Crofthoose Hat for Shetland Wool Week

So with the book cover finished then I could turn to the Shetland Wool Week, Crofthoose Hat. 

I really loved this pattern when I saw it but it wasn't until I had the meadowsweet dyed colours together did I realise that they would look good as the houses, but that I would knit the background using one colour, not two as Ella had suggested. 

 

I have knitted the body of this hat with the help of my punch card knitting machine. The pattern designed by Ella Gordon (1) had a widthways repeat of 12 stitches so this was easily convertible to machine knitting - each punchcard  width gives instructions to 24 stitches. 

I had converted the tension given for the patten  and used the stitch and row count given to work out the size of the hat. This would be too big for me - a common problem with hats for me. I must have a very small head! So by using the stitches suggested and the rows suggested, the crofthouse design would work perfectly and the hat would be smaller and it is likely it would fit! 

I knitted the crofthouse part on the knitting machine with waste yarn at the top and bottom. 

I picked up the waste yarn first at the bottom using two needles and worked this in corrugated rib worked in reverse, ie purling on the 'right' side to give the purl ridges in dark olive. I worked single rows of the contrast colours to do the stitches between. I then fastened off this rib with a very stretchy cast off. As it turned out this ribbed section is my favourite section of the hat. 

 

Having completed this then I was able to pick up the stitches from the waste knitting at the top of the Crofthoose section and knit the crown on a circular needle. I used all 6 contrast colours of the meadowsweet jumper yoke and paired them as effectively as I could. 

 

Not long to when I can wear it now, with the coordinating yoked jumper and then also using my crofthoose covered journal.

The look will be  completed by a Harris Tweed skirt I have been making to remind me of my holiday on the Hebrides too. More about the skirt later. 

See The Shetland Wool week web page for the pattern