Friday 5 November 2010

Friday FO is a Pattern!

I don't know if I can technically say that this post is a FO, but I'm going to stretch the point anyway - cos I want to!

I have finally finished getting my new Knotted Cap pattern tested, tweaked and released.  I showed you a couple of the prototypes for my pattern and the sizing in previous posts about the new pattern and test knitting.  This pattern is my first attempt at sizing and I'm quite pleased that all the maths seemed to work out for the lovely testers, found from the Free Pattern Testers Group on Ravelry.


The hat comes in three sizes, to fit heads sized: (S) 19”-20”, (M) 21”-22” and (L) 23”-24”, so most adults or teens should be catered for and uses less than a 100g skein of aran or worsted weight yarn.  The hat above is knit in Babylonglegs Radiance Aran, in the Stingray colour.


The above hat was knit using Rowan Pure Wool Aran, and the solid colour really shows off the cabling and the crown decreases.


The cable actually looks more complicated than it really is, with only 4 stitches being moved around with each twist, and it would be a good design to try cabling without a needle, as by the end of it you will have mastered the technique!  The method I recently learned was from a magazine, but WendyKnits has posted a YouTube video, shown below, that uses the exact same method.


As this FO is a pattern, then I should maybe tell you a bit more about getting it finished.  I use OpenOffice Draw to write my patterns up, which has a built in PDF creator.  This free software is brilliant for writing patterns as it allows easy embedding of photographs, simple diagram creation and easy movement of paragraphs around the document.  I previously used the Write part of this package, but found it restrictive when creating longer patterns.

Once the pattern was created I posted a request for testers in the Free Pattern Testers Group and got several requests to take part.  I selected three testers; Ann, lumberjill and dragknit, plus another online Ravelry friend Kwoodie had asked to join in, so I sent her the pattern to get the feedback.

When all the patterns had been knit I got feedback from all the knitters about how the pattern was written, where they had spotted any errors, and recommendations about changes that would make it easier to read.  I read through the feedback and amended the pattern, based on what I had read, plus my own opinions, and got the pattern up onto Ravelry.

Getting the pattern onto Ravelry is a little bit tricky but there are plenty of tutorials to help budding designers.  If you have any pattern that you want to offer to the world, be they small or large, free or costly I really do recommend you giving it a go.  Ravelry is an excellent place for knitters and crocheters to learn the design craft, and you never know, you might make a few pennies to offset the huge amounts spent on yarn every year - well I'm working on that bit anyway!  If you are interested in having a go at design then there are few groups on Ravelry that can help; Budding Designers, Self-Publishing Knitters, Ravelry ShopKeepers, and of course the Free Pattern Testers.

If you want to buy this new hat pattern, you can do so by going to the Ravelry pattern page, or by selecting the link in the right hand column, or checking out the Download Page I have on this blog.  This page gives more details about my patterns that you can read before purchase.  If you can't be bothered to go anywhere else, you can also click the button below!

Knotted Cap Pattern - £1.50 

I hope you forgive me stretching the Finished Objects Friday point, and I hope that maybe I've given some new information to the interested.  If you aren't interested in my FO, then maybe you will find something in some of the others that have been listed on Tami's Amis.

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