Fair Isle – Page 6 – New England's Narrow Road

Turkish Patterned Cap, Hand-spun Knitting Project

Hats, hats and more hats please! I don’t know why, but I love to knit hats. I’m pretty good at it, and I’ve knit enough of them to be fairly sure of size. The Turkish-Patterned Cap is my latest accomplishment. The pattern can be found in the Hat’s On book by Charlene Schurch.

The image here goes to Amazon, where the book costs around $10 for the Kindle version, or get a used book for around $13 (and up). For that price you will have 31 hat patterns to try out!

Although this particular hat is not a favorite of mine from the book, I’ve knit many others (nine, I think) that I would knit again. I really can’t say enough good about this hat knitting book.

The Turkish-Patterned Cap Review

Beginning the cap with a “Twined Herringbone” edge, or braid, was a first. I’ve done braids on mittens a couple times, but never a hat. I knew it wouldn’t stretch much, so I knit the size Large and hoped it would be large enough – it is. This hat will be a gift, and my daughter has a small head, so it should fit perfectly.

Turkish patterned cap stranded knitting — Size 4 circular needle using DK and fingering weight yarn, I knit size Large

I used the suggested needle size, but my yarn was not worsted weight. The circumference of the hat is spot on at 20″ around as the pattern says for a size large.

The hat was fun to make – until I reached the top decreases. I am not new to decreasing for a crown, nor am I new to colorwork at the crown. I knit two Katie’s Keps, and the Tettegouche hat without a problem. For some reason this pattern did not work for me at the crown. I did something wrong, and couldn’t figure out what. I had stitch markers for each section, but suddenly the colors were not matching up.

Please read the post about knitting my second hat like this one where I discovered the mistake in the pattern decrease area! I explain how to fix it- or how I fixed then problem.

All I could do was keep going and hope for the best. You can see that the “star” is not perfect, but oh well… . Because of this, and the fact that I am not crazy about the braided brim (for my own hat wearing), I won’t make this hat again. I think my daughter will love it! She does a lot of snowboarding and needs hats like this to wear beneath her helmet.

About the Yarn

I’ve been eyeing my hand-spun yarn stash and wishing I could knit something wonderful using those lovely skeins. They are labeled as “sock yarn” but I dislike knitting socks. Projects like this hat are perfect for this yarn. Stranded colorwork knitting is fun with this type of yarn.

Wound Up Fiber Arts sock yarn hand-spun — Beautiful hand-spun yarn

For the Turkish hat, I used my blue-green skein (fingering?) from Wound Up Fiber Arts (see the ball in my yarn photo). For my neutral color, I used off-white “Naked” Kunlun yarn from Miss Babs (DK) which I had bought on sale a while ago (it contains cashmere and silk). By the way, Wound Up Fiber Arts has limited amounts of yarn like this because it is hand-spun. I’ve considered myself fortunate to actually find yarn to buy on her site.

The Turkish cap pattern calls for two colors, and I thought this variegated yarn would make an interesting color gradient. While knitting, it’s fun to see the various shades emerge. Aren’t they pretty?

Turkish patterned cap knitting design — Gradient coloring due to the hand-spun yarn

Ever since I began knitting stranded colorwork mittens back in February, I can’t stop knitting items that require two yarn colors! It is such fun, and the end result is so nice. Those mittens could be knitted with this same yarn, which would make a pretty set.

Knitting Katie’s Kep Number Two in Earthy Colors

Because my first Katie’s Kep (hat) came out a bit large, I decided to cast on four fewer stitches for my second knit. (Find the link to the Kep pattern at the bottom of this page.) I still used a size 3 circular needle and did the Old Norwegian cast on – or something like it! I’m not sure I did it exactly right, but it looks okay.

Corrugated ribbing knit on the brim of a hat — The brim of this hat is knit in 2×2 corrugated rib

Once the corrugated ribbing was done, I increased around by four to get back to the original pattern count. Here’s how:

Knit 33, make 1 – 4x’s around = 4 additional stitches. Total stitches are 136 now (as pattern calls for). Continue with pattern increase row.

Now I was back to the correct number of stitches needed for the colorwork. I would love to make this hat using a 2 or 2.5 US needle size, which would work out better I think, but I don’t have those sizes in a circular needle. I might have to buy them.

