Shedir Hat

KNITTING TECHNIQUE CHECKLIST

Colourwork? Check.
Lace? Check.
Cables? Uh, erm, no.

Well, we'd better get cracking on some cables then, hadn't we? Instead of full-on aran cables, let's start with twisted stitches first - a whole hat of them!

Indeed, it's true, my cable skills are woefully lacking. Last year I had a bit of a play around with some cables for a pair of socks, but only got about ten centimetres into it. This time, I quite enjoyed making the little twisted stitches, at first using a cable needle and then figuring out how to do them without the needle. And Mauno the doggy appreciates his hat. :-)

Pattern: Shedir by Jenna Wilson, free in the Knitty special surprise section of Autumn 2004.

Needles: 3.5mm bamboo 40cm circular and dps

Yarn Details:

• Rowan Calmer
• 75% cotton, 25% acrylic
• 50gr=160m
• colour #479
• about 0.95 balls used - seriously, only a few metres were left

A quick look on Ravelry at the 970 Shedir hats already there showed me very quickly that many people thought their hat turned out too long with the original number of repeats, and many others stated that they had reduced the repeat number by one or even two. As I was making this hat to be shared between the husband and me, I figured one repeat reduction would suffice.

This wasn't the easiest project I've ever done, but it was really satisfying to see the travelling stitches growing out of the fabric and to notice my technique improving.

And the yarn! This was my first time working with Calmer, but oh boy not the last. Apart from being rather pricey, I can't fault this yarn at all. It's unbelievably soft and is amazingly stretchy for a cotton/acrylic blend. To be honest, it didn't feel like I was working with those fibers at all.

Btw, I think that 'Mauno' is the funniest Finnish name out of all the other funny names there are here. :-D

HAPPY WORLDWIDE KNITTING IN PUBLIC DAY!