Knit & felted lovat green diced balmoral

[BuchananBiker]

That is just flat out fantastic! Makes me wish I knew how to knit.

[bubba295]

Looks Great!

I don't know how to knit, but my MIL does and I have one in the works!!

[Friday]

That is just flat out fantastic! Makes me wish I knew how to knit.

An hour at your local yarn shop and some time on the internet and you would have enough skill to do a Balmoral. The nice thing is that felting can hide a lot of mistakes.

[usonian]

Thanks everyone! And seconding what Friday said... the knitting skills needed to make this hat are pretty basic, and felting will cover up the occasional mistake! Even the dicing is mostly a matter of careful counting as you switch colors; you don't need to worry about the floating strands of yarn on the inside since it all gets felted together.

I learned how to knit from my wife's copy of Stitch N' Bitch by Debbi Stoller... clear explanations and great illustrations, and each section builds on the last in a logical progression. Don't worry about it being "girl-oriented" - the basic instruction is really good, and the first project is a unisex scarf - I've still got mine kicking around somewhere! It goes fast and is really rewarding. There are lots of videos by other people online, too, so you can see the same basic stitches in motion.

[Tobus]

Looks good! The addition of the black band made a big difference in the overall 'finished' look.

Any plans to add a toorie or cockade?

[tulloch]

That looks great! We should compare notes. The head band is not a tube, is it? I make a tube and run the ribbon through it for tightening / loosening.

[usonian]

The way this one is constructed, there are three separate pieces of ribbon that get attached: One band folds around bottom edge of the hat. The second (3/4" twill tape, folded in half) gets sewn to a notch at the back of the hat and hangs down evenly on each side - this is the one that actually gets tied for tension (the notch gives you a little bit of adjustment room.) The third are the wide, decorative ribbons which you can either leave hanging down in the back, or tie into a bow. Re-reading the pattern notes I see that the adjustment ties are an innovation on the original bonnet on which the pattern was based; keeps it adjustable while still giving the wearer the option to leave the ribbons untied.

[usonian]

So, I finally got around to attaching the band and ribbons this last weekend. The pattern calls for a very wide, decorative ribbon to be sewn on to the hat in addition to the functional adjusting ribbons, but when I reached that point I decided they really weren't necessary; the wide ribbons look flashy if left untied, but I think they're just too wide to tie (and too much on top of the functional ribbons.) So instead I stitched more band around the notch in the back, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result: