From the Beginning

Over the past year, I have been working hard to get my patterns up to speed--beautifully photographed and carefully (I hope!) edited. I just looked, and I suddenly have 22 patterns up on Ravelry. Over the next few weeks, months, or maybe even for years and years, I'm going to talk about some of them--what I was thinking when I designed them, and what they will do for you, my fearless-knitter friend.

I want to start with one of the first things I designed, probably 10 years ago. It's not a big deal. It's just a simple hat. This hat is great for not only a beginner, but for anyone who wants a quick hat. Thus the name: Quick-Knit Hat.

It started out as a simple rolled-brim hat pattern.

But over the years, knitters started asking for a simple hat that had ribbing at the brim...


....or that was ribbed the entire way up:

Honestly, even with modifications, a simple hat is a simple hat. I decided to combine all of these into one pattern. It is the all-purpose hat.

This is the one pattern I have that comes in 2 versions: learning or more experienced.

The more experienced version just gives the usual--number of stitches to cast on, how much yarn to buy, different sizes, etc.

The learning pattern has a little more. I put in pictures to show beginners how to knit in the round without twisting, how to knit 2 stitches together, how to use double-pointed needles. This is where my patterns are different from most. I like having little tutorials that I think will help knitters. Even if you've already made the hat in a knitting class, having a review of the concepts in the pattern will come in handy when you're trying to make another.

Here, for example, is one of the pictures from the pattern. It shows how to knit 2 stitches together.


Now, if you've been knitting for a long time, you can safely ignore this instruction (or buy the "quick" version of the quick hat). But if you're not taking a class and have never done anything beyond knitting a simple stitch, a picture is helpful. The phrase "knit 2 together" is rather self-explanatory, but when you begin anything, you need a little extra security that you are doing what you're supposed to be doing.

That's what I try to do with all my patterns--help the knitter, and take him or her to the next level. Not every pattern will show you how to knit 2 together, of course. (In fact, this is the only one that does.) But where I think you might need the nudge or the help or the humor in my patterns, I give it to you. It keeps the knitting fun and successful!