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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Listen to this post as an mp3 file (for posts after 3/6/06)
Herringbone Cloche Woes

Thanks to those who voted in my Scarf Poll. I'm going to wait a few more days in the hopes that some more people will come out of hiding and participate. Currently "Rip It" is leading by only a few votes.

OK, I promised to give an update as to what was going on with the Herringbone Cloche from Vogue Knitting Hats & Caps Two. To review, this is the pattern that has you knit 3 triangles and seam them together to make the crown of the hat. Then you pick up stitches around the bottom of the crown to knit the brim flat, which you then seam. The stitch pattern used in this hat is herringbone stitch. It can be found in Barbara Walker's first Treasury of Knitting Patterns, where it is called Little Herringbone. It is also the stitch pattern used for the popular My So Called Scarf available at Sheep in the City.

I love this stitch pattern, but after two unsuccessful attempts to make an appropriate-sized triangle, I have given up on the hat-construction method given in the Vogue hat book. I see no way that three triangles of the size given could ever fit a normal human head. Also, I have only found two instances online of someone actually having made this thing, and they both apparently ended in the creation of an ill-fitting hat.

Therefore, I have given up on the book's instructions and and have decided to knit the crown in the round, and then pick up the brim stitches and knit that in the round also. So I searched all over the internet, but I was unable to find directions for how to work herringbone stitch in the round. Not one to be daunted by a challenge, I experimented a bit and I think I have figured it out.

click for bigger pictureI was going to post my instructions here but I am having a hard time explaining them right now. Maybe I will post them later if this hat works out.

I knit this swatch on big needles to test my new herringbone stitch in the round method. The blue yarn shows what would normally be the wrong-side rows. The bottom-most blue row was knit from the right side with my new 'in-the-round' method. The next two blue rows were knit from the wrong side with the original purl-based method. I think they look the same. What do you think?

Well, I have started knitting the crown of the hat with this new method. It is very slow going though, so my progress has not been stellar. I've tried it on and it does fit my head so far. But keep your fingers crossed. I think it will will get tricky when I need to start decreasing.

click for bigger picture

I bet Sister#2 is now regretting that she picked this particular hat pattern. I think I'm regretting having shown it to her...

Oh hey, I came across this Authors on Tour site where you can listen online (or download) podcasts of certain authors speaking about their latest books. I really enjoyed listening to Al Franken and Audrey Niffenegger (I loved her book, The Time Traveler’s Wife). They also have some interesting authors coming up. I'm looking forward to listening to Lemony Snickett. Check it out.

Leave a Comment 10 comments:

MelissaKnits said...

let me know how round herringbone goes with decs, in case i live. i have always wanted to make this hat. i adore herringbone. wonderful that you're making all the boo-boo's for me....(here i would grin, but my face no longer goes in that shape)

Anonymous said...

That herringbone looks pretty cool - I'm sure you'll figure it out :o)

Anonymous said...

oh i love the time traveller's wife too! one of my all-time favorite books. i am checking out that website.

Anonymous said...

i hope you'll manage to "explain" your way to knit herringbone stitch in round, because i tried to knit it in the round, but... it didn't look the same as back-and-forth! Your herringbone-in the-round looks just perfect!

noricum said...

Hey, cool! I decided a few weeks ago to figure out the herringbone stitch in the round too. :) I've got something that looks pretty good too, the join is nice and invisible, and I've figured out some fairly subtle decreases. Here's the latest post about my toque, if you're interested:
http://noricum.blogspot.com/2007/07/state-of-tuque.html
I was just googling today to see if the stitch I'm using (adapted from "my so called scarf") is indeed the herringbone stitch, and stumbled across your post.

Looking at your progress bars, you haven't finished your cloche yet, have you? I'd love to see photos of the finished hat when you have them. :)

Anonymous said...

Did you ever post directions for the herringbone stitch knit in the round? I have been similarly challenged. The 1st pattern row knits fine, but 2nd is a disaster. I've read suggestions to reverse purls to knits and vice versa for even numbered rounds when knitting on circulars. But that didn't work either. Vogue Knitting's website says to reverse both stitch order and type. But all I have for row 2 is purl 2 tog's. That means that there is no stitch order. And just doing knit 2 tog's doesn't work. Ugh!

Anonymous said...

pfpogo@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I too want the directions for the Herringbone in the round. I think I would do the top of my hat in just a knit stitch with the herringbone as a wide band around the forehead, what do you think?

my email is
kach5331@gmail.com
Thanks
Sonia

Ruth Bergh said...

I like the way it looks. I would like to use the pattern for socks on 2 circular needles. If you get it figured out please post it as it looks like lots of knitters are interested in it. Thanks.

Ruth

coffeeiv said...

I live in Tuscaloosa, AL, home of the University of Alabama, where everyone except me loves to wear black-and-white herringbone so they can remember Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's famous hat. If I follow your instructions using black and white, I am sure to be able to make my boss VERY happy for her birthday this August. I'm going to try to find the whole pattern.I brought this up googling "herringbone knitting pattern."
Thanks! Lin in Alabama
lharaway@charter.net