Good morning! I have two accessory designs inspired by two very different classic albums for you today: Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece and Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters. Both albums were recorded in 1973 (which was also the year that I was born). Why these two albums? Let me explain.
Five years ago I designed a hat in which I experimented with a very satisfying method of integrating the shaping into the pattern in an invisible, or continuous, way to form the crown.
When designing Easwas, I modified a motif I’d found in Norah Gaughan’s excellent Twisted Stitch Sourcebook (the go-to tome for any knitter who wants to learn more about this technique) and integrated the crown decreases into the lines of the existing pattern, which is formed from travelling twisted stitches. This crown design deployed several geometric fudges (which were necessary to make it all work out), and though I loved the resulting hat, I was slightly irritated by these fudges. In the weeks and months after creating Easwas, I found that its geometry niggled away at me. Was there, I wondered, a non-fudgey way to design a hat whose pattern lines and shaping were completely integrated? A truly geodesic hat, with no unnecessary lines; a hat in which it was difficult to discern where the movement of the pattern ended and that of the crown shaping began? Might I design such a hat? I parked the idea, and moved on with other projects, but this summer I returned to my notes, and worked at the puzzle again, using much simpler hexagonal motifs (which are naturally geodesic). Eventually, after a fair bit of charting, along with lots of knitting trial and error, I ended up with Heid Hunter:
The decrease method (cdds), the twisted stitches (worked every second row), and the pattern’s natural geometry (with its 3-fold symmetry) all work together to create a seamlessly integrated domed mesh of hexagons and triangles, with no immediately apparent start or end and which also looks the same from whichever angle it is viewed at.
I could wax lyrical for a fairly long time about precisely how and why the geometry of this hat works out exactly as it does; why the proportionate relationship of rows to stitches is important; about why it’s not possible to adjust the sizing of this hat with an increased stitch count (the pattern’s sixes are important and another (seventh) repeat simply wouldn’t work); and why its crucial to begin the crown decreases in a precise place in the pattern to achieve this end result . . .
. . . but all you, the knitter, really need to know is that Heid Hunter is an incredibly fun hat to make (you may find that there are several in your future) and that the end result is cosy, wearable and looks great.
The hat is named Heid Hunter, both because no-one can argue with Herbie Hancock, and because this is the heid (head) which I’ve spent my hat-design-life hunting for. There is nothing fancy about Heid Hunter: it involves no difficult technique, nor is it remotely complicated to knit. It’s simplicity, in fact, is probably the very best thing about it.
Can you tell that I really love this hat?
To accompany Heid Hunter (because who doesn’t like a winter set?) I designed the Veedon Fleece mitts
These mitts feature the same satisfying combination of triangles and hexagons and an integrated thumb gusset formed from chewy twisted stitches.
Knitted at a tight gauge, they are designed for maximum utility if you need to keep your hands warm but free while you are out walking.
The Veedon Fleece, by the way, is the mysterious, mythic and (of course) woolly holy grail for which Van Morrison finds himself looking in the sonic centrepiece of his great Veedon Fleece album: You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push the River.
The connecting theme of both of this week’s patterns, is then, the woolly quest which always motivates me, as designer, to create patterns which are deeply aesthetically satisfying as well as lots of fun to make.
I’m always heid hunting, in other words, and I’ll be talking more about creative motivation, curiosity and inspiration in this week’s club essay, which you’ll be able to read on Sunday.
But hang on a minute, Kate, aren’t you going to say anything about that yarn?
Oh! Yes! Both Veedon Fleece and Heid Hunter are knitted in a gorgeous hand-dyed shade of Schiehallion called For You Blue
This colourway was developed and dyed for me, at KDD HQ, by our very own (and very talented) Kate Cryle (KC) and I’m currently obsessed with it. For You Blue (named for the Beatles song written by George Harrison) is a muted mid blue with a lot of grey and a little bit of green in it. The best kind of blue? It is, for me.
If For You Blue appeals to you too, we have put together limited edition kits for Heid Hunter and Veedon Fleece – available in the KDD shop, while stocks last!
But you can whip up both designs with anything in your stash, of course: both come in two (gauge-determined) sizes, and can be knitted with wide range of heavy sport weight or DK yarns. A worsted spun yarn with rounded plies (like Schiehallion or Ooskit) will give you great stitch definition, but woollen-spun yarns work very nicely too, especially if you like your knits to have that gorgeous halo. I’ve made several iterations of Heid Hunter (I’m currently at 6 hats, and counting) and at some point over the next few weeks I will show you another favourite version (or two), which I’ve knitted in the larger (more slouchy) size in a beautiful woollen-spun yarn.
I hope you enjoy these two designs, which I have absolutely loved creating, and I’m really looking forward to seeing your versions of Veedon Fleece and Heid Hunter!
See you on Sunday with more from Rip it Up, and Start Again
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