I mentioned in last week’s post that I was working on the Soma bikini pattern as well as knitting wool hats. Well, after knitting my husband a hat, I wanted to knit something for myself. I came across Cirilia Rose’s L’Arbre Hat and Mitts pattern while going over some designs at the Fringe Association website. It is actually one of a series of Fringe Hatalongs so for those of you who would like some guidance, there is lots of information on their website.
Regarding materials, I used Alize’s Pure Wool Cashmira which I bought during my last visit to Istanbul. The pattern uses 5mm (US 8) circular needles but since my yarn was different than what was suggested, I made a gauge. Making the gauge was bit of a challenge because I needed to swatch in the round and I had never done this. I made a small tubular swatch to see whether I met the given measurements. There is a great tutorial for swift swatching in the round here. My gauge was much smaller so I switched to 6 mm circular needles to match the gauge which worked pretty well. Other than that, I did not change anything in the pattern.
I finished the hat a few days ago and since then I cannot stop wearing it. I really love how the “l’arbre” pattern turned out on the natural color of the yarn. Also, the final measurements of the hat fit me well. I like blocking all my knitwear so I blocked this one too.
Eventually I would like to finish making the whole set: the hat and the mitts. I started out on the first one. Hopefully, they’ll be finished soon.
Sew-In-Progress 