The new Interweave Knits issue is out and I have two patterns in it; a lovely embroidered hat and a soft and squishy baby sweater. Today I'll talk a little about the Tam, and tomorrow about the sweater, then later on this week I have more good news :)
The Miranda Tam was inspired by the embroidery of the 60's and 70's, designs we all love and still lust after but really ...that amount of crazy colour doesn't always work with every outfit. This lovely Tam is worked in a DK weight wool with accents of a self striping fingering weight for some fun colour without having to purchase 8 different balls of yarn. The embroidery is made easy by using 'solvy' dissolveable stabilizer (that can be picked up at most craft stores), drawn upon with black marker and stitched directly through. After the embroidery is finshed just dunk the hat in water and the stabilizer dissolves away leaving a perfect hat!
This hat would also be the perfect opportunity to use up leftover scraps of sock yarn you have, just pick 4 that match nicely and away you go, since the main colour only uses 1 ball of DK this hat can be a real stashbuster.
It is sized as a onesize and the unstretched brim is about 18 inches, but since it uses the Old Norwegian cast on which is very stretchy and worked on two sizes smaller needles ti can strecth up to 23 inches and accomodate most head sizes.
It is sized as a onesize and the unstretched brim is about 18 inches, but since it uses the Old Norwegian cast on which is very stretchy and worked on two sizes smaller needles ti can strecth up to 23 inches and accomodate most head sizes.
The embroidery uses two different types of embroidery stitches, blanket stitch and chain stitch. The majority of the leaves and vines are worked in chain stitch (pictured below), a simple stitch that looks best when worked evenly.
Blanket stitch is a little more challenging and is used for the two flowers, this area of the motif is easiest when traced exactly as it appears on the chart in the magazine.
For the differing colours I pulled out yardage from the ball of Chroma and separated light and dark areas of pink and green. When starting to work a longer vine area I tried to choose a piece that had some colour transition, mostly because I really like the gentle colour movement within the yarn.
It is very important that you block the hat before you begin the embroidery as the motif in the magazine is sized to be worked after blocking. And the embroidery is easier when worked with smaller lengths of yarn, especially since the Chroma is so soft and can break easily if overworked.
Hope you all enjoy the pattern and I am excited to see the Ravlery projects with all difrerent embroidery colours!
