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

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

Volo di Farfalle stole

Today I published my new spring pattern “Volo di Farfalle”.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/volo-di-farfalle

I don't really like to knit with summer yarns, wool blends are my all year round favorites. 

Spring and summer stoles knitted with light wool, alpaca and silk blended yarns are the best projects for this period of year. You can wear it with light dresses in summer evenings or use them as gorgeous accessories for bride and bridesmaids. 

A couple of years ago I purchased this beautiful Garnstudio DROPS Lace yarn (7238 Olive shade). It was still manufactured in 100 gm skeins. I bought 2 of them with an idea to knit a stole.

Later I changed my mind and decided to knit a vintage sweater, so I bought other 4 skeins (50 gm), and decided to mix them to make invisible any possible color difference. 

I also purchased 8 skeins of 501 light grey Lace and all this treasure was waiting and waiting...

This spring I was asked to knit some summer garments. I wanted to knit something particular, elaborate, but modern. Perfect for any taste. Suitable for any occasion.

I saw so many beautiful patterns and projects, but, like always, I wanted something different. 

The most important features of this stole are:

- the lace motives are mixed in asymmetric way;

- the stole is knitted with a yarn held double (still it weights only 240 gr). 

The stole is knitted in two slightly different parts and then sewed together using grafting method. 

Now I'm planning to knit another stole with light grey Lace. This time in 1 piece, with slightly different finishing. As grafting took so much time and this time I want to make the begging and the end of the stole looking absolutely different. 

For edges I used the 2 stitches i-cord.
You can easily adapt this pattern for larger stole or smaller scarf, play with the motives, knit them wherever you want.
The pattern is easy to knit and remember.

Enjoy summertime! 

Umbrian Tale

This is my new long awaited pattern. It has a long story. 

The first cowl and hat were knitted with DROPS Lima manufactured in 2014. 

Later I knitted another set with Lima manufactured in 2016. And there was a quite visible difference. 

To my opinion, the "old" Lima yarn is very close to "new" Nepal.

Since then I’ve knitted several garments with DROPS Lima and Nepal. Several versions of Umbrian Tale.

In this cowl ("old" Lima 0701) I used double rise stitch, the hat is a bit smaller.

This cowl is knitted with "new" Lima (9020).






















At the end I decided to write 2 versions of this pattern, adapted to DROPS Nepal and DROPS Lima. I knit very tightly,  for Nepal I used 7 mm needles to obtain 16 sts x 26 rows, for Lima – 6 mm needles to obtain 18 sts x 29 rows. You can go down at least 2 sizes to obtain the recommended gauge.

It’s very easy to variate the size of both cowl and hat adding some stitches in garter stitch or changing the number of main cable pattern repeats.

The other day I completed the ultimate hat (Lima 519) and this morning I was happy to publish my new pattern which you can find here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/umbrian-tale

This hat has an assymetrical cloche shape which looks cute and feminine. 

You can wear these cowl and hat together or separately, mix them with other garments.

For example I've knit grey hat to wear with yellow Byway scarf (pattern of Jared Flood).  

This set was knitted for one friend. She liked my original Umbrian Tale, but preferred simple double cowl in double rice stitch. Why not?

Cable Twin Hats

Last December I was asked to knit 2 hats for two sisters. Not twins, but they wanted the same hat: something warm, with cables, with pompom, and that remains steady, doesn't fall down or drapes. 

I thought that the best yarn would be DROPS Nepal, we chose the colors, beige 0206 and blue lavender 6220 (ordered, as usual, from Fiordilana).

I've ordered even these cute circular needles without realizing how short they would be. They are perfect for mitts or leg warmers. 

And then I've started to struggle with my usual problem - choosing the gauge.

After different fall starts with beige yarn I cast on the blue hat with 8 mm needles. On the 3rd skein I was more then sure that I absolutely disliked it. 

So I restarted with beige and 7mm needles. Then I knitted the rib (twice, I think).

And then I worked with the crown of the hat.
How many hours did I spent knitting the first hat? They would be enough for a sweater. 

But if you follow my pattern and have even medium experience in knitting you would need only a couple of days to complete it. 

I never make pompoms and I don't have any special accessory, so I used the traditional method - 2 paper circles. Now I'm going to buy a Knitpro pompom set, as it really saves so much time.

To be sincere, I didn't like all these hats with pompoms, but now as I knitted two of them, I'd like  to knit one for me, with Nepal orange 2920. It will be cute. May be with contrast pompom. 

And here are the twin hats for my friend and her sister. 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cable-twin-hat

Aran or Guernsey?

It’s a long time that I’ve been thinking of knitting a long large scarf with traditional, but not too intricate and too classic aran or guernsey motives. 

One of my favorite yarns is DROPS Lima, which is very soft and makes an even and not too much elastic fabric thanks to wool and alpaca fibers mix. 

Last December I was asked to knit some accessories for my friends, so I've decided to use this occasion and order some "christmas decorations" even for me. As usual, from Fiordilana shop. 

I've been using DROPS yarns for several years and every time I try a new color, it becomes one of my favorite. I didn't like beige, now I like it, I didn't like lavender, now I like it... 

Almost all this yarn is already knitted up, and from time to time I watch this colorful photos and remember how happy a knitter can be. 

Well, after knitting 3 hats and one cowl I was free to start my long awaited project. 

Recently DROPS Lima became a bit thinner then some years ago. I knit very tightly and used to knit with 7 mm needles (like Umbrian Tale hat and cowl, which is soon to be published). 
With new Lima I use 6 or 6.5 mm needles.
I tried some different stitches and chose this combination.  

Is it aran or guernsey? May be non of them… 
For guernsey scarf the DROPS Nepal would be better... and it's already on my mind... Next winter.  
This scarf can be easily transformed into a blanket, adding some pattern repeats. 
You can also use Drops Nepal or any other DK or aran yarn.
You will need approx. 500 gr (1000 m) for the size 45 cm x 186 cm.
I used Lima 9018 sea green. 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/aran-or-guernsey

I like this scarf playing "solo", but it's cold outside, so now I'm working on the matching hat. Made with Lima color 9015 grey.