colorwork – Page 12 – New England's Narrow Road

Frogging the Moose Hat

Frogging is a knitting term meaning “ripping out”. I have tried to knit this Moose hat twice with different colors of yarn (link to pattern below).

First I knit a yellow beginning row then brown for the brim. I tore that out. The pattern sample hat is white with two contrast colors, but I didn’t want a white hat. I was also trying to use up stash yarn.

I thought this would be a quickly done FO using up DS sharing HOTN within a day or two. Instead I had a TOAD! (Don’t understand Knitcabulary? Read this fun post at Knitfarious.)

This time I used Yarn Cafe Creations merino wool (blue, “The Ring”) with brown Spincycle for the moose motif. For the third color I used an off-white light fingering wool and combined it with mohair (think snow).

Moose Hat knitting — Purl ridge added for texture

I’ve learned how to carry floats with the left and right hand yarns while knitting projects like this. I’m no expert, and this was good practice. No knitting is a complete waste!

Trial and Error and My Mistakes

I did a little purl ridge to give some texture with the white (not a great idea!) and I began the moose design first instead of the trees. Many Ravelry comments from previous knitters mentioned that they should have done the moose first and that the hat gets too long with all the motif sections.

Because I wanted the moose, but no white, I envisioned the moose walking in snow with snowflakes falling above. The pattern actually has a row of trees, then moose, and more trees at the top. Each section is divided by two rows of a third contrast color. If the hat is knit according to the pattern, it will be quite tall.

Moose hat beginning knitting hat — Adding some mohair in the white rows

I Love to Knit Hats… But

The trouble with knitting hats is that you can’t actually try them on until they are nearly finished. The moose stranded knitting area seemed tight, which I guess usually happens with colorwork. From the brim to the main hat area the needle size goes up by 2, and I used a size larger than that because I know I am a tight knitter.

Moose hat pattern — Nearly done with the moose motif

Yesterday I got past the moose rows and wanted to do snowflakes instead of trees along the top. The off-white with mohair blended in with the blue variegated yarn and could barely be seen.

Now the hat was tall enough that finally I could try it on …. and I hated it! It was loose at the brim (I made the brim half the recommended length) and tight around the moose motif section. This is not the type of yarn I want for a hat either! (Note to self: don’t use sock / fingering yarn for a winter hat – unless it’s a man’s cap.)

I’ve decided to frog it. The pattern is not something I will try again, but I have the moose motif to save for another time – maybe a scarf / cowl / or mittens.

Link to the Moose Hat Pattern

Most of the problems I had with this hat were brought on myself and I don’t blame the designer. If you want to buy this pattern, or read comments from other knitters, find it at Ravelry: Beware of the Moose.

Beware of the moose hat pattern knitting project

I prefer my winter hats to be chunky, or at least knit in worsted weight, like my Quarry Hat, Simple Rasta Hat, or Star-topped Hat.

My next stranded knitting project will be a pair of mittens when I join the Woolly Thistle KAL.

Woolfolk Tynd Yarn Stranded Motifs Cowl

Knitting a small cowl using Woolfolk Tynd yarn in colorwork motifs

This small wool cowl was a spur of the moment knitting project decision. I do not have a pattern to share as I made it up as I went along.

The idea bloomed when I came across the Glacier Park Cowl pattern by Caitlin Hunter at Ravelry and saw that she had used Woolfolk yarn in two colors to create it. I knew I had stashed away two skeins of that same yarn. My cowl is not in her pattern, but I did use up (nearly) my Woolfolk Tynd yarn!

stranded colorwork cowl — I used Woolfolk Tynd yarn in brown and tan to make this knit cowl

My two skeins of the super-soft Tynd are dark and light brown colors, and I’m not sure of the numbers (Tynd colors are numbered, not named). Probably this was on sale somewhere at some point and I bought it not knowing what I’d use it for. The yarn is so very soft that a cowl is the perfect project.