My main yarn used for the tan Kep is Rauma Finullgarn color 406, Wheat Heather. Other yarn used is Jamieson & Smith in colors: 4: brown, FC7: Peach / orange, FC62: green, and 133: medium purple. The colors are more subdued than what I used for my first Kep.

The fun of knitting this colorwork hat is choosing the colors. It’s probably the reason people can’t stop at knitting only one! As you can see in my photo above, very little yarn is used to make one hat. But if you choose to use J&S yarn as the main color, you will need 2 skeins.

Where to Buy Jamieson & Smith Yarn

This was the first time I knit with J & S yarn. I found it for sale, at a very good price, at Fairlight Fibers. I saved over $1.50 PER SKEIN compared to the current price of the exact same yarn at another online shop. And shipping is FREE when you spend over $50.

At this time, many yarn sellers are low on yarn, thanks to the Covid pandemic keeping people from making the yarn.

Other yarns the designer mentions in her materials section of the pattern are: Uradale (UK based), Shetland Handspun, and Jamieson’s of Shetland.

Wool

Some people don’t like wool because they think it is scratchy, although I don’t mind it. When wool is used for a hat, it doesn’t really matter (unless you are bald). I find the Rauma and J&S to be similar in feel, and once it’s washed, it feels softer. I use Eucalan no rinse wash, and it conditions the wool.

Anything made of wool dries quickly and will of course keep the wearer warm.

Katie’s Kep is a Free Download at Ravelry, by designer Wilma Malcolmson

Tettegouche is My Second Colorwork Hat

If you have the Milarrochy Heids hat-knitting pattern book, you have the pattern for the Tettegouche hat. ( It is also sold separately – see the link at the bottom of this post.)

It’s a beautiful book, with lots of pretty hat patterns and they all use Kate Davies Milarrochy Tweed yarn. I bought the yarn in a variety of colors and began this hat a while ago. I didn’t like the way it was coming out. I blamed myself for not being familiar with colorwork, good cast-on’s, or having the right hat gauge. Honestly I didn’t like the yarn. I put it aside.

Tettegouche hat pattern — Finished Tettegouche

When I joined The Woolly Thistle knit-along, I became familiar with Rauma wool and fell in love! Everyone was using it to knit colorwork projects. After knitting some mittens by this hat’s designer, Virginia Sattler-Reimer, I went back to try to knit the Tettegouche, only this time I used Rauma yarn. By the way, she has mittens to match the Tettegouche hat pattern!

I made some changes to the pattern, and one was to do a 2×2 ribbing for the brim. The colors I used were what I had available and they are not the greatest. But I had fun with this. It has been a good practice hat after knitting Katie’s Kep. Because I had already knit that colorwork hat, I knew to try a smaller needle for Tettegouche.

Buy The Tettegouche Hat Pattern

The pattern is also sold separately and you can buy the Tettegouche hat pattern here. Please click the link to see it, because it is so much prettier than mine! You won’t believe it is the same hat…!

What Was My First Colorwork Hat?

My first all-colorwork, Fair Isle knitting project was Katie’s Kep, which is a fun hat pattern which is Free to download.

Katie's Kep hand knit hat — Nearly done, just working the crown

Katie’s Kep, Knitting a Fair Isle Hat

After I finished knitting two different pair of color-work mittens, I wondered what to knit next. Suddenly, knitting with only one strand of yarn seemed boring! I may be on a Fair Isle, or stranded-knitting jag for a while.

I was browsing Ravelry and a very pretty colorwork hat caught my eye. I decided to save it in my favorites. When I went to the designer’s hat page, I found that “Katie’s Kep” was a free pattern – at the time – I wrote this and used the pattern. It is no longer free.

The designer created it as a tribute to her mother. The pattern called for using wool fingering yarn – which I have in abundance – so I had to make it.

Katie's Kep in Rauma wool — Fair Isle hat

Choosing Colors

When I was planning my mittens, I bought a lot of Rauma wool yarn, in various colors. I ended up using Brooklyn Tweed Arbor for both pair of mittens, so I had lots of Rauma wool left. The “Katie’s Kep” pattern uses this type of wool, so all I had to do was choose the colors. Simple, right?

