I put my mitten pattern up on yarnpond to look for test knitters, and I was overwhelmed by the response. Within 2 days I’d had 16 knitters offer to test knit, not including my mom. She’s currently finished four pairs of the mittens, each slightly different. It was while she was wearing her new mittens that she decided there should be a hat pattern to go with them. When Mommy tells me I need to write a hat pattern, I sit down and do it!
Conceptual design for the hat
I started by jotting down instructions on a piece of paper, complete with this picture that I am inordinately proud of. Mum had sport weight yarn in the appropriate colors, while I had worsted. I decided to write the pattern up for both. With worsted weight I can keep the same 8 stitch pattern decrease that I used on the full mittens, while a sport weight adult hat requires slower decreases. By the time we both cast on our respective samples, the pattern was already all typed up, with this drawing and a picture of my fingerless mittens as placeholders.
I made the large child size, which I think may be a bit small for me, even though I do have a smaller head. It was a quick knit, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out-particularly how the decreases look from above. I’m still working on training up my photographer, so I don’t have the best pictures ever, and we will need to iterate a bit more to get the pattern pictures… I tried showing him exactly the style of picture we were aiming for, that my mum took of me in a different hat, and while that helped get a good angle of the hat, we apparently weren’t super picky about making sure the background looked good. I’m really considering getting a head model, to put on the mantelpiece next to my foot model.
My plan is to look for test knitters for this one as soon as mom finishes (and photographs) her second hat, which she’s making to be her size. Then I’ll have a matching set of sock, mitten and hat patterns!