Balmoral Bonnet

[Aspiringloser]

I couldn't knit until I got a book and learned. It isn't that hard. I don't have any interest in making them to sell. Get yourself a learn to knit book and go for it!

[usonian]

Yep, I've said it in my other threads - knitting's not hard, and you don't need crazy skills to make this pattern in particular. I learned how to knit from the book "Stitch N' Bitch" - the book is geared towards an audience of hip women, which I am decidedly not, but it does a really good job of covering the basics... and from there there are hundreds of tremendously helpful YouTube clips with good close-up motion for just about any kind of knitting stitch/cast on/bind off/etc you might need to do. Hats are definitely my sweet-spot as far as attention span goes... enough of a project to give you a sense of accomplishment, but not a big time commitment like a sweater.

[Aspiringloser]

http://www.createforless.com/Boye+Ki...FQ45nAodxioAfA

This is the one I'm learning from. It was around $10.00 at Walmart.

[dpc1960]

Nice work!... how long did it take you to knit this?

[Aspiringloser]

I started it the night before New Year's Eve. I took it out of the wash for the second load for felting at 3 before midnight on New Year's Eve. I didn't count the actual knitting time. Probably 8 hours. I still have to put the band and ties on. Has anyone out there who has made this pattern before ever considered knitting the band in the round so that it wouldn't need ties?

[usonian]

If the size comes out *just* right after felting I suppose there's no reason not to just leave out the notch in the back and make it a fitted hat... the only catch is that once felted there's not much give, so if it's too small you're out of luck. If you were going to be working with the same yarn from hat to hat, I suppose you could measure the band circumference of one after felting, then take an exact measurement of your own head, and adjust the stitch count proportionally for the next one; in theory that would result in a perfect fit.

I think the ties in the back are a part of the classic look, although I did leave the wide decorative ties off of mine.

Also, I forgot that when I made my first lovat green balmoral, I started with a half-used skein of yarn and finished it with a second one - so I'm not sure if a single 210 yard skein is enough for the crown of a hat with dicing after all. I'm about to find out with balmoral #3... I'll report back.

Hmm, the Lion Brand Fishermen's wool I used for #2 one comes in large skeins of 465 yards each - I just weighed the rest of the left over yarn and going by weight, I'd say I used about 200 yards of yarn on that solid color hat including the toorie. My gauge was consistent with the instructions, 16 stitches = 4 inches with size 10 1/2 needles.

[creagdhubh]

I wouldn't necessarily call this a Balmoral style bonnet, rather more along the lines of a beret. Well done nonetheless!

Cheers,

[Pleater]

It certainly has the depth of a balmoral, berets tend to have less of a band - but it might be that the top is pulled right over. I make an old fashioned beret, which has the width of a balmoral but not the side brim.

Once you've done a few it should be easy to make any adjustment to suit personal tastes.

I usually crochet mine to make a thick fabric without all the bother of felting and make them wide enough so that even if worn tilted I can fix a badge or broach to the lower disk.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Aspiringloser]

I decided to try one with dicing. The original one is shaped like this one is so it doesn't look so much like a beret anymore. I'm still waiting for my ribbon to finish the first one as well as this one.

[usonian]

Very nice! It already looks fantastic - and for me it was surprising/pleasing to see how much more finished it looks with the band and ties attached.