Who would have thought that the beanie I make for myself would drive me the craziest? I guess those that know me would have, because rumour has it I have a tendency for OCD-like behaviour. Pah, rumour-mongers, the lot of them.
You want something epic? Better try again...
My beanie did indeed become a journey of many firsts. A particularly painful first was having to deal with ripping up a project. It was a quite an experience when my desperate attempts to tinker back were deemed unsuccessful and my nanna finally advised that only a complete annihilation was the way to go.
To deal with the pain, I dedicated my time to two other projects, which I wrote about in previous weeks: The Slouched Tuva Hat and the Baby Boots I made for my friends. And good thing I did, too, because not only were they good distractions, but they also taught me all the skills I needed for the beanie I had chosen for myself: The Lotus Hat by Third Base Line.
What skills you will need
Since I already covered the art of yarn over and slanted decreases extensively in the previous two posts (see the above links), I thought I would focus this post on another skill you will need to acquire as you delver deeper into the world of knitting: Reading knitting charts.
Reading those blasted knitting chartsKnitting charts can be a great way to visualise a pattern, but more often than not they are the bane of many a beginner knitter's existence. They can be confusing to understand and difficult to side read, which may result in the need for you to rip up your work and start all over. Trust me, I speak from experience here... But rather than avoiding projects which are displayed solely by charts altogether, let's have a look at what the experts say:
Wise Hilda Knits has a wonderful blog post on how to read knitting charts: Chart Reading Tutorial
Personally, Hilda's explanation really helped me to wrap my head around this whole chart reading thing. But keep in mind, that beanies are generally knit in the round, so their charts should always be read from right to left.
The Lotus Hat pattern
But even with an explanation in mind, if you just aren't a visual learner it may be simpler to spend a bit of time writing out the chart line by line rather than struggling through the process. The Lotus Hat pattern by Third Base Line only comes in the form of a chart, so after my first failed attempt, I decided that a translation was needed if I was to ever succeed.
So if you find yourself struggling with the chart, feel free to use my two round by round conversions below:
Chart A - The Crosshatch Lace pattern
Round 1: K3, K2tog, YO, K
Round 2: K2, K2tog, YO, K2
Round 3: K, K2tog, YO, K3
Round 4: K2tog, YO, K4
Round 5: K, YO, SSK, K3
Round 6: K2, YO, SSK, K2
Round 7: K3, YO, SSK, K
Round 8: K4, YO, SSK
Chart B - The decrease
Round 1: K2tog, K, K2tog, YO, K4, K2tog, YO, K
Round 2: K, K2tog, YO, K4, K2tog, YO, K2
Round 3: K2tog, K4, K2tog, YO, K3
Round 4: K4, K2tog, YO, K4
Round 5: K2tog, K3, YO, SSK, K3
Round 6: K5, YO, SSK, K2
Round 7: K2tog, K4, YO, SSK, K
Round 8: K6, YO, SSK
Round 9: K2tog, K3, K2tog, YO, K
Round 10: K3, K2tog, YO, K2
Round 11: K2tog, K2tog, YO, K3
Round 12: K2tog, YO, K4
Round 13: K, SSK, K3
Round 14: K, YO, SSK, K2
Round 15: K2tog, YO, SSK, K
Round 16: K2, YO, SSK
Round 17: K2tog, K2
Round 18: K3
Round 19: K2tog, K
Round 20: K2tog
Some minor modifications
As you may have guessed by now, I like to find shortcuts where I can, so instead of the SSK, I did a K2togtbl throughout the whole project. I promise, even the trained eye would not be able to see a difference between the two. If you are unsure about how to do a K2togtbl, be sure to check out my previous post for detailed instructions.
Also, for my own beanie, I added an extra pattern repeat before beginning the decrease. I am quite glad I decided to, as my head is quite small and still the beanie only just covers my ears. So if you want something to keep you warm in this uncharacteristically chilly Australian winter, be sure to add one or even two extra pattern repeats.
Now, armed with this knowledge, head on over to the Third Base Line's The Lotus Hat and start creating your master piece. Enjoy.
Thank you for posting the translation to the chart! I always do that too!
ReplyDeleteI'm just starting this pattern and I was wondering what length cable did you use? I cast on the 96 stitches on a 32" and it was too long, 24" looked too small? Thanks! ~Jen from Boston
Hello, I'm glad you are finding it helpful! :)
DeleteI'm trying to remember if I used the magic loop method for this one or just a normal knitting in the round... For my early beanies I used to use a 40 cm round cable needle. Google tells me that's approx 16 inches. So the 32'' definitely sounds too big and even the 24'' would be stretching it a bit in the beginning.
Are you familiar with the magic loop method? Because the 32'' one would be quite suitable for it. If not, you could try the 24'' one, but you'll need to stretch your knitting a bit in the beginning. From my experience, for beanies a smaller cable length needle is better, because you can always squish your knitting together and fit it all on the needle, but if the cable is too long, it tends to stretch and pull, especially for the first couple of rounds. Let me know how you go with it. :)