Il Giardiniere hat. Free pattern.

I knitted this hat for my father-in-law. He always  feels cold and spends a lot of time outside.

So I called it “The Gardener” in Italian. As you see, it looks also great on my daughter. It’s a simple unisex model.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/il-giardignere

The hat is knitted with Garnstudio DROPS Lima, shade dark grey. Approx. 1,8 skeins.

The gauge is 20sts x 26rows to 10 cm square measured over the purl stitches knitted with 6 mm needles.

You will need 4,5 mm and 6mm circular needles and 6 mm or smaller dpn needles for the top finishing (I used 5 mm as I didn’t have 6 mm), or other size to obtain the gauge.

Wtih 4,5 mm circular needles cast on 104 sts.

Knit 2x2 rib for 40 rows.

Change to 6 mm circular needles. Purl, adding 1 st after every 13 sts (raised purl increase). Now you have 112 sts.

Next 29 rounds: purl.

Now start the decreases.

Next round: (P5, ssp, p2tog, P5) 8 times

Next round: purl.

Next round: (P4, ssp, p2tog, P4) 8 times,

Next round: purl.

Next round: (P3, ssp, p2tog, P3) 8 times

Next round: purl.

Next round: (P2, ssp, p2tog, P2) 8 times

Next round: purl.

Next round: (P1, ssp, p2tog, P1) 8 times

Next round: purl

Next roound: Ssk8.

Next 4 rounds: K8.

Cut off the yarn, pass it through the ultimate 8 sts.

Weave in the ends.

La Marea cowl + Treehousehat

In the previous post you can find a free pattern for La Marea cowl.
A simple, versatile and easy to wear garment.
You can wear it solo, with a hat that repeats the color of one of the sections.
Or you can choose a contrast color, like this Treehouse hat I knitted for my daughter.
I knitted it like a test knit. My friend from Moscow asked me to knit this hat so I wanted to see how this pattern works with the yarn we chose.

I knitted it with Garnstudio DROPS Lima yarn. It is a bit thinner then required in pattern and I always prefer the hats with more positive ease. So I knitted 4 instead of 3 repeats of main pattern.
I made the 2×2 rib.
The crown is knitted also in different way (I used Il Giardiniere pattern, free pattern you can find in the following post).
You can find this project here on my ravelry page.
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/treehouse-hat

La Marea cowl. Free pattern.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I want to celebrate it publishing 2 free patterns. 

The first one is called La Marea cowl.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/la-marea

These year I decided to make knitted Christmas presents for my relatives. For a long time I had this idea to knit colorful cowls in textured stitches. And after several attempts this pattern was born. Easy, versatile,  you can wear it  "solo" or with any hat you have (see also my following posts). 

Marea means "high tide" in Italian. For the cowl that I knitted for me I chose these colors. Deep sea, verde acqua... It couldn't be called in another way... 

You can find it here https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/la-marea-5

It is knitted with Garnstudio DROPS Lima yarn. I usually wear it with a hat from Cool Wool set designed by Ekaterina Blanchard. Knitted with Garnstudio DROPS Andes. 

It has 2 versions:

5-color knitted with 7 mm needles. The size is 130cm × 29cm. You will need approx. 0.8 skein of each color. The gauge is 18sts × 26rows to 10cm square.

4-color knitted with 6.5 mm needles. The size is 128 cm × 27cm. You will need 1 skein of every first color and approx. 1.2 skeins of the 4th color. The gauge is 19sts × 27rows to 10cm square.

You can easily change the size, the gauge, the number if colors, using this basic pattern.

With a waist yarn using provisional cast on method cast in 55 sts.

Knit the main pattern on central 49 sts starting and ending every row with i-cord edge (3 sts on each side):

Row 1: slip the first 2 sts in the right needle, yarn forward, P1, knit the main pattern untill the last 3 sts, P1, K3.

Row 2: slip the first 2 sts in the right needle, yarn forward, K1, knit the main pattern untill the last 3 sts, K4.

Main pattern: (4+1 sts × 4 rows):

Row 1: knit.

Row 2: (P1, K3) until the 4th st from the end, P1.

Row 3: knit.

Row 4: K2, (P1, K3) until the 5th st from the end, K2.

Knit the necessary number of main patterns until the ultimate WS row, undo the provisional cast on and sew the 1st RS row and ultimate RS row, following the pattern (grafting). Weave in the ends.

If you prefer the contrast edging, knit the cowl on 51 sts (main part +2 edge sts) and knit the attached i-cord with contrast yarn. In this case you will need 1 skein of contrast yarn. 

