Quest to make a good Balmoral bonnet

**tulloch** · 25th March 10, 05:50 AM

I have wanted to be able to make a good Balmoral for some time now. I invented a couple stocking caps. I got and tried one pattern and misinterpreted it a couple ways but still I am working on it. I followed it correctly and got something I am not satisfied with. I have made two blue ones and this second one, though too small, is getting there.

I present you with photos having already made inroads into a third that I think might fit me and get out some of what I think are unseemly puckers.

What do you think?

**davidlpope** · 25th March 10, 06:06 AM

I'm amazed by your knitting skill! (as I often am when someone posts in the DIY dection...)

Have you thought about knitting it oversized and then felting it? I'm not sure what look you're going for, but it puts me in mind of a knitted "tam o'shanter" rather than a modern balmoral bonnet.

Cordially,

David

**piperdbh** · 25th March 10, 06:32 AM

It looks nice, but to me it needs to be a bit bigger. More increases after the band portion should do the trick for you.
I really like that color of blue, by the way.

**tulloch** · 25th March 10, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by davidlpope

I'm amazed by your knitting skill! (as I often am when someone posts in the DIY dection...)

Have you thought about knitting it oversized and then felting it? I'm not sure what look you're going for, but it puts me in mind of a knitted "tam o'shanter" rather than a modern balmoral bonnet.

Cordially,

David

Thanks David. I did one before that I knit big and washed and felted. Hot water. Not the full Jocking but hot water and hours in a warm dryer. It is Paton's wool but it just wouldn't shrink enough. On Mother's advice I put elastic in the band (it's double thick there) and donated it to my wife.

I will post another in a few days that I intend to increase in size both diameter headband and the upper portion.

**piperdbh** · 25th March 10, 08:54 AM

For felting, once you rough the item up in hot water and get it shrunk pretty close to the size you want, you then have to rinse it in cold water. The cold causes the fibers to shrink back and close on themselves, which really "makes" the felt. You can probably refelt the original bonnet you made by dunking it in hot water, scrubbing it some, and then rinsing it in cold water. Good luck!

**Friday** · 25th March 10, 09:35 AM

In felting as well as knitting gauge, gauge, gauge. Next time you want to knit a balmoral and felt it, knit a 4X4 inch swatch and determining your stitch to row gauge. Once you have a stitch to row gauge felt the swatch to determine shrinkage. Make sure you mark the swatch in some way to determine which way your stitches go compared to the rows. Stitches and rows do not shrink at the same rate.

**Pleater** · 25th March 10, 11:47 AM

Modern wools can be treated so they do not felt or shrink - get one of those and there is no way to get them to reduce down in size - they have had the scales on the fibres treated so they can't interlock, so the fibres just slide back into place.

Personally I find that crochet makes a good hat - it is very easy to shape just by making two stitches in one loop or two loops into one stitch, and it is denser than knitting, plus you can measure it or try it on as during construction it is the size and shape it is going to be, not held out straight as in knitting.

I have felted crochet and find that it seems to hold its shape better than knitting - knitting used for felting can be shaped from a globe into a bowler hat shape if you have the equipment to do it, but where you only have a washing machine or the sink you do have to be careful to keep the shape with knitting. With crochet what you make is what you get, just smaller.

If you make a knitted band - probably easier to make a patterned one in knitting, you can pick up either the edge of it, or cast off and use the loops as the first row - depending on which way you decide to knit, short way or long way.

Maybe we need a sub group of DIY for 'make-a-long' projects.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**tulloch** · 30th March 10, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by Friday

In felting as well as knitting gauge, gauge, gauge. Next time you want to knit a balmoral and felt it, knit a 4X4 inch swatch and determining your stitch to row gauge. Once you have a stitch to row gauge felt the swatch to determine shrinkage. Make sure you mark the swatch in some way to determine which way your stitches go compared to the rows. Stitches and rows do not shrink at the same rate.

Thanks. I will give this a try. Do you think hot water followed by cold is the trick? Rub a lot on a washboard? Brush it?

**guitarmatt** · 26th March 10, 08:51 AM

I've only done 2 felted projects before, so this comes from really no experience. My method was to pour boiling water over my knitting and then immediately put the kettle back on. Then I roughed up my knitting a bit, using gloves and wooden spoons because of the really hot water. Once the kettle came to a boil I drained the sink, doused the knitting with ice cold water from the tap (since we get ice cold water straight from the tap this time of year), let the cold water drain off then plugged the drain and poured over the new hot water. Repeat until awesome. It worked really well, and you can feel the work pulling in tighter and tighter every you do the cold water douse.