Late last year Nan Bray of White Gum Wool very generously sent me a skein each of her buttery soft and velvety sustainable and ethical merino wool in the 4ply and 8ply bases. The samples were intended for test dyeing which of course I did, but almost immediately the seed of an idea began to sprout in my mind.
Reversus began as the simplest of sketches, not even a fully fledged idea, just a lace panel flanked in reverse stocking stitch. The original sketch is dated a year ago. At some point while flicking back through my journal the seed germinated and suddenly this little lace panel was destined to become a hat.
The idea of ALL that purling wasn't really appealing to me so I started to toy with the idea of knitting it inside out. I practically knit a whole other hat as my swatch trying to get the lace stitches to sit right. Once that part was sorted I had to think about the crown of the hat. what would happen to the lace as the hat got smaller?
Some hats have you knit to a certain length and then just decrease like crazy over three or four rounds and the hat is done. That's fine and looks great for slouchy hats but I really wanted something a little more polished so I began playing around with the lace and how to decrease while maintaining the pattern as long as possible. I hope you like the finished result. I do.
As this pattern went live today Alicia Plummer also released a new pattern featuring a very similar lace motif. White Leaf is a beautiful cosy cowl knit in Augustbird rich aran. The two patterns compliment each other so nicely and would make a perfect matching set.
Augustbird is also a retailer of the White Gum wool that I used for Reversus and I have recommended her beautiful hand dyed yarns as the perfect partner for my pattern. Rebecca has kindly offered a 10% discount on her DK weight yarns for anyone wanting to knit their own Reversus. How awesome is that! To take advantage of this generous offer just enter the coupon code reversusDK10 at the checkout.
For the next two days my pattern is available for the special price of $3.50 (applied at checkout, no coupon needed) after which it will revert to the full price of $4.50.
You can find the pattern here: Reversus Don't forget to take a look at the finished projects. My testers did a wonderful job!
