royal Treatment

I have plenty of craft projects I could talk to you about today. Knitting, sewing, embroidery... it's all going on at my house. But I watched the Royal Wedding this morning and now I feel inspired. I'm a sucker for all the fancy pomp and circumstance. Yes, I need to talk about the hats!

The parade of hat nuttiness that was filing into that church this morning was a feast for the eyes of this American. But, in my estimation, the hat of the day award goes to Princess Beatrice for her Lady Gaga-looking 3-D ribbon. It just makes me wonder what sort of creative direction these ladies give to the milliner? Hmmm....maybe...."I need something really tall, and nuts...that will show up those b*stards for not inviting my mother!" One can only speculate.

Beatrice is the one on the right...

Seeing all these hats this morning has compelled me to share my own unique "hat" obsession with you - my antique hat pin collection. I credit my mother for starting me off with a few beautiful ones she found at an estate sale about 15 years ago. Since then, I've been picking them up here-and-there at antique shops and estate sales. As collectibles go, hat pins are awesome on a couple levels. First off, they can be really gorgeous. Here are some images from my modest collection:

I thought the corgi was a good one to highlight on such a royal day.

Some of the collection in their holders.

One of my more curious, hand-carved pins.

The second great thing about this kind of collection is the size of the pins. They don't take up very much room and they are easy to display. With all my recent pontificating about living sensibly, you'd think that I'd be against collecting things. Nonsense! I am against hording and collections that sit in boxes. However, I'm totally for surrounding yourself with beauty or collections that can be displayed tastefully.

So these pins sit on my bedroom dresser where I can appreciate them and muse about with who and where they have been in their lives. Man, I love objects with a history of their own.

–Cassandra