Balmoral Bonnet

[Aspiringloser]

I couldn't knit until I got a book and learned. It isn't that hard. I don't have any interest in making them to sell. Get yourself a learn to knit book and go for it!

[usonian]

Yep, I've said it in my other threads - knitting's not hard, and you don't need crazy skills to make this pattern in particular. I learned how to knit from the book "Stitch N' Bitch" - the book is geared towards an audience of hip women, which I am decidedly not, but it does a really good job of covering the basics... and from there there are hundreds of tremendously helpful YouTube clips with good close-up motion for just about any kind of knitting stitch/cast on/bind off/etc you might need to do. Hats are definitely my sweet-spot as far as attention span goes... enough of a project to give you a sense of accomplishment, but not a big time commitment like a sweater.

[Aspiringloser]

http://www.createforless.com/Boye+Ki...FQ45nAodxioAfA

This is the one I'm learning from. It was around $10.00 at Walmart.

[dpc1960]

Nice work!... how long did it take you to knit this?

[Aspiringloser]

I started it the night before New Year's Eve. I took it out of the wash for the second load for felting at 3 before midnight on New Year's Eve. I didn't count the actual knitting time. Probably 8 hours. I still have to put the band and ties on. Has anyone out there who has made this pattern before ever considered knitting the band in the round so that it wouldn't need ties?

[usonian]

If the size comes out *just* right after felting I suppose there's no reason not to just leave out the notch in the back and make it a fitted hat... the only catch is that once felted there's not much give, so if it's too small you're out of luck. If you were going to be working with the same yarn from hat to hat, I suppose you could measure the band circumference of one after felting, then take an exact measurement of your own head, and adjust the stitch count proportionally for the next one; in theory that would result in a perfect fit.

I think the ties in the back are a part of the classic look, although I did leave the wide decorative ties off of mine.

Also, I forgot that when I made my first lovat green balmoral, I started with a half-used skein of yarn and finished it with a second one - so I'm not sure if a single 210 yard skein is enough for the crown of a hat with dicing after all. I'm about to find out with balmoral #3... I'll report back.

Hmm, the Lion Brand Fishermen's wool I used for #2 one comes in large skeins of 465 yards each - I just weighed the rest of the left over yarn and going by weight, I'd say I used about 200 yards of yarn on that solid color hat including the toorie. My gauge was consistent with the instructions, 16 stitches = 4 inches with size 10 1/2 needles.

[creagdhubh]

I wouldn't necessarily call this a Balmoral style bonnet, rather more along the lines of a beret. Well done nonetheless!

Cheers,

[Aspiringloser]

usoninan: Are you going to be using that Patons Classic Wool and not put the dicing in it? If so, then one of the skeins will not be enough you'll have to use two and you'll have a lot left over. It's a bummer they don't sell it in bigger skeins.

creagdhubh: The pattern is called Balmoral. Mine probably looks like a beret because of the way I shaped it. I've only ever had to shape one other hat and that was my beret when I finished basic training. It's all I know. There will be others to follow so we'll see how I do on the next ones.

[usonian]

No, to be clear I'm going to do dicing with this one.

And the blocking definitely makes a big difference to the final shape! I used Jock Scot's guide on both of mine, and the result is not quite as military looking - but as the notes in the PDF say, this pattern was based on a military balmoral and in fact the shaping as you knit it is exaggerated a little bit so that the "brim" is a little lopsided in the direction you typically pull over your right temple.

[Tobus]

I used Patons Classic Wool in the color Moss Heather.

Very nice! I love that colour. I have a pair of custom hand-knitted kilt hose from that exact same yarn, and it's my favourite pair. Very earthy tones, and I think you'll find that it goes nicely with anything.

I wouldn't necessarily call this a Balmoral style bonnet, rather more along the lines of a beret. Well done nonetheless!

The basic construction is very similar, yes, but really all this one needs is the band/bow, a toorie, and a cockade, and it would be a fine example of a handmade Balmoral bonnet.

I really wish I had the wherewithal to take up knitting. Some of these projects make me green (or perhaps Moss Heather) with envy!