Sun Hat

After our very short stint of sunshine recently, I realised that I don't really have any Summer weight hats. All my hats are woolly or heavy fabric. The trouble is that I feel naked without something on my head, even when it is warm. I also have quite delicate eyes that don't respond well to bright light and as I wear glasses instead of contacts sometimes, I can't wear sunglasses in every instance. I have one sun hat and I can't find it. I also believe it is a bit battered and grubby. I don't think I had to use it last year at all, as the Summer was non-existent.

I decided that instead of buying a sun hat, I would make one. I couldn't decide whether to sew or knit one and searched around for a hat pattern. There were a few sewing patterns that interested me:

indietutes: Bush Hat
CraftZine: Reversible Sun Hat
Amy Butler (paid patterns)

I even considered downloading some free sewing pattern software called Wild Things, Wild Ginger. To be honest I did download it, I just haven't used it yet. I really thought I was going to choose one of these options and whip up a quick bonnet, when I saw some lovely cotton yarn at Mary Clare. The yarn was Adriafil Memphis and it is a 100% cotton. The colours are lovely and the yarn has a subtle sheen, but still remains soft and easy to handle. I decided that I had to knit my new sun hat.

I chose a free pattern by Anna Bell, called Witterings. For knitters, the Ravelry page is here. This pattern turned out to be very well written and the whole knitting process was very painless. In a few days I had a lovely hat.

This pattern was straight forward and well written and taught me a couple of new techniques. One of which was knitting into the back loops in order to form the crease from which the brim would grow. I also really liked the knitted hem, which was sewn shut, using the instructions given for a tubular sewn cast off. This technique was somehow laborious and yet satisfying. I blocked the hat using my new polystyrene head. The OH was disturbed by the voodoo pins sticking into the head and made me hide it behind the curtains so it didn't make him feel watched if he woke up in the night. I suppose I should have put it in another room, but I do all my blocking in the bedroom.

Once the blocking was complete I sewed a length of petersham into the hat as a hatband. This ensures the hat retains it's shape and doesn't stretch, which is likely with cotton. I then threaded some piping cord into the sewn hem, using a safety pin and cut it to length, before sewing the ends together and then sewing the two edges of the hem together.

I was going to use fabric stiffener to firm up the brim, but I don't think it needs it. The cord holds the shape reasonably well. If I stiffen the brim, I won't be able to scrunch up the hat and shove it into a pocket, so I shall wait a while before making a decision about it. But at the moment, I think it looks quite good.

I love the stripes, it gives the hat a gaunty nautical feel. I highly recommend the pattern to others who need to hide from the sun and don't know how to sew. I hope it will keep my nose sunburn free, providing we actually get some sun to try it with this Summer. I've probably cursed us by making a sun hat. Sorry.

Back to Knitting

I am so excited about showing you my new knit. I didn't share it with you while I was knitting it, because I wanted to do a big "ta-Dah!" when it was done. And I am now done! Actually I sewed in my last end of yarn on Saturday afternoon so I was able to wear it with my new skirt on Saturday night for my birthday dinner. It wasn't blocked but I was happy enough with it to wear it out. I have now blocked it, and oh what a difference it has made. I wish I had taken before and after photos but I didn't think it would change that much.

This knit uses Louisa Harding Jasmine in Plume, which I bought at a bargain price , in November. I have just checked and the offer is still on at Stash Yarns. They have some more yummy colours that I am really tempted to get after the success of this knit.

I used the Siesta pattern by Carol Feller as my base. It was published (for free) in the Summer 2009 issue of Knotions Magazine. The Ravelry pattern page is here, if you are interested. I used this pattern as a starting point as I had never knit a top down raglan sweater before and knew I needed some guidance. I chose this pattern because I wanted a v-neck tee and I really liked the cables round the neck and the i-cord edging.

I knew that I didn't want to use the pattern as written, as I believed the reverse stocking stitch panel over my tummy would just draw attention to my bulges, especially as when my tummy swells up on a bad pain day, I would just look even more pregnant than the swelling normally does. I decided to follow pumpkinknits suggestion and simply carry the central cable down the front.

I also made the sleeves slightly longer as I don't think short capped sleeves look great on me. I also needed to lengthen the yoke part before dividing for the sleeves as I needed to account for my larger bust. The pattern recommends making the top with negative ease (smaller than your body) so it become figure hugging. I didn't want it to be too snug because I felt it would look better skimming my curves, especially with the silk content. Once I started messing with the stitch counts I basically abandoned the pattern and worked out the increases and decreases for myself so that the tee followed my shape rather than a standard one.

