Alongside the new Embers sweater, we designed a matching hat — because this stitch pattern was just too delicious and addictive! (Also because Alexa and I love to knit hats, hats, and more hats. They’re the best kind of swatches!)
The Embers hat is an ‘I just wanna knit the next stripe’ kind of project. If you’re working with a handspun or self-striping yarn like I did, you’ll find yourself desperate to knit the next motif to see what colours will come out!
If you’re knitting with odds and ends like Alexa did, you’ll want to get started with the next motif to see how the colours will combine with the palette already in play. It’s super fun!
This motif, in both the Embers sweater and the Embers hat, leaves a lot of room for variation in the contrasting colour (CC) yarn. To make the colourwork to really POP, Alexa held the CC doubled for the samples she knit using The Farmer’s Daughter Soka’pii. The version I made used a CC that was approximately double knit (DK) weight.
When I knit my Embers sweater, I held a matching strand of mohair alongside the sock-weight CC yarn, which gave the garment some extra oomph and an exquisite halo. I really recommend this if you have some leftover mohair laying around!
~ Em
As you consider a colour combination for the Embers hat or Embers sweater, check out our Week of Colour tutorial series. We have identified five different ‘colour strategies’ that break down the problem of selecting a palette into simpler questions. They will guide you in choosing the right colour combo for you!
December 17, 2020 @ 6:33 am
Nancy!! I am sorry to hear about the Macular Degeneration. I was in the field of (please excuse this ‘label’) visual impairment for 20 years. I would be thrilled to help you strategize your knitting, such as color work. I have a dear friend going through what you are, also a knitter: keep those sticks and strings moving❤️
contact me if you want mlewicki2@gmail.com
or by my blog
ioncewaslostandfound.wordpress.com
or on ravelry I am mlewicki
Maureen😊
December 14, 2020 @ 2:02 pm
It looks like there are two ways to buy this pattern – here at your site, or through Ravelry. Which way gives you the larger share of the income?
December 15, 2020 @ 5:33 am
Hi Dot – Thanks for asking! Whichever is most convenient for you is best, what we make is close to the same on both platforms. Cheers ~ Em
December 14, 2020 @ 5:57 am
Soooo pretty.
December 8, 2020 @ 2:58 pm
Okay, gals you win. I WANT TO MAKE THIS HAT !!!!!! I would say sweater too, but:
#1 – I have enough WIPs to furnish a good-sized closet or move on as gifts, but mostly things for me ( including a few sweaters) which we know from experience rarely get finished!!!
#2 – I have a database that tracks my entire stash, large enough to rival most yarn shops!!
#3 – I am almost 84 years old, and that might preclude me from finishing ANYTHING!
#4 – I have advancing Macular Degeneration, which is currently being medically kept at bay. Might make colorwork a bit challenging.
Now – I will unexpectedly become a great-grandmother again next June (oddly enough perhaps on the day after my 84th birthday!) I don’t know the baby’s gender yet, but might a month or so from now. So I have some time to do the newborn’s first gift, the hat. And this one is superb. But – I am not expert at color use, but have done a bit. I’m willing to try. I’d like to use a solid color of blue or pink (traditional grandfather, my son) for the main color, as soon as I know. Then a variegated mixture of all pastels, which would please my son immensely. (He is planning to provide a Chicago Bears newborn hat, boy or girl!!). I have tons of sock yarn, and may even find some in pastels! (Or maybe not – I’m not a fan, personally). I’m a transplanted Chicagoan myself, 40 years ago, and now, remarried for 35 years, long retired with hubby and living in far northern Minnesota – brrr!
Any thoughts? Or recommendations??
I’m off to Ravelry (I’m geminiknitter there) to buy the pattern!! Love everything you ladies do!
Nancy Reed 😊 😷 😉
December 9, 2020 @ 11:24 am
Hi Nancy – I think your colour plan sounds beautiful. Pastels are lovely on little ones!