I had a lot of yarn left over from the Sylvie Shawl (my previous post), and used it to make this hat and mitt set. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, although I think a smoother yarn, like a merino wool, might have made for some smoother stitches.
The yarn I used was Berroco Ultra Alpaca in color 62106 Pacific Blue,, and it’s a very pretty, soft yarn. I’m told by the friend I gave the Sylvie shawl to that it’s also comfortable and warm. Perfect for winter accessories. The yarn is described in the label as being “50% Super Fine Alpaca and 50% Peruvian Wool” so with that, along with the fact that Berroco is well established, you know it’s good quality.
But, I was a bit disappointed in how uneven some of the stitches were, and I couldn’t get it corrected. This would be with the stitches that border the center portion of the design. Like I said, I think a smoother yarn might have been better. I don’t typically have this much trouble with that kind of stitch.
The hat pattern gives directions for both the style I knit and a folded-over brim hat. The difference is merely more ribbing. I would have made the folded-over style, because I prefer that in a hat, but I wasn’t sure how much yarn I had left over. I am, however, happy with the style of hat I knit.
For both the hat and the mitts, I used the recommended needle size, which was an 8 for the hat and 7 for the mitts. And no, for anyone who’s been following my blog, I didn’t use Ewenicorn needles for the hat. I already had a couple of pairs of size 8 16″ circular needles and couldn’t justify buying any more. For that matter, I don’t know if the Ewenicorn needles come in that size. I didn’t dare look. It might have been too tempting.
For the mitts, I did not do the thumbs. They give decent instructions for their method, but I’ve tried it before with some mittens and had very little success. So I left off the thumbs. I bound off the five stitches where the pattern would have you prepare for the thumbs and cast on those stitches in the next round.
One thing I learned about the mitts very quickly is it’s a lot easier to use five double pointed needles than four. There are four repeats for the pattern and you can have one repeat on each needle, which is far better than trying to adjust the cable stitches on three needles. I did it that way at first and ended up with a lot of stitches on one needle.
These patterns are from SweaterBabe.com and are available for purchase online. The directions were clear and they had both written and charted instructions. I used the charts and they were clear and easy to follow. The Sylvie shawl I mentioned earlier was also a Sweater Babe pattern, and I’ve been happy with all of them. I plan to go back for more!
Designs & Words 