Hello and welcome! Today, December 1 2020, marks the official launch of Knitting Tales. As it says on the front page, this is a place for stories of craft and crafters. Sometimes it will be my story and sometimes it will be someone else’s. I hope you will find these stories a pleasure to read and that some of them bring something new to your attention.
To kick things off, I introduce the Falling Leaves Hat. This pattern has stories knitted into it. First is the story of the yarn used in the sample, North Avenue from Plied Yarns. This marled woolly-wool is a partnership between Ann Weaver and Karida Collins. It grew from their friendship and shared love of wool and Baltimore. You can read their story here.
The pattern also has a story. The first time I saw this yarn at a trunk show I was overwhelmed with curiosity about how the marled colors would work together in stranded colorwork. I grabbed two skeins with high contrast and brought them home with me. Great Blacks in Wax (visit the museum) and Sauerkraut at Christmas (it’s a thing) sat by my knitting area for a couple of months while I mulled over what to do with them. The more I looked, the more I kept seeing the colors of fall in the mid-Atlantic U.S. This is one of my favorite times of year. The yellow-green is what I see as some leaves start to turn and some hang on to their green. The brown-black is the bark of the trees, never just one shade. Leaves are coming down gradually until some windy day when they all seem to fall at once. I wanted a design that could capture that feeling.
Looking through stitch dictionaries I found the pattern Alder in Andrea Rangle’s Alternknit Stitch Dictionary and it jumped out at me. After swatching (and re-swatching), I settled on the final design. The simple beanie style hat is covered with falling leaves. It is knit top-up, in the round, and can be knit with either a corrugated two-color ribbing or a single color. You can decide. Ann Weaver at Plied Yarns has put together some other color ideas as well. [NH2]
Whatever colors you decide on, I hope you enjoy this pattern and I look forward to seeing your hats. The best way to share them will be to use the tag #FallingLeavesHat on Instagram.
Information on purchasing the pattern is here.
Comments