Join us in our July/August knitalong
to learn (or practice) fair isle knitting
for good cause!
Harriet Middleton, a resident of Shetland, volunteered her knitting as a way to help raise funds for the Shetland MRI Scanner Appeal. (The quick version: the community hospital in Shetland doesn’t have an MRI scanner, so residents must make a long trip off-island whenever they need this test. Some intrepid nurses at the hospital have started a fundraiser so they can buy their own MRI machine, and save their patients the stressful trip, missed work, last-minute childcare – all the things we take for granted when we can hop in a car and get to our doctor on the same day.)
Harriet’s son Billy painstakingly captured the details in a pattern we can all enjoy knitting. So we get a great pattern, learn Fair Isle AND get a jump on our gift knitting, some special someones get awesome knitted gifts, and the Scanner Appeal gets closer to its goal. How cool is that?
Here’s how this knitalong will work:
1) Get your pattern right from the MRI Makers: Click to buy the HAT or HEADBAND pattern.
2) Choose your yarn colors in 2-ply. We’ve put THIS BUNDLE of 6 skeins together for you – they’re the Morehouse version of the colors used in the original Harriet’s Hat and Harriet’s Headband. This much yarn will make you 3 or 4 hats or headbands, depending on the color distribution you choose. So while it’s an investment, it’s several holiday gifts for less than $25 a piece.
If you want to choose other colorways, go right ahead!
It’s a good time to stock up – and for every skein of 2-ply sold in July 2019, we’ll donate a dollar to the Scanner Appeal ourselves. We’ve been blessed with the right combination of sun and rain these past 3 weeks, so I’m pleased to be able to put some hay money toward this while the sheep are eating good pasture.
Or, look at our FREE SPIRIT skein packs here – oddballs and broken skeins at a fantastic price.
Want to try it in just 2 colors to make things less complicated? That’s how I did my swatch (see below – scroll to the end), whatcha think?
3) Join our knitalong group at www.Facebook.com/groups/MorehouseFarm. We have daily work goals, how-to videos, and this time, a special guest star instructor! Ted Partridge (you might know him from the Craft Yarn Council video “Humans that Yarn“) is a member of our knitalong group who left his home at midnight to get to our very first Open Farm Day. He’s an accomplished knitting instructor and Tour d’Sock veteran and graciously said yes when I asked for help while my tendinitis heals. A giant THANK YOU Ted!
-> Don’t do Facebook? You can try our newest version of a knitalong by visiting this post on our blog regularly for the day’s work and to comment with pictures, questions, and whatever else is on your mind.
Glad to have you with us – we cast on July 26!
P.S. Here are a few other color combinations I happened upon…
And two-color version (my swatch) in plum and natural soft white:
Getting ready for the Knitalong? Here’s a handy tutorial for swatching in the round: https://www.morehousefarm.com/knitting-tips/swatching-in-the-round/
And your next tip:
What colors go where when I picked my own?
https://www.morehousefarm.com/knitting-tips/fair-isle-color-layout-for-harriets-hat/
Hello and elcome to the Harriet Hat -or Headband! – Knitalong!
Day 1:
Today’s goal: cast on (with a really stretchy cast on) and work 4 rounds!
Here are two good ones:
Long-Tail Cast On: https://youtu.be/IEVt_0FXHrY
German Twisted Cast On
https://youtu.be/wC_wheYnHFQ
-> Post a picture and any questions you have ?
Harriet’s Hat Knitalong Day 2:
2 rounds! This gets you to 6 rounds total (where the green arrow), so you’re working with your third color today.
Keep those floats loose!
-> you can do this by gently stretching your work side to side every 8 or 10 stitches or so. Also relaxing helps, this is going to be gorgeous! ?
Harriet’s Hat Knitalong Day 3:
Finish Chart A.
It’s going to be hazy, hot, and humid here today so be like the sheep: minimal activity during the heat of the day (knitting? ?) and save the exertion for early or late when it’s cool.
PS. Sometimes it’s fun to see what colors would look like in the negative. It’s another place to get inspiration!
Oatmeal, chartreuse, henna, lilac, black (or maybe use navy?), bark
Finally had a chance to start my hat last night. Trying to catch up. Maybe I’m trying to hard but I can not tell the 3 different blue colors in the pattern. I bought fall colors instead of the blues and I really liked how you explained viewing the colors and making them work. I got my colors planned out but then when I was getting started I couldn’t tell where yarn B and yarn C were in the pattern. Any ideas on how to tell them apart?
Also I learned how to knit 2 colors at a time from Philosopher Wool video it was very good (it was on vhs) so I guess it was long ago. 🙂
Yes! Take a look at your pattern on a screen and turn up the contrast. We’ve found that some printers just do not have the precision or are low on ink or on draft mode which prevents them from printing as clearly as others do. But the screen trick has worked every time ?
I’m a fairly experienced fair isle knitter, but this pattern is presenting a challenge for me: the “just one more row” syndrome has morphed into the “just one more chart” syndrome. Please, someone make me stop, get dinner, and get to bed! I’m loving this!
Seriously, I have a pretty cheap printer and two of the blue tones look exactly the same in the key, the chart, and in the picture, even under very good light. So I’ve made some judgments about colors which are going to mean my hat will be a variation of the pattern. I wonder if other people are having a similar problem? Is there any chance a symbol could be maybe added to the blues, to help differentiate the close colors?
Printer setting and ink levels have been a challenge for some! Particularly on draft mode. The best fix we’ve found is to put it in a screen and turn up the contrast – works like a charm!
I am excited and can’t wait to get started. working on this with my two sisters.