I  finally got my pattern for Kathy’s Earflap Hat edited and up for sale on Ravelry!

It is such a cute hat! And it includes twined knitting, which I adore!

I can’t remember where I was first introduced to twined knitting but I immediately fell in love with the beautiful patterning and durability of the knitting.  wait – now I remember. I was browsing the knitting books at my local library and found this great book, “Twined Knitting A Swedish Folkcraft Technique” by Birgitta Dandanell and Ulla Danielsson. The photos are fabulous and I couldn’t get over the beautiful white on white designs. I wanted this book for my personal library but to my dismay the book was out of print and the cost ran 96$ and up. Luckily I have a big (and generous) family and they all went in together and purchased this great book for me.

I am always inspired when I wander through this book.

A friend of mine wanted me to knit her a cap, an earflap cap specifically, to match a beautiful woven scarf of her mother’s that had a great art deco sort of weave. . . angels and squares and subtle texture. I thought that working in twined knit would provide the perfect opportunity to create subtle texture designs. Kathy’s one of a kind hat is done in black and turned out great!

I’ve knit many earflap hats with twined brims since this one and have written a pattern for a traditional pattern that is fun and easy to follow.

If you’ve never done twined knitting before I include a description in the pattern. There are also many youtube videos on twined knitting. In twined knitting you use two strands of yarn from the same skein,and as you knit you wrap each stitch around the next, alternating between the two strands. Yes,  the result is a twisted skein of yarn, but I find that taking breaks to untwist the skein is as relaxing as the knitting. I use a double pointed needle, making an s-twist around it with both ends of yarn, then hold up the ends and watch the ball of yarn spin around and “untwist”. It’s fun!

My pattern also includes line by line directions, and graphs – you can follow which ever one works for you!

Happy knitting!