Believe it or Not

Well, the plan to make an FO post today about the Bridgewater shawl have failed, as it has not made it as far as the blocking mats yet. I confess that this may have something to do with the dog’s breakfast that I made of the corner grafting. It is truly awful. I am trying to decide whether to live with it, or whether to unpick and rework the graft. The perfectionist route worries me, as I made a mess of recovering the stitches from the sacrificial cast on. it may only get worse if I unpick.

Really, I should not attempt these things outside of daylight hours, nor when I am am in a rush to mark the project FINISHED on Ravelry. It never ends well under such circumstances. It is a pity, because many hours of work went into the shawl and it was (so far as I know) error-free at the end of knitting.

Worry not – we do have finished objects this week. We have a pair of Ripley hats!

Ripley

  • Pattern: Ripley by Ysolda Teague
  • Yarn: Colinette Art from a 450g Creative Pack in assorted shades
  • Amount: I used 54g (just over 100 yards) for Ripley 1 and 58g for Ripley 2.
  • Notes: Slouchy hat in four sizes, with two degrees of slouchiness and a choice of two borders. Utilises gathers. Would be easy to adapt to a larger size or different gauge.
  • Ravelry Project 1: Ripley 22″ extra slouchy, lace border
  • Ravelry Project 2: Ripley Too 24″ extra slouchy, lace border
  • Ravelry Gallery

Ysolda says: Ripley is a fun, versatile hat with a couple of simple variations on the basic pattern that lead to a completely different style. Sculptural pleats can be worn at the side for a cute vintage style cloche with a girly lace edge. Shown at the back of the slouchier version they help all of that extra fabric drape perfectly, the casual slouchiness and neat garter stitch band result in a more modern, unisex look. Of course if you happen to want a slouchy hat with a lace edging you can combine the different elements however you like.

Ripley the First

I made the 22″ extra slouchy, using the lace edging. Having measured the border about my head, it seemed the perfect size. Of course, those gathers tighten up the finished hat, so 22″ was too small. Not surprising – my head is 23.5″!

Ripley Too

I made a second, in the 24″ size, and that fits beautifully.

Rotten photos today, sorry

It is a good fast knit – just a couple of hours from start to finish, on 6mm needles it seems to grow at a mile a minute. As with all Ysolda patterns, it is clearly written and presented, with all twiddly bits fully and coherently explained — so don’t worry about making those gathers (they are easy! and there are diagrams to help you.)

There will be at least one more Ripley, in the shorter version. I can use one of the smaller balls of Art for that.

Art was a good choice of yarn for this hat as the bamboo content makes it soft and silky and it drapes well. I find myself hankering for a Clapotis (full size, this time) in Art… but with 120 shades to choose from, how on earth would I ever reach a decision on which one to use?

[…]

OK. I’m back now after a lengthy perusal of the Colinette site 🙂 (Florentina?)

Both photographs are of unwashed/unblocked hats.

Next up

The Antalya has been cast on and I am marvelling at the genius of the design. It will be slow going… I’m not very dextrous when using two cable needles simultaneously. Oh, my!

Mingus makes occasional progress too.

Other News

Sock yarn scraps in the post this week, from Jenny

I think I'll get the blankie out this weekend

and here is the Ranco sock yarn that came from Hejhog

Fantastic value

The Spinning Ladies think the Ranco is too good for mansocks, even at only £4.27. They think there are at least two shawls in that parcel… that’ll be the front two skeins then? 🙂

Finally, the leftover yarn from the Bridgewater is packed up and ready to be phopped to Finland.

That’s us all caught up, I think. I’ve had a busy morning and had a poor night’s sleep last night. Also I am pogged from dining well on Gill’s Hebridean lamb cutlets (new potatoes, glazed peas and carrots, onion sauce and redcurrant jelly – absolutely deelicious). This would seem like a perfect afternoon for some gentle weaving practice and contemplation.

Or should I knit? Not the Antalya, not today. I could do the short Ripley, or maybe start a Norie? I am quite warming to the slouched look. Not sure if I have any DK, though.

One Comment

  1. January 14, 2011
    Reply

    Everytime I go in the Collinetter factory shop I spend at least 5 minutes fondling the yarn on the Art wall….
    I’m waiting for some of it to appear in the discount section, but I think pigs might fly first!

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