You can also knit the contrast  i-cord edging contemporaly with the main part. I will probably knit the next cowl (for my friend) in this way.

All the cowls above are knitted with 5 colors.
You can find these projects here:
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/la-marea-2
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/la-marea-3
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/la-marea-4
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/la-marea-5

This ultimate is 4-color version knitted for my daughter to wear with a Treehouse hat. More photos in the following post.
You can find this project here:
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/la-marea

Strolling around hats II and III.

Yes, I knitted 2 more hats! All of them with different yarn and with small modifications.
They are all very different, the first Strolling around, which you can find here
https://vintagecasahandmade.blogspot.it/2017/07/strolling-around.html
is warmer, more elastic and smooth.
For the second version I wanted something bright, contrast to grey...
And I found this Multifilo egyptian cotton by Adrianwool.

 I don't like so much mercerized cotton as it seems rather stiff to me.
So I tried even some other yarns and different stitches. I wasn't sure about the result so I decided to knit and see what happens with the top, with the drape. As you can see, at the beginning I made a progress with grey Sesia hat, which lately I undid, and now I knit another hat with this yarn.

 After different cast on, unripping, cast on etc...

I made another border (simple garter stitch with crab stitch finishing instead of double picot edge) and this hat is shorter as this yarn is not the best for draping. 

Now I like it, the color is great and it looks cute.  

One more thing, always for better draping, I sewed the upper part from the wrong size, so the pleats look much better.  

Then I continued my Strolling around series with Piuma (machine knitting yarn). 

I knitted the double picot border with 5 threads and the main part with 6 threads.

This yarn is smooth and lighter, I wanted this hat to be a bit more slouchy, so I added one more pattern repeat. Sewed on the wrong size. Even this hat is a bit shorter than the first one, and the pleats look better being sewed on the wrong size. 

Now you see the difference?

Strolling around

I've never knitted summer hats for adults... Only for children, to protect from the sun and mostly because they can be so cute... children... and hats.
And when I was given the idea to knit  some summer accessories, I felt a bit lost.
I had a vague idea of the hat, which should be light, but keep the form, lace but rather sportive.
I found a nice online shop https://dilanaedaltrestorie.it/ which had the yarn I was longing to try - Askham 4ply and Milburn 4ply from https://www.edencottageyarns.co.uk/, and I was curious to try new CONCEPT by Katia COTTON-YAK. 

On that occasion I decided to try even CONCEPT by Katia COTTON-CASHMERE (cotton 90%, cashmere 10%).

Later I saw another nice yarn, which looked softer than many other cotton yarns - Sesia Baby. 

So I continued to think over this new summer design considering these two new yarns. I tried several stitches with both yarns and decided, almost at random, to start with Katia. 

No wonder that it took me more than 2 months to complete the project... Surely, it wasn't my only WIP and I even sewed a bit, but it's too much for a simple hat. 
I hope to be much faster with the second hat.... just give me time to chose the best stitch for it!

You can find Strolling around on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/strolling-around
 

  

Duffle coat for Sara.

I started this project... let me see, I was still pregnant... and my son is almost 27 months old... the 10/01/2015.  I used Lana Gatto machine knitting wool and DROPS Alaska. I completed all the garment and left only the closure to be finished. This coat was too big for my son, and then it was too warm to wear it... so the years have passed and my son has grown up... Meanwhile our long-awaited niece was born so I decided that this garment will be more useful for her. And last Saturday we presented her this duffle coat for her Christening. Also I've knitted a cute dress, using DROPS Baby Alpaca Silk. I will publish the pattern as soon as I've tested bigger sizes of this design.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/cappottino-celeste

A cute summer hat. Very long story...

Two years ago I knitted this cardigan for my son.
Striped cardigan with anchor.
Like always, it was too big for him.
When he was born I knitted another smaller cardigan using the same lime-yeallow cotton yarn. No stripes, no anchor. I also knitted a striped hat.

Then we lost it, so I knitted another one.

This year the cardigan fits perfectly well, all we needed was a scarf.
Ok, let's knit a scarf!
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/NatieKnits/summer-scarf-for-ale

But the hat was a bit worn out, so I started the third striped hat.

And here we are, after more than 2 years the set is completed. As you can see I always reduced the number of stripes. And the last hat is knitted with 4 threads instead of 3 threads of yarn. Just like the cardigan and the scarf. Always with 3,5 mm needles.
All we need now that the spring comes back and we can show all this beauty to somebody outside!