Thursday, February 9, 2012

Hearts A Bustin for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I knit with a great group of women once a month.  They like learning new stitches, so last month we worked on a fairly straight forward brioche stitch found in Barbara G Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns - Fluffy Brioche.  I picked it mainly because of the name, but also because it's only worked over 2 rows in one color.   Before long the group was churning out swatches of Fluffy Brioche.   The stitch has a great texture, and quite a bit of horizontal stretch. Fun sure, but the question around the table was "what's it good for?" 


Well, hats for one thing.  I worked up this hat in 2 colors of a super bulky yarn (Sensation's Sumptuous), modifying the original Fluffy Brioche to be worked in 2 colors and in the round.  The result of working the red as the Main Color was surprising - little puffy hearts spiraling around the hat.  I've posted a complimentary pattern for this hat over on the right hand side of the blog -  Hearts A Bustin Hat.

It is a quick knit in super bulky and would work really well in Malabrigo Rasta.  You only need about 40-45 yds of each color.  I made 2 hats out of 2, 86-yd skeins (red and cream). The hat has just enough slouch to be comfy but not too heavy.  Sized to fit 20-22" heads.  But it's an easy pattern to change sizes, just cast on more or less stitches in multiples of 4. 

I hope you give this hat a try - it's a quick knit and makes for a fun hat.  If you make it up, please post photos on Ravelry.  Can't wait to see how it works up in other colors.










Incidentally, Nancy Marchant has designed a very cute top using a derivation of this stitch pattern  zomertijd.  In her version, she uses 2 differnt needle sizes to create even more texture.

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