Free Pattern: (Fort) Knox Beanie

The (Fort) Knox Beanie was designed on the fly for a good friend to wear on her morning walks. The color she requested, combined with the faux cables, reminded me of gold bullion…hence the pattern name. The pattern is simple, versatile, and suitable for both men and women.



(Fort) Knox Beanie

Finished Size: approx. 22” circumference (one size fits most adult heads)

Approximately110 yds of worsted weight yarn [I used Cascade Yarns 220; 100% wool; Color 7828 for Perky, Color 9459 for Fatigue. 1 skein yields 2 beanies]
1 - US size 6 circular needle, 16” long
1 – additional US size 6 circular needle, 16” long or set of US size 6 double pointed needles

Gauge: 22 stitches = 4 inches in garter stitch

Special Abbreviation:
C2- Cross two (this is achieved by knitting into the second stitch on the left hand needle, then the first, and sliding both stitches off together.)

Cast on 96 stitches
Join for working in the round, being careful not to twist cast on stitches. Place a marker for the start of round.

Round 1-6: (K2, P2) repeat to end of round
Round 7: (C2, P2, K2, P2) repeat to end of round
Round 8-10: (K2, P2) repeat to end of round
Round 11: (K2, P2, C2, P2) repeat to end of round
Round 12-14: (K2, P2) repeat to end of round
Repeat Rounds 7-14 until beanie measures approx. 7” from cast on. End with a Round 8.

Decrease as Follows, switching to two circulars or double points when necessary:
Round 1: (K2, P2, K2, P2tog) repeat to end of round
Round 2: (K2, P2, K2, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 3: (K2, P2, K2tog, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 4: (K2, P2, K1, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 5: (K2, P2tog, K1, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 6: (K2, P1, K1, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 7: (K2tog, P1, K1, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 8: (K1, P1) repeat to end of round
Round 9: (K2tog, P2 tog) repeat to end of round
Repeat decrease rounds 8 and 9 until there are 6 stitches left on the needles.
Cut yarn, leaving a 6” tail. Thread tail through the live stitches and pull tight.

Weave in ends, wear with pride.

Knox

There is a very nice lady at my church, Perky, who likes to walk in the mornings.

When she walks her ears get cold.

A properly knit cap could solve this issue, so she commissioned me to make one. She wanted, in her words, a "sunshine yellow" toque. (She is married to a Canadian. She says toque, I say beanie...to-may-to, to-mah-to.)

The dilemma here was in the definition of "sunshine yellow". Yellows cover a broad range...so, I asked her to go through her son's crayon box, find a crayon that was the yellow she wanted, and tell me the color name. (I have a gazillion crayola crayons...out of childhood habit, I buy a new box of 64 or 96 every fall...) However, it seems her son's crayons were not Crayolas. She solved this by sending the actual crayon to bible study, care of her husband, the Canadian.

I took the crayon to the yarn shop, and literally passed it in front of every Cascade 220 yellow till I found a perfect match. (It was a good thing I had the crayon, because the color was a little greenier than I had imagined.)

The beanie itself is being called the (Fort) Knox, as in Fort Knox where all the gold is kept. (Partially because the color reminded me of gold bullion...partially because I was serendipitously watching Goldfinger while I knit it.) I carried the "bullion" theme into the stitch pattern by working elongated cables into the ribbing, like little bricks! I am actually very pleased with the design, and think that I will write it up...I can see it looking very manly in a fatigue green...

I delivered the beanie on Sunday. Perky was astonished that I got the beanie finished as quickly as I did. She gladly plopped it on her head, despite having Sunday morning pretty hair, and posed for a picture.

Now when she walks in the morning, people will definitely see her coming! And hopefully her ears will be warm.

Soft and Pretty

I finished 2 sets of wrist warmers on Saturday as a commission for my friend, Lovely. She asked for a luxury yarn, and was okay with the resulting price increase. I went with a merino silk blend. The silk made them incredibly soft, and the merino gave amazing stitch definition and warmth.

I decided that as long as I was upping the swank factor on the yarn, that I should up the swank on the stitch pattern as well. (It felt wrong to subject silk to a 2x2 rib...how demeaning!) Once again, I was grateful for my stitch a day calendar!

I did a mini cable rib on the cream pair. I have used this stitch on socks before. It is very simple and fast, I just need to count my rows so that my cables are a consistent length...the socks I made previously have some "charming" deviations!

On the black pair, I used a corded rib stitch. This was a new stitch for me, and very fun to do. It looks a lot more complex than it really is. Also, since it "knots" itself every other row, I didn't have to count rows as precisely. It was more intuitive. Better television knitting.

I delivered them last night, and Lovely seemed to really like them! (One more thing crossed off the "Queue that Should Never Have Happened"!)

But Excuse Me, You Are Wearing My Hat!

I was working at the reference desk the other day, and a lady walked by in a lovely scarlet beanie. It was beautiful, stylish, intricately cabled...and awfully familiar.

I looked at it.

I looked again.

I was positive.

"Excuse me" I said. "That is a lovely hat. I have one just like it!"

"That's impossible!" she replied, and looked at me like I was crazy. "I made this hat. You can't possibly have the same one."

"You got the pattern out of the 2007 Holiday Interweave magazine, right? The Koolhaas hat that the Brooklyn Tweed guy based on the architecture of the Seattle Public Library, right? I made the same hat...just in navy. Tricky pattern. You did a nice job!"

She looked stunned. I could understand why. It is fairly rare that I run into someone with the same handknit...unless of course I made it for them...

In honor of the occasion, I went home and put on my hat.

