You might have noticed that I have a deep and abiding love of all things BabyLongLegs. I have wanted to purchase some of her lovely Radiance yarn for some time. It is comprised of 3 plies of merino yarn that take dye in slightly different ways. It means that you get a subtle variegation within the stripes. It really is lovely stuff. So I decided that I should splash out and get a skein to play with.
Here is a close up so you can see what I mean about how the plies take the dye differently. Isn't it pretty?
As usual the yarn is incredibly soft and bouncy. That BabyLongLegs sure knows how to source a good yarn! I decided to use this yarn to make a hat which would go into my Christmas present stash. I am decidedly short on presents for the men, so decided it would make a hat for the male of the species. I knew I wanted to play around with some cabling but wanted enough plain knitting to show off the nature of the yarn properly.
After spending some time looking at Ravelry patterns, I decided that I couldn't find any that screamed "knit me" and consulted my stitch dictionary. After a few days of playing I came up with this:
I'm really pleased with how the yarn is shown off with this pattern, but the wide cabling keeps it entertaining and adds a nice solid masculine feel to the hat.
I have never used this cable design before and really love it. I kept the decreases for the crown pretty straight forward, but I think it looks interesting too. I doesn't, however, photograph well.
I have written the pattern up and am testing it now with another knit for the Christmas pile, but this time in a solid yarn, Rowan Pure Wool Aran.
I love this chocolate colour and I think it will show off the cables really clearly, so they will pop out more in photographs. After I finish my test, I will be looking for a couple of other test knitters. If you are interested, keep an eye on the Free Pattern Test Knitters group on Ravelry, as I plan to post a request in around 3-4 days.
So although this isn't a launch of a pattern, it is hopefully a pattern that will be available within a few weeks. It is also officially a Finished Object, so I'm linking it to Tami's Amis. If you want to look at pretty projects, go and have a look!