A recent purchase of the book 150 Scandinavian Motifs gave me the incentive to do some math and find designs that would fit my cast on numbers. Then I screwed up and forgot my cast on, or counted the first row incorrectly, and messed up some of the rows.

I began with the lighter color as my main color and switched just before the butterfly row and made the dark color my main color. I did this to use up the yarn more equally. I can’t locate my leftover yarn, but I did use most of each skein to finish this cowl.

I do love the Glacier Park cowl pattern (click the link above to see that beauty), but not for these duller colors. So I made up my own design which was really good practice doing stranded colorwork. And I did make a lot of mistakes! No biggie… a cowl hides mistakes well.

In the image above you can see where my butterfly row did not line up exactly with the stitches I (thought) I had counted, so I had to add a little wavy section to carry the yarn.

Below I am showing my goof up on the row above the butterflies where somehow my counts were off. Most of these motifs came from the book, but I did make some up myself.

two color stranded knit cowl in Tynd yarn

Just thought I’d share the stranding that went on inside the cowl. I didn’t have many ends to weave in because all the yarn was carried up inside the cowl.

Fun Selfies Wearing the Cowl!

I have no one to ask to take photos of me, so I did the best I could getting pictures of the cowl around my neck. My messy gray-hair braid kept getting in the way!

Knitting this cowl was a little sidestep from knitting my Fine Sand sweater and finishing up my Quince Wrap. It was a quick knit and a brain challenge (although not too tough) to figure out which designs would fit around the cowl. Sometimes I need something different on the needles.

Christmas Gift to Me, Milarrochy Heids Hat Pattern Book

Just before Christmas I stumbled across the Milarrochy Heids hat pattern book by Kate Davies Designs. I honestly cannot remember how I came across this book, which comes from Scotland (awesome). I think I saw one of the hats, which grabbed my attention. It was the Tarradale, which is a slouchy, reversible hat with a big star motif. I fell in love with this hat! And as I saw more hats featured in this book, I knew I had to have it.

Unfortunately for me, the Tarradale hat is done in something called “double-knitting” and turns out to be a pattern that is currently too difficult for me to attempt (something to look forward to). But the book contains patterns which are doable for many skill levels, although reading a chart is necessary.

Let’s Stripe and Tettegouche

If you buy the Milarrochy Heids book, be sure to read the introduction pages. A number of designers contributed to this book, and the finished products are very unique. FYI: You will have to know how to read a chart.

Of course I wanted to jump right in and find a pattern, but the first couple of pages are insightful. And nature photography exists alongside gorgeous pictures of all the hats. It’s a very lovely book, with a total of 100 pages.

In that beginning section Kate Davies suggests a few patterns suitable for the novice knitter. Let’s Stripe was one, and I chose to make it first, but I chose my own colors and didn’t follow the color chart. I also made it a bit taller.

My version of “Let’s Stripe” hat pattern

Because my yarn order of the Milarrochy Tweed yarn had not arrived, I began the striped hat using yarn from my stash. Mostly I used Madeline Tosh sock yarn and other fingering weights. This is a great pattern for using up leftover bits of yarn, but be warned… there are a million tails to weave in when you finish! I carried some colors to reduce the cutting of colors, but still…..

Weaving in the tails on Let's Stripe — There are a lot of tails to weave in on the Let’s Stripe hat

Once the Milarrochy tweed yarn arrived – all the way from Scotland!…., I cast on the Tettegouche. This one involves color work, which I don’t have a ton of experience with. It will take me a while to finish, but it’s fun to work on and the hat is so pretty. I will post a picture when it’s finished. Below is a photo of the cute little balls of tweed yarn.

All the hats in this book are knit with small needle sizes, such as 2, 3, and 4. One takes a size 5, and your gauge may be different, but you won’t be able to go down much.

I hope to eventually make every hat in the book. For now, some other favorite patterns of mine are Roamin’, Breiwick (hat on cover), and Every Flavour.