Finally Got Around To It

When NorCalGal was in the process of moving back down to CA, she discovered a really neat little yarn shop in downtown Sacramento. She brought back some rust colored Baby Alpaca chunky yarn for me as an incentive to get me to move. (I figure her thinking was that she could lure me south with the promise of quality fibers...and apparently it worked cause here I am!)

I only had one skein, but that was ok. I had made kool-aid dyed beanies for Sister and Sis-In-Law out of chunky yarn, but never got around to making one for myself. I decided to use the alpaca instead of doing a dye job...the rust was the ideal color, and not one easily achieved with beverage powder!

I had used my swift to ball the yarn prior to the move down. I just hadn't cast on. Other projects kept cutting in the queue. (Besides, I didn't NEED a beanie...I lived in CA!)

Labor Day weekend, I took the ball with me to WA to use as a nostepinde demo. (I didn't want to take my swift, so needed a ball instead of a skein.)I impressed the aunts with my nifty notion, and got a more usable ball in the process. As long as I had it rewound, I went ahead and cast it on. It was a speedy knit, and I got it made up in a single night.

Not a needed item. Not even that impressive of an item. But still something that I can check off the to-do list, and one less ball in the stash!

(It did turn out pretty cute though...didn't it?)

Sometimes I Impress Myself

I took several projects with me to work on on my WA trip last weekend. Specifically: Les Tuileries, a chunky cabled beanie, the last of the Cousins Beanies...and the Rivendell socks.

I have been "working" on the Rivendell socks for over a year now. I purchased the yarn before I moved to CA. I begged my parents for the Eclectic Sole Book for my 2008 birthday. I even cast on once...only to second guess my yarn choice, rip them out, and proceed to knit several other pairs of socks instead of the Rivendells.

Finally, I decided that enough was enough. The original yarn choice was great, and I was not allowing myself to knit any other socks UNTIL I knit the Rivendells.

Truth is...I was scared of them. They have something called a "yarn cluster"...there is a ton of cabling...they REQUIRE a chart. (I can read charts, I just prefer to use written row by row directions...I am less likely to lose my place.)

Anyway...I psyched myself up and cast them on again this last weekend. With all of the driving we did, and with all of the sitting and chatting and drinking tea...I got quite a bit done.

In fact, I had the whole cuff done before the flight back to CA Tuesday morning.

Frankly...I am pretty stinking impressed with how they are turning out. That may not be a humble admission, but it is the truth!

I am proud of me.

(Since the picture was taken, I have actually finished the heel flap and picked up the gusset stitches...the rest of the sock is simple straight-forward vanilla knitting, easy, breezy, and beautiful...I'm just not thinking about the fact that I have TWO feet!)

Blimey! I Forgot About The Blarney!

So, after posting about the Bremerton Bamboo Stitch Socks, I realized that I never posted about the completed and beautiful Blarney Socks! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THESE GORGEOUS DARLINGS?!?!?

I worked on them during the spring grad school residency...and let me tell you, it is NOT easy to juggle circulars, yarn, and a cable needle on the bus.

I also worked on them while I had laryngitis last spring...thanks to Dad.

I am more proud of this particular pair of socks than any other pair I have ever made. In fact, I think I am more proud of them than I am of anything I have ever knit period!

Part of my pride comes from the fact that I developed the design myself. I took the pattern for the braids from my stitch-a-day calendar. I then infused it into the basic sock pattern that I got out of one of Mom's sock books. (I would give credit to the author, but I honestly don't remember...either Schurch or Bordhi...) So, while it is not an entirely original-from-scratch design, it is an original hybrid! (Kind of like rose breeders who don't try to reinvent the wheel...I cross pollinated!)

Anyway, I finished these before I moved...I think in May. Wish I had posted then. I took the pictures then.

I have a wonderful father!

I meant to post this earlier, and just forgot.

About an hour after I posted my previous entry about the woeful lack of a cable needle, my father came by my condo.

He had seen my needle sitting on the table and, knowing I was stuck at home, thought I might want it. So, along with some library books my mom had checked out for me, he brought it by on his way to the office.

He noted that it appeared a little the worse for wear, since both their cat and puppy had gotten a hold of it. He offered to buy me a new one if it was ruined.

It wasn't ruined. I got a lot done on the sock...and was able to put off frogging the baby cardigan yet again!

Isn't my dad the best?

Now What?

I had promised myself that I wouldn't work on any other projects till I finished the Blarney socks. In this way I hoped to avoid second sock syndrome. Today I am stuck at home with laryngitis and have some seriously glorious knitting time ahead of me.

The problem: I accidentally left my cabling needle at my parents' house, thereby rendering it very difficult to work on cabled socks.

Possible Solutions (and why they won't work):
1. Use one of my other cable needles. (The socks are knit on size 2's and the cable needles I have are all 8's and larger)
2. Use a double pointed needle. (Don't own any.)
3. Buy another cable needle. (Not supposed to leave home when you have called in sick to work...besides, what if the teller wanted to ask me a question...I have NO voice.)
4. Go get my cable needle from my parents' house (Same reason as above)

So what am I going to do? Bite the bullet and do the other project I have been avoiding...frog back the baby sweater with the twisted stitches...

And then maybe work on a scarf...

The end

Whoops! or When Grafting Goes Wrong!

I knit a sock. A beautiful sock. A sock which according to my completely unbiased mother has the prettiest cables on it that she has ever seen.

I grafted the toe.

I forgot that due to the way I knit socks on two circulars that prior to grafting I needed to flip the sock inside out.

Now, the graft on the right side of the beautiful sock has purl stitches and the wrong side is knit…and it is too late to fix it…I wove and trimmed the ends before I noticed.

Thinking positively: I will be able to tell the right sock from the left…unless for the sake of consistency I purposefully misgraft the second sock as well!