Cloche Cap
Charming retro hat with decorative band and buckle.
I learned from the Debbie Bliss Magazine Autumn/Winter 2012 that one of my favourite designers, Louisa Harding, has been facing up, with her husband, to his challenge of being treated for lymphoma. In appreciation for the help of Macmillan nurses, Louisa is taking part in Macmillan's Nepal Hiking Challenge and seems well on her way to raising her goal of £5000.
To help achieve the target She has put together a series of seven knitting patterns called 'Himalayan Hiking Hats'. She will have her photo taken wearing each one of the hats on the first 6 days of the trek. The seventh hat pattern in the series will be knitted 'en route' and photographed on the 7th (last) trekking day.
Download the hat patterns from her site and show your support by sending a donation.
Instructions.The main hat is knitted in reverse stocking stitch, with the band in garter stitch. The design is intended for a textured yarn. CrownUsing the 5 No 10 needles, cast on 8 stitches, placing 2 stitches on each of 4 needles. 1st (and every alternate) round:
purl 6th round: *
k2, knit twice in next stitch; repeat from *
all round. [32 sts] Continue increasing 8 stitches thus on every alternate round until there
are 36 stitches on each needle. [144 stitches] Next round: *
k16, k2tog; repeat from * all round.
[136 sts] Cast off. BandCast on 16 stitches, and work a strip in garter-stitch (every row knit)
22 inches long - or length required to fit round head with 3 inches to
spare. Now decrease 1 stitch at each end of the next and every alternate
row until 2 stitches remain; k2tog and fasten off. This forms a point. Stitch the cast-on edge of the band to the buckle, then slot the shaped end through the buckle pulling it through until the band fits round the head snugly. To Make UpPin band in position evenly all round crown noting that the purl side
of the crown is the right side. |
Materials
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A word on the wool.Patons Rimple was a softly textured bouclé yarn, (97% wool, 3% nylon), which knitted to a double knitting tension. This hat is knitted on finer needles than usual so the knitted fabric will be denser and stiffer, giving the hat more body. There are a few double knitting bouclé yarns available though many tend to be chunky weight. Debbie Bliss seems to have discontinued the Cashmerino Astrakhan but you can still obtain it at some outlets on the internet (and often discounted). Rowan have recently brought out a British Sheep Breeds "fine" bouclé but this still seems to knit up to a chunkier tension. You can try and obtain the right tension with finer needles - and I think this would produce an excellent knitted fabric for the hat - but be warned that knitting bouclé tightly on small needles is very hard work. I cannot supply the yardage of Rimple, and can only guess that "Harlequin" was a multi-coloured tweed. |