Late this week I received Jean Wong's* diagonal hat pattern that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. The next day I ran over to a local yarn store and picked up a couple of skeins of Noro Kureyon. Once on the needles, I couldn't put it down. It took just over one day to finish.
This hat is cleverly constructed by knitting back and forth diagonally between the brim and the crown without the need for short-rows. To finish the hat, the provisionally cast-on beginning edge is grafted together with the other edge at a section where garter stitch rows meet.
Thanks to Principles of Knitting, it wasn't too difficult to figure out how to graft garter stitches. It's similar to grafting stockinette stitch from two knitting needles except the sequence is a bit different.
Grafting Garter Stitches:
Place needles parallel. Front needle has purl stitches and back has knit stitches.
1. Starting stitches:
With threaded sewing needle enter first stitch on front needle as if to purl. Pull thread through. Now enter first stitch on back needle as if to purl. Pull thread through
2. With sewing needle slip first front stitch knitwise and remove stitch from the knitting needle, pulling thread through the loop. Enter next stitch on front needle purlwise and pull thread through.
3. With sewing needle slip first back stitch knitwise and remove stitch from knitting needles, pulling thread through the loop. Enter next stitch on back needle purlwise and pull thread through.
4. Repeat 2 & 3 until no stitches remain.
*Jean doesn't have the pattern listed on her website. I found out about her pattern when she was the featured speaker at a local guild meeting. Everyone at the meeting was very impressed with her work and asked about purchasing patterns. A week later I asked via email if I could purchase a copy of the hat pattern and she graciously put one together. She's been teaching for quite sometime at Wool and Wicker in Richmond BC and is apparently branching out. She's put a lot of work into the DVD on her website but I not sure if she has anticipated requests for patterns of her designs. If you're interested in this pattern you can email her via her website. Just keep in mind that's she's probably doing this in her spare time.
