knitting by bicycle.

Over my winter break from work, I knit a lot. Mostly Christmas gifts, but after the New Year began it was all for me. Me!

Here’s the first completed knit of the year. A super quick knit and something that I’ve already worn everyday since finished.

Thorpe! In Tweed!

I originally wanted to make a pair of fingerless gloves with the brown Rowan Felted Tweed but it just kept not being what I wanted. Since I’m always on the lookout for a great winter hat that keeps me warm, can be worn under a bike helmet comfortably, and is cute, Thorpe seemed to be just the ticket.

This was the second time I’ve knit a hat from the top down, and it was a tiny bit fiddly at first, with managing 4 stitches on 4 double pointed needles. Patience prevails, and soon I was going round and round with no problems.

Thorpe is written for a bulky weight yarn, so I used the sport weight Felted Tweed held double and increased 2 more times after hitting the large size in the pattern, to account for the difference in gauge. When reading the pattern to create the earflaps I was getting a little confused. It was late at night and I had had 2 beers or so and just couldn’t wrap my mind around the bind offs and ear flap stitches, etc. But I trusted Kirsten and the many who’ve knit this before me, only to see…wow…ingenious way to have the ear flaps be knit on the hat! I lengthened the flaps a few rows, just to be certain that they would be cozy enough, bound off, and switched to a crochet needle and a blue skein on Rowan Felted Tweed for the trim, also held double. Extra long braids, in doubled tweed, finished it off — in just a touch over 1 day of knitting!

Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur
Needles: size 8
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, in brown and light blue, held doubled.
Start: January 16, 2009
Finish: January 17, 2009
Mods: 2 extra increase rounds to account for gauge. 2 extra garter rows in earflaps. Extra long braids.
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