I am so pleased with the way the finished product looks, especially now it has been blocked.

I love the i-cord edging as I think it really gives a nice crisp line. This style does not want to be pulled about by ribbing or moss stitch at the edges to stop curling. I think this tee will be worn to death this summer, which is why I am tempted to buy some more of this lovely yarn. The silk and cotton combination is so light and cool to wear, and it drapes beautifully. It skims my curves which hides any lumps but enhances my overall shape. I am very pleased with this make and will definitely be trying more raglan tops, because they suit me more than I imagined they would.

I can also report that this top was knit continential style again, and it really does speed up my completion rate. The knit fabric is also becoming more even, though it may be some time before it becomes as neat as my English style knitting is. I highly recommend giving this style of knitting a go if you feel you have hit a wall, speedwise, with English style knitting.

Restored my Faith.

I know its a weird title, but I can assure you that it has no bearing on my religious or political beliefs. It would take more than recent events to transform those puppies!

Basically I have short but sad story to tell. Last August I ordered a subscription to Interweave Magazine. As I am based in the UK, it didn't occur to me that I could do it directly with Interweave. I now know that I can, and have done so here (in case you are interested). At the time though, I sought a place I could subscribe and ended up using the Woolly Workshop. I had heard good things about this website and decided to use them for my subscription. This was a mistake, that was further compounded by using a debit card to pay. The payment system was Sagepay. Sagepay take no responsibility if you do not receive the goods you paid for. Using a debit card means there is no insurance when you don't receive the goods you pay for. Do you see what is coming.....?

Yup, I didn't receive my goods. Along with a large number of customers,, I was most upset to have my emails and PMs on Ravelry ignored when I tried to communicate my displeasure. Then I found a thread on Ravelry about it and we all started talking about it to each other. There were a lot of other people who had done the same thing I did. It was revealed to us that the nice lady who owned Woolly Workshop had major life difficulties and she was trying to sort out all the backlog and please could we be patient. We were.... for a long time..still nothing.

Then we received news that the owner thought she had resolved all the outstanding issues. When we tried to contact her to tell her - "er, no, you haven't" we were ignored - again. At this point, I and lots of other people just had to accept that unless we wanted to go to the small claims court, we weren't going to get our money back. This disappointed, angered and saddened me. This is the first time I have been stung in this way on the internet and I've been buying things online for many years now. I thought I was being kind and patient and I have been ignored and taken for a fool.

Then sweeping in like a saviour angel has come Natalie at The Yarn Yard. This very kind and generous individual offered to send all the people in the thread, who had no reply, some yarn. It was very nice yarn too. She was offering to add us to her Yarn Club list for the month of April. I don't think I was alone in feeling a tug of the old heart strings. The Yarn Yard has no ties to Woolly Workshop, and the two owners don't even know each other. To decide to try and recompense a group of strangers in this generous way restores my faith in human nature.

Natalie said that she wanted us to know that not all internet purchases are a bad idea, and not all internet traders will take you for a ride. I already knew that, but having such a generous gift really rammed it home for me. I think there were around 40 people in that thread that she sent yarn to. Her yarn club normally costs £15.99 per month and I have to say now I have the yarn I would be tempted to give it a go (if I had any money). As I don't have any money, I decided to tell people about this kind gesture. Call it free advertising. Just look at this beautiful yarn!

Isn't it gorgeous? It is sock yarn in 100% Superwash Merino and it is soft and silky with a scrumptious and vibrant sheen. This yarn is going to be very special to knit with, I can tell. The yarn is called Clan and is 65g, which gives 210m per skein. To buy a skein will cost you £6.99 (pretty good value in my opinion). I know this sort of sounds like an advert, but if I hadn't really really liked the yarn, I wouldn't be posting about it in such detail. Natalie Fergie deserves a round of applause for her gesture, but she also deserves custom for her great yarn. I know I will buy yarn from her in the future. Please take a look at her site and see if you fancy it too!

Just to let you know, Woolly Workshop no longer exists on the web and all emails are being bounced back. I am now a little wiser about shopping online and will never use a debit card online again. It is Paypal all the way from now on. I may have been made out of pocket, but I've learnt a valuable lesson and received some lovely yummy yarn from a nice kind lady. I guess you lose some, but you can also win some!