Knitted Eagle Hat

Knit Now Issue 7

 

I've purchased a few issues of Knit Now since it started publication last year. I like the idea that the magazine focuses on accessories rather than garments and it also has nice free gifts. However, I haven't made much from it as I think many of the patterns are actually quite complex for a relative newbie like me.

In Issue 7, though, I was extremely taken by Loraine Birchall's Eagle Hat and Scarf project. The hat was my favourite piece (and looked the easiest) so I duly sent off to Woolly Madly Deeply for the required Lion Brand Alpine Wool. It's great that there's a stockist here in the UK as the Lion Brand website has a great selection of free patterns.

I thought at first that you would knit the eagle design using stranding, but in fact the project recommends using Swiss darning (duplicate stitch), which I hadn't tried before.

To make the basic hat, I began on 6mm circular needles in 1 x 1 rib. I used to be  afraid of rib, worrying that I'd lose concentration half way through, but I got to the end of 12 rounds without any problems. For the rest of hat, I switched to 7mm needles and went happily round and round in stocking stitch until I reached the required length. I then turned the hat inside out and finished with three needle bind off, which I think is so clever.

So, now for the Swiss darning. After a little reading up and and a YouTube video or two, I made a start with the two rounds of alternate red and blue stitches. This was way more difficult than I expected in terms of following the row of stitches without accidentally moving up a row. It took several attempts and I still think there's a bit of a jog up and down in one place.

The eagle motif was actually much easier, being spread over an 8 x 8 grid of stitches. My husband took a while to see that it was in fact an eagle's head but under pressure said it looked very accurate :)

To block, I sprayed the hat lightly with water and dried flat.

The last part of the design was to make two large tassells using all four colours and secure them to the hat. I used the photo in the magazine to guestimate that the tassells were about 3.5 inches long. I got a piece of cardboard of that length and then wrapped each colour round eight times and then repeated once more. I secured the tassel at the top with the main colour and then cut through the wraps at the bottom of the cardboard. I then wrapped the main colour around a few times for extra security and then trimmed the tassel ends to the same length.

Now for tassel number two. I am hopeless at making two of anything the same and, even though I thought I repeated the same steps, I spent ages trimming the second tassel to match the first. Fluff everywhere...

Finally, I sewed the tassells as securely as I could manage to the corners of the hat.

The finished hat is so cute (if I do say so myself, although that might be more down to Loraine than me) that I'm almost sorry that summer is coming and I'll have to wait to show it off...

Melx