Monday, October 06, 2008

A Swirl Cap

How do you thank someone for rescuing you from the blue screen of death? Why, knit him a blue swirl cap! This was a quick knit for Jorge while he was retrieving data and upgrading our hard drive. He deserves much, much more.


Pattern: Improvised on the needles
Yarn: Cashsoft Baby DK and Cashcotton DK
Needles: US5s and US6s


Notes: This is an adult medium cap -- not quite covering the ears. I cast on 120 sts using a 2 color long-tail CO method. I think the effect of the 2 color CO might be lost due to some curling at the bottom, but I do so love this CO. Here is a video tutorial for all those who don't already know this CO. It includes instructions for a rather clever braid as well.



I used a semi-corrugated rib (inspired by the Anemoi Mittens) for the brim:
Round 1: k 1 round CC
Round 2 - 6: [k2 MC, p1 CC]


I then proceeded to work 5 repeats of rows 5 through 29 this spiral chart followed by knitting 1 round MC. (If you use the spiral chart, the brown squares are CC, the white are MC.)

I didn't want to end the colorwork there, so I continued with ... are you ready for this? ... a "lice" pattern for the top of the head. Appropriate for XRK, no? The pattern is simple and I wanted to start my crown decreasing in the 3rd row of the pattern. So the crown looks something like this (white squares are CC, grey squares are MC):



For the double decrease, I used sl2tog, k1, psso. Therefore, round 36 would read as follows:
Knit 10; slip 2 stitches together knitwise, knit 1, pass slipped stitches over; knit 11.



Round 56 is k2tog all around.
I don't always like colorwork in DK weight, preferring sportweight or sockweight yarns, but the softness of the yarns and the quickness of the project won me over!


The Backbou as a reluctant model.

7 comments:

Bridget said...

I love that hat! You really did a great job.

That last picture is priceless ...

Anonymous said...

awwwww, the backbou is such a cute model!

but you can tell he was gettin' impatient toward the end...

Anonymous said...

That is an amazing gift! I think he will like it!

I'm so glad that I'm on a Mac and don't have to deal with that awful blue screen of death!

Liz K. said...

I love this hat, with the exception of the lice pattern. Boo, lice.

nova said...

The hat looks great, Ann! Nice designing on the fly!

Robin said...

Love the top! Looks starfishish.

twigletqueen said...

I really like this pattern! It's going in my 'maybe someday' pile for when I get over my fear of colourwork.

And exactly the same colour as the blue screen of death too!