Tag: madeline tosh

A New Skiff Beanie Gift Knit in Gray

My son’s blue Skiff beanie, pattern by Jarod Flood, has gotten a lot of attention this winter. Yes, we can wear hats in Florida in winter. My son was born and raised here so he is always cold when the temps drop below 60!

Some friend’s of his have seen his blue Skiff, which I knit a while ago, and have mentioned that they really liked it. When he accidentally wore it into work at the fire department, a friend said he would like a hand-knit hat. I said I would make him one.

Skiff hand knit beanie with cables
Skiff beanie in gray

Did I really want to knit another Skiff? Oh ya… this is a fun hat to knit. If you are interested, you should know that the pattern is in chart form. What I did, before ever knitting this pattern, was go through the whole graph and color code each cable area. I also made notes for the other stitches as some were very new to me. Every cable and stitch has an easy to understand description.

I use a wooden DPN for the cable needle, which holds the stitches nicely, and my circular needle is also wood. One of the cables needs 3 needles – over 5 stitches, but really I’ve found it to be so fun that I really enjoy the challenge of watching this extraordinary pattern emerge.

The Madeline Tosh Vintage yarn, in “Antique Moonstone” is some that I’ve had for a few years but it is perfect for this pattern. I love how the colors blend and make highlights, and the roundness of the yarn shows off the texture and cables.

Top of Skiff beanie with cables
Top of beanie

The Yarn

Mad Tosh is not cheap, but it is machine washable. I always wash by hand, and my brim on this gray Skiff is of a non-machine wash yarn by Quince & Company. So this hat needs to be hand-washed.

Madeline Tosh comes as 200 yards, and I had plenty leftover. Brooklyn Tweed Shelter comes in smaller size skeins at 140 yards and the pattern calls for 2 skeins for this beanie. You will spend about the same amount – a little more for the Mad Tosh, but will have more of the BT yarn leftover. Remember I used a contrast color for the brim.

Madeline Tosh leftover yarn
Mad Tosh yarn leftover from knitting this hat

I cast on using a size 3 circular needle and used the German Twisted cast-on. For the top of the beanie I used a size 7 needle. This hat is quite roomy for me, but is probably perfect for a guy. My son loves his.

Skiff cable beanie
Yarn color: Antique Moonstone

Jarod Flood is known for his patterns for men, but he also has beautiful and intricate patterns for women. And many of his patterns are unisex. What I have noticed is that he goes into great detail when describing how a pattern is knit. I will be knitting his Cobblestone Cardigan soon to wear on my trip to New Hampshire!

Baby Hat Knitting With Color-work Trial and Error

I got the urge to try out a little baby hat with some color work animals around the brim. Also, I’ve been researching to find the best washable baby yarn for softness and ease of care.

First, About the Yarn

This was a quick little knit and I used a short, circular 9 inch needle length in size 6. I really needed to use smaller size needles, but I wanted to try the 9 inch length and size 6 was what I have. I cast on 64 and figured out the pattern stitches so they would fit evenly around. It was easy to knit the hat without using DPN’s until the top decreases. (Another way to avoid the DPN’s is to use Flexi Flips which I tried on the Flip Flop socks I knit for my daughter.)

Finished little babyhat
Finished hat before washing

I choose some yarn that had been sitting around for a while, but it was sock yarn and labeled as “washable”. Generally, I hand wash anything I knit because I know the time and effort I put into creating the item. But if I knit baby items they will be to give away, and I need some type of yarn that will hold up. The photo above was taken BEFORE I washed the hat.

“Barbara Deserved Better” Yarn By Madeline Tosh

The name of the pink yarn I had in my stash was “Barbara Deserved Better” named for a character in a TV show, I believe. Anyway, when I search for yarn by this name it looks much better online! My ball of pink yarn has very little variation in color and is all dull pink without any splotches of bits of color throughout. See my ball of yarn in the photo below, and compare it to online pictures at Jimmy Beans Wool. I did not buy it at Jimmy Beans, and I can’t remember where it came from, but I certainly got a dull and colorless skein!

Faded yarn color
Faded hat after washing

Above is a photo of the hat AFTER washing and drying. When it came out of the washer it was very fuzzy, so I took a chance and put it in the dryer for 10 minutes. My little hat also seemed to have faded to a dull and lifeless pink! I haven’t been a big fan of Madeline Tosh yarns, and this makes me even less so.

Practicing Color-work

Another reason I wanted to knit a small project in-the-round was to try my hand at knitting some motifs in contrasting yarn. Inspired by the designs in a new book (150 Scandinavian Motifs) I chose a little puppy and chick for the brim design. Yup, that is supposed to be a chick! My color-work knitting needs help, but this was good beginner practice.

The green color yarn I used for the animals was leftover Yummy 2-Ply yarn from Miss Babs. It was one of the colors I used in my Bay’s Edge Shawl. It held up well.

Faded baby hat in Mad Tosh merino light, after washing
Machine washed and dried baby hat

In the end, the hat looks pretty bad. I will keep it as a practice piece because I wouldn’t give it to anyone to put on their poor baby! I love making hats, so I will make more (with better yarn), and I will improve my skills along the way. I’m still looking for the best washable baby yarn (that is not acrylic) too.

As far as yarn goes, I’ve been much happier overall with Malabrigo, Manos del Uruguay, and Miss Babs brands. I just need to look for “superwash” labels.

My Pinterest Knitting Board – please follow!

Autumn Colors / Honey Cowl Pattern

How I Knit This Cowl

This cowl was knit based on the Honey Cowl free pattern download found at the Ravelry website.

I used Madeline Tosh yarn in autumn rust and gold colors. Tosh Vintage “Firewood” and “Liquid Gold” were used as well as Tosh DK in “Brick Dust”. This pattern would be perfect for a de-stash project, using up bits of yarn in gradients or matching colors.

I chose the size 10 circular needle for a looser stitch, and I usually have to go up in needle size anyway. (The pattern calls for size 8.)

I varied the colors beginning and ending with ‘Firewood’. Stripes were done with ‘Brick Dust’, putting only a couple rows of Gold in the center of the two wide stripes.

Knitting the first and last rows creates a rolled edge. The stitch is very simple and done by slipping a stitch for one row and knitting the alternate rows. The stitch ends up looking like a chain, and is appealing even on the wrong side.

This is a great pattern for a beginner knitter!

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This last photo shows the wrong side of the cowl, which has a nice bumpy texture.

My Notes on the Finished Project

The yarn is very nice, but I do love Malabrigo yarn and I think it is softer than the Mad Tosh. I have used both (in fingering weight) to knit a shawl recently, and the Malabrigo is definitely better.

Another type of yarn, like part cashmere would be nice too.

I would make the cowl longer so it’s not as tight around the neck. This free pattern (link at beginning of page) comes in two sizes and I chose the longer one. Next time I would add some stitches to the cast on.