Honestly, it’s tough for me to envision a finished product by selecting colors. As I began the brim for the hat, I was wondering if I had made a mistake in my colors. If you begin this hat and think the same thing, it will probably look better as you knit more.

Rauma finull PT2 pure wool yarn from Norway — Wool yarn from Norway

Stranded Fair Isle colorwork hat knit with Rauma Finull wool yarn.

I wanted a dark background and I had a dark blue called Dark Petrol Heather, which I used. The rows that look whitish are actually a very light green, and I messed up on the first section! I’m not used to doing this type of knitting, and this was more good practice for me.

I think the only color mistakes you can make is to have colors that do not stand out enough to show the design. Wilma Malcolmson (links to her website), the Shetland designer, includes four various color way suggestions with her pattern download, so you can go buy the colors she suggests. It takes the guesswork out of the color selecting.

I also began knitting the colorwork on the brim incorrectly and had to begin over. After the purls the yarn must go to the back before the knits are done. Newbie mistake – lesson learned. BTW, that brim ribbing is called “corrugated ribbing”.

Working the crown using double-pointed needles — Switching to DPN’s at the top of hat

Needle Size

Another problem I had was which size knitting needles to use? Many of the knitters mentioned that the hat had come out huge. I know that I am a tight knitter. Usually I have to go up a needle size for all patterns. Because of this, I stuck with the size 3 suggested needle and the hat ended up being a bit large, but not crazy. If I knit it again I will try a size 2. If it’s too small I can give it to my daughter, who has a small head.

Knitting the Crown Pattern

Knitting the crown took me almost as long as it took to knit the rest of the hat. It came out looking fine, and I only made a couple of color mistakes. I’m becoming used to using DPN’s, and hats only have a few rounds where they are needed, but along with the colorwork, it made for a challenge. An experienced colorwork knitter would not have a problem.

Below is a photo before washing. I still had lots of ends to tuck in. I had read that some knitters were using the CDD (center double decrease) as opposed to the pattern’s Sk2p. And I think it may look neater. I’m not experienced enough to know and I didn’t do my Sk2p’s correctly because I slipped the first stitch purl wise and it should have been knit wise. Live and learn. I should have looked it up.

crown of Katie's Kep hat — Crown detail before washing

There will be lots of yarn bits to weave in.

The Sk2p is a left-leaning decrease and the CDD has no lean, it makes a ridge straight up. Once washed, this hat will look perfect – fingers crossed. I have notes written all over this pattern for my next project.

Scottish Fishermen Keps

So what is a Kep? I had to look around for some info, and it seems they were colorful, Fair Isle hats worn by Scottish fishermen while out to sea. The hats had a liner to keep the head warmer, and some were like stocking caps – longer with a tassel or something at the top. The Kate Davies Designs (KDD) site has a bit of info about Keps.

The yarn I used (Rauma) is from Norway, so to truly knit a Kep, I suppose I need to use Shetland yarn from Scotland. Maybe next time. I have none in my stash, but it’s on my list of yarns to try.

More Keps and Fair Isle Hats For Us to Knit

If you love to do colorwork and want to try more hats like this one, I’m making a list here. The Katie’s Kep pattern is free. The printout is in small print and I had to enlarge the charts – and yes, you must be able to read a chart.

Fair Isle Hat, Janet McMahon
Roadside Beanie – Sheep pattern hat
Hatshine – Worsted weight yarn
North Star Hat – Sized for kids and adults, Aran weight yarn

Where to Buy Wool Yarn

The Woolly Thistle is based in New Hampshire and sells lots of wonderful wool sourced from the UK, Scandinavia, and Europe. This type of yarn must be hand-washed. It comes in many beautiful colors as well as natural animal colors. The prices can be high at TWT compared to other places that sell the same type of yarn. I’ve found Jamieson & Smith 2-ply, 125 yard skeins at Fairlight Fibers much cheaper!

At Wool and Company they also sell Rauma wool yarn, and other types of course. Remember that the purpose of a hat is to be warm, so real wool will do the trick. Even if the yarn is hand-wash only, how often do you wash a hat?