So I have actually had time to work on that idea for the matching hat for the “Pointelle” baby sweater I bought at The Children’s Place. I have got as far as figuring out the “tree of life” Aran pattern that was used in it. There is also a simple rope cable pattern. I will alternate these two patterns in the hat with a rib in between. This is how it is on the back of the sweater. I made a number of test swatches of these two patterns and figured out how to fit them together.
I haven’t made my own knitting pattern before. I got the abbreviations from my Readers Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. I don’t know if they are really the standard abbreviations, though. I have seen others, especially with the cable patterns. So I have listed out the directions for each abbreviation here:
C2B (K1, P1) – Cable 2 stitches, to back (slip 1 stitch to cable needle and leave at back. K1, and then P1 stitch off the cable needle.)
C4B (P2, P2) – Cable 4 stitches, to back (slip 2 stitches to cable needle and leave at back. P2, and the P2 from cable needle.)
C2F (P1, K1) – Cable 2 stitches, to front (slip 1 stitch to cable needle and leave at front. K1 and then P1 stitch off the cable needle.)
YFWD – Yarn forward
YBK – Yarn back
SL1 – Slip 1 stitch
And here is the pattern for one set of the rope cable and the tree of life:
Cast on 31 stitches (or a multiple of 31).
Row 1: P2, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P8, C2B, K1, C2F, P6
Row 2: K6, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K1, P1, K1, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K8, P1, K2, P4, K2, P1, K2
Row 3: P2, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P7, C2B, P1, K1, P1, C2F, P5
Row 4: K5, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K2, P1, K2, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K7, P1, K2, C4B, K2, P1, K2
Row 5: P2, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P6, C2B, P2, K1, P2, C2F, P4
Row 6: K4, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K3, P1, K3, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K6, P1, K2, P4, K2, P1, K2
Row 7: P2, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P5, C2B, P3, K1, P3, C2F, P3
Row 8: K3, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K4, P1, K4, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K5, P1, K2, C4B, K2, P1, K2
Row 9: P2, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P4, C2B, P4, K1, P4, C2F, P2
Row 10: K2, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K5, P1, K5, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K4, P1, K2, P4, K2, P1, K2
Row 11: P2, K1, P2, K4, P2, K1, P3, C2B, P5, K1, P5, C2F, P1
Row 12: K1, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K6, P1, K6, YFWD, SL1, YBK, K3, P1, K2, C4B, K2, P1, K2
This is knit flat. My next step is going to be to figure out how to knit this on double-pointed needles in the round, so I can make a hat with it. I made a small test last night and think I have a good idea of how I will need to re-write the pattern to do it. Basically I think I will need to P all the K’s and K all the P’s in the even-numbered rows. For several rows one side of the tree of life was not coming out right, but then it seemed to fix itself on some of my later rows. I don’t know what I did different though (I was watching the Olympics at the time, and my 2-year old was climbing all over me intermittently, so maybe I just wasn’t concentrating.).
Then, how to do the decreases at the top of the hat without making the cable patterns get all funky. I haven’t seen too many Aran hat patterns, so maybe there’s a reason. I may make the top of the hat plain. Who knows! This project is off and running, though.
My big challenge has been finding a matching color of yarn. The sweater is a dense, smooth cotton/acrylic mix, and is knit nice and tight. (I have been accused of knitting loose.) I found some wool yarn in the right color, but the texture is definitely fuzzier. I may use it anyway, because I haven’t seen any cotton or cotton blend yarns in the right color.
