Downton Abbey seemed to capture the imaginations of people around the world. It led to many discussions: Would Mary marry Matthew, Sir Richard and later Henry? What about Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson or Thomas Barrow and Phyllis Baxter? The sisterly love or lack thereof filled many episodes. And the repartee between Violet Crawley (the dowager) and Isobel Crawley (Matthew's mother) always spiced up the screen. Although the last episode seemed a bit too wrapped up for my taste, it did allow closure to the open questions created in the final season.
Downton also impacted the knitting world. One can find no less than 250 Downton-related patterns on Ravelry alone. There is something charming about the styles from the early twentieth century which caused me to create this hat.
I have had a single 50 gram hank of Noro, The Wonder of Nature in the colourway of Shiraito for a while. This wool is 45% cashmere, 45% angora and 10% wool and was simply a dream to knit up. Noro does have a reputation for knots and mine did have one, but it fell at a point that was going to be hidden so the abrupt colour change goes unnoticed (lucky me). The hank was a bargain when I purchased it because of the small quantity and I have waited years to find the perfect pattern.
The designer, Annie Cholewa, took a vintage WWI baby design and brought it up to date here. The pattern comes in sizes from baby to adult; I knit the smallest size using the needle size specified in the pattern and ended up with a toddler size hat. (My tension is very loose and now was not the time to be knitting with tiny needles so I let the chips fall where they may.) When I started the project I thought a two-tone version like the one above would be appropriate even though I was using a variegated yarn (What was I thinking?) But as you can image no additional colour was necessary.
In an effort to use every bit of the 50 grams of yarn, I decided to add the flower. It is part of the Flower Scarf by Robyn Diliberto. Since my flower is to remain permanently attached I decided to use the oversized button to keep it in place. The flower, although only 3.25 inches or 8.25 cm in diameter did use 7 grams of wool. It is deceiving in that the last four rounds are created with 243 stitches per round.
In the end there was only 5 grams of yarn left over. You might be wondering why I didn't use it. The colours were in green and a violet/grayish tone, not appropriate for a flower or even a leaf or two. Secondly, the fabric has a bit of a drape; any added weight would have the flower drooping. Truth be told the button gives the hat and flower some stability.
I didn't realize until after the hat was complete that VeryPink has a tutorial for the it. Staci apparently doesn't like purling so she altered the pattern instructions so she could knit the brim. The purl stitch causes me no problems so I followed the pattern as written. (Besides that I didn't really think about knitting it as an option until it was mentioned in the tutorial.)
Miss M will be rocking the Downton-style in this little hat. Ah, it is so satisfying when a plan so easily and completely comes together. It is happy knitter day~~again!
Downton also impacted the knitting world. One can find no less than 250 Downton-related patterns on Ravelry alone. There is something charming about the styles from the early twentieth century which caused me to create this hat.
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| A balloon makes the perfect drying mold for a hat and it can easily be adjusted to the perfect size |
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| As the designer knit and photographed it. |
In an effort to use every bit of the 50 grams of yarn, I decided to add the flower. It is part of the Flower Scarf by Robyn Diliberto. Since my flower is to remain permanently attached I decided to use the oversized button to keep it in place. The flower, although only 3.25 inches or 8.25 cm in diameter did use 7 grams of wool. It is deceiving in that the last four rounds are created with 243 stitches per round.
In the end there was only 5 grams of yarn left over. You might be wondering why I didn't use it. The colours were in green and a violet/grayish tone, not appropriate for a flower or even a leaf or two. Secondly, the fabric has a bit of a drape; any added weight would have the flower drooping. Truth be told the button gives the hat and flower some stability.
I didn't realize until after the hat was complete that VeryPink has a tutorial for the it. Staci apparently doesn't like purling so she altered the pattern instructions so she could knit the brim. The purl stitch causes me no problems so I followed the pattern as written. (Besides that I didn't really think about knitting it as an option until it was mentioned in the tutorial.)
Miss M will be rocking the Downton-style in this little hat. Ah, it is so satisfying when a plan so easily and completely comes together. It is happy knitter day~~again!
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