Ding Ding, Round Two

Yes, I immediately cast on for another Side Slip Cloche as soon as I'd finished the oatmealy