So! It seems that nearly a whole semester has gone by since my last post, eh? Yep, that’s pretty much what happened. School has been busier than ever this year and when not planning lessons or grading (though there is a lot of the not-grading time, honestly, and a lot of the not-graded that I need to finish grading sometime soon!), I’ve found myself turning to simpler hobbies than hat-designing. Like, just playing LOTRO itself. Or reading a book. (It’s all Aaron Allston’s fault. His new Star Wars X-wing book sucked me back into reading all the Star Wars Expanded Universe books I’d been ignoring since the end of the New Jedi Order series…my Kindle has been busy with them this semester.)
So, back to the hats project. At the end of the summer I was trying to find the right stitch pattern for the Dunland Shieldman Hat, as you may recall (or not). I hadn’t found anything that worked well with the yarn I wanted to use, nor found any other yarn I liked better with the stitches that seemed likeliest, so that project was stalled somewhat. And then school started and I tucked all the hat plans away for the duration.
But there is some progress lately. A few weeks ago I found an article in Interweave Knits on designing closed-circuit cable patterns, which looks like a good technique for the cable design for the coronet of the Dunland hat. And today I noticed that the stitch pattern of this cowl in the new Knitty – just a twisted rib, apparently – would perhaps give the chain mail effect of the hat I want to make. So I may be giving that a shot again over Christmas break, which, hallelujah, starts in less than a week. (Because I spent fall break and Thanksgiving break experimenting with baking projects, not knitting projects!)
But before I find a way to make the Dunland hat work, I may skip ahead to another one – a recent addition to my list since Lennidhren has been wearing it with her Yule costume. It’s the Loose Linen hat, I think – to be edited later if I log in to the game and find I got that wrong! – knitted by my tailor alt Horazia, and isn’t it a cute thing?
The best part – and the reason I may detour to make this hat next – is that as I looked at it on Lenn in the game, I could tell just how I would knit it. Start with the ear flaps, shaped either with increases or with short rows; then add stitches and join in the round for the base of the hat, and knit upward narrowing to a point. Then pick up stitches around the face and knit the cream colored ribbing. And finally – knit swatches to sew on as patches! And embroider the front design. Now I just need to find the right yarn! And, um, to dye the hat a ridiculous number of colors in game to decide which color to make it in reality.
Oh yeah, and I still need to finish up the pattern for the Spring-Flinger Cap. It was nearly done before school started…but now I must relocate all the notes I wrote down while knitting it so I can finish typing them up in knittable fashion! Well, someday, it’ll be up here.
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~~~ Ales and Tales: Lorebook Entry
All about the weekly Ales and Tales variety show on Landroval in LOTRO, including the schedule
