Giralda Sweater

Well, the spring is here and hat time is seems to be over.
So now I'm back to the much missed sweater design. Although this one may look winter-ish, it actually may be worn by chilly spring mornings and evenings.
Happy to introduce the Giralda Sweater!

This is my first top-down seamless sweater with somewhat unusual construction. I choose for this design the Saddle-Yoke: the variation of Saddle when it's made quite wide and part of this saddle works as a yoke on the back.

It may sounds complicated, but in fact, it's very easy to perform.
The cable pattern was inspired by Giralda tower of the Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. Yes, same as my Giralda Hat!

The pattern exists in 6 sizes – from XS to XL and in two languages: English and Russian.

As usually, pattern available on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.

ChromeAwesome Hat

You never know where the inspiration will come from. Being so fond of cable projects and designs, I started to see the cable crossings everywhere. This time there were chromosomes! These crucial parts of every living thing happened to be the key element of my new hat design: ChromeAwesome Hat.
Despite of my love to the complex cables and braids, I wanted to design a hat which may be a great introduction to the cable knitting in round for the beginners.
This hat design features just a few cable crossings, nothing too complicated, but overall impression is very nice and attractive even for the experienced cable knitter.
Also there are both written instructions and charts for knitters who prefer either one of the methods.
Pattern available in English and Russian.
So grab your circular needles and/or dpns and enjoy!
You can find pattern on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.
For those who don't have time to knit, but in need of perfect soft and toasty beanie, already made (by me!) hat can be found in my Etsy shop. 

Special promotion!

I hope you guys having a nice Holidays and happy to tell you that special Holiday promotion in my Ravelry store going on till January 10th 2015:

All patterns

Buy 2 get 1 Free!

New Designs

Just like all of us, I had a busiest couple of months at the end of the year. I found that I absolutely love designing hats and this very enjoyable work kept me occupied for a few weeks. And I am happy to show you the outcome. I like all of them!
Also I was blessed to work with most observant and helpful tester I met on Ravelry in "Free pattern testers" group. I am infinitely grateful for all their hard work and attention to details. They inspire me constantly to make something new.

It was very unusual but all these designs there was no struggling finding the proper name. Names just popped out in my head or the initial inspiration was very obvious and descriptive.

This hat was inspired by beautiful timeless Moorish architecture. The flowing lines of front decor on Sevilla's Giralda tower found their incarnation on my Giralda Hat.

First, Lance Hat was designed for worsted weight yarn, but I decided to make the bulky version, too. I just love how cables are popping when worked in bulky yarn.
Beige hat with pompom is bulky weight design and blue one made of worsted weight yarn.

I always loved the lattice design variations on cabled hats but I was looking for something a bit different then usual cable crossings. That's how Hearty Hat was born. I made two of them for test: red in Malabrigo worsted and orange in Cascade Yarns Pacific and seriously don't know which one I like better. It's absolutely impossible to decide.

There is a park in my neighborhood: Leo Carrillo Ranch park, the former San-Diego residence of 50s Hollywood actor Leo Carrillo. It is a pretty place, carefully preserved reflection of Californian Mexican style, somewhat rustic but beautiful. We love to walk there and watch the hundreds of peacocks that inhabit this friendly facility. So all these fences and peacock tails became an inspiration for the Carrillo Hat design:

One morning I woke up with a thought: "why not to go CRAZY with cables?" Yes, I think about cables all the time, sometimes I dream about it, too. So here is my Cablefest Hat with cables forming a merry-go-round on it.

And this design was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth world. No geeky knitter can resist the temptation of this stories. So here is the Quendi Hat. "Quendi" is the name given by the Elves to their own kind. Since they are my favorite creatures of this legendarium, I could not pass by.

I hope you like them as much as I do!

The patterns available on Ravelry and Craftsy. The ready-to-wear hats you can find in my Etsy shop: IrmianDesidn.

New Hats

My hat addiction successfully continues and these babies found their way to my Etsy shop:

1. Pinky Swear

2. Cafe Melange Hat & Cowl set

For these two hats I used super soft alpaca blend yarns and my Simplest Slouchy Hat pattern.


3. Maera Hat 

I am especially proud of this design and once the test has been completed I will tell the more detailed story of it.

These two adorable hats already listed in my shop:

Deja Vu and Red Wine 

Free pattern: Simplest Slouchy Hat

I found these two babies a few days ago and immediately decided to knit a couple of hats with them. 

But, the thing is I almost haven't knit hats before. Actually, there were two: one for me and one for my husband. Long time ago. 
So I wanted to start with a really simple design. More than that, beautiful kettle-dyed yarn like Malabrigo Worsted looks the best in stockinette stitch. Or reverse stockinette! 
In two days I had two slouchy hats. One more slouchy than the other. Both of them can fit average adult head.

If you new to hats or feel a little rusty (or both, like me), here is the simplest design ever.

For one hat you will need:

1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted
1 pair of size US 8 (5mm) circular needles 16'' long.
1 pair of size US 6 (4mm) circular needles 16'' long.
1 set of double-point needles size US 8 (5mm)
1 marker
1 tapestry needle

Gauge: 18 sts x 30 r  = 4'' in stockinette stitch on larger needles.

Instructions:

With smaller circ. needles cast on 88 sts with long-tail method. Join in round. Place marker for beginning of the round.
Work in K2 P2 rib for 2''. Change to larger needles and work in stockinette stitch for 5'' for shorter version or 7'' for longer.

Decreasing rounds:
Change to double-point needles when the stitches become too tight for circular needles.

Round 1: *K9, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: *K8, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: *K7, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: *K6, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: *K5, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: *K4, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 12: *K3, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 13: *K2, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 14: *K1, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.

Cut yarn, leaving appr. 6'' tail and pull through remaining live stitches and tie off. Weave in ends. 
Voila!
Oh, and you will have enough yarn left to make a pompom, if you wish.

It is pretty easy knitting and hats are very versatile, you can wear them on both sides. In fact, I prefer the wrong side!