herringbone.

Left over from other projects, namely a big one I have yet to show you, I cast on for Kate Gagnon Osborn’s Opus Spicatum out of some Malabrigo and Madelinetosh. I had actually stumbled onto this pattern by accident about a month ago when browsing through the most recent Kelbourne Woolens’ available patterns. I love everything Kate designs and have knit quite a few of her patterns so when I saw Opus, I knew it was just a matter of time. I printed off the pattern and kept it close!

The Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in 63 Natural was a great yarn to pair with the leftovers of the madelinetosh tosh merino in Cove that I bought in Toronto in November. I cast on for the brim in 4.00mm needles, as specified by the pattern and I literally knit and knit and knit and knit …

Well, you get the picture! It took two evenings of about 3 hours of knitting. This was a very quick knit. The body of the toque was knit on 5.5mm needles as the pattern calls for. I made no modifications. And as always, I stretched it over a 10 inch dinner plate before gently dousing it in warm eucalan soapy water. I left it to dry over night and VIOLA! Best toque ever (besides all the other ones I have knit that I love this much!)! What I enjoyed most about this design was the herringbone pattern that evolves as you knit. It’s very intuitive, so you are not constantly looking at the chart to see if you are following it correctly – all you have to do is look at your knitting! As you reach the end of the crown shaping, you have this absolutely beautiful star pattern in the middle of the crown which I think makes the toque. Kate’s attention to detail is what I enjoy most about her patterns, like for example the cast on in a contrast colour. Again, it’s a detail that finishes the toque professionally.

This is a great first project for beginning Fair Islers too – the worsted weight merino on a 16” or 24” circular makes it easy to keep gauge, make progress relatively quickly, and learn the Continental and English styles of knitting (carrying one colour in each hand). Beautiful! I hope you are enjoying your knits as much as I am this weekend :)

And yes, it is this sunny outside today with no snow on the ground and green grass! We are having a tough time believing it’s January today . . . oh, Vancouver . . .

-r.