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Knotty Baby Hat and Merrick Cabled Hat are now on Knit Picks!

I am so thrilled to announce that two of my patterns are now available on the Knit Picks website!

Why does this matter to you?  Well, if you’re so inclined, you can go to their product pages and quickly pick up both the pattern *and* the yarn to knit it in, in one simple step.  I like that!  It’s so streamlined.

 

Knotty Baby Hat.  Pattern by Amanda Schwabe.  Aknitica Designs.

If you’re knitting for babies in your life, I’m super proud of the Knotty Baby Hat.  I designed it while knitting for my fifth baby.  I wanted to model it after a sewn hat that I’d used and loved on my sons, but the fifth child was a girl, and a blue hat simply would not do.

I had some Rainbow Felici in my stash, and it was perfect in every way for a baby project.  It’s soft, washable, and I love the colourful self-striping effect.  (I love stripes, but I hate sewing in ends.)  If I could, I would keep two balls of every Felici colourway in my stash for spontaneous sock and baby-hat knitting projects.  (I have also knit a pair of Skew socks in the Rainbow colourway, and some Jaywalker socks in the High Tide colourway.  The light fingering weight and superwash properties make the perfect socks and hats.)

 

Knotty Baby Hat pattern by Amanda Schwabe

Anyway, I knit the Rainbow hat for Eva, and it was a hit in the hospital.  All the nurses commented on it, *every time* we walked around in the hallways, without fail.  I was a proud mama.

 

 

 

 

Merrick Hat pattern

The Merrick hat came about while I was knitting a hat for a family friend.  I wanted thick, squishy cables for warmth since he works outside a lot in the Canadian winter.  It was really snowy last winter, and I was picturing a cozy head covering that would protect his ears from blowing snow.

Now, I love cables, but after a couple of inches working the same pattern, I get bored.  So I sent the cables on an experimental journey to meet each other.  They were happy, and I was happy.  The pattern turned out to be interesting (I think) and really enjoyable to knit.  It’s got enough variation in it to stimulate, and enough repetition to keep it from being too complex.  You’ll notice that the cables flow intuitively, and you’ll soon be able to anticipate what to do next.

I’m really thrilled that I was able to work the decreases right into the cable pattern, so they flow right up to the top bind off.  The hat looks great from above, so you’ll want to make sure you’re around tall people when you’re wearing it.   *wink*

I’ve also worked out a version that incorporates ear flaps into the design.  Watch for that coming in August or so, just in time for fall knitting and winter preparation.

I chose the Knit Picks Swish Worsted for Merrick because the cables really pop with solid colours.  Swish has lots of colour choice available, and, as an added bonus, it’s machine washable.

So please, hop on over to the Knit Picks website and check me out!  I’m really excited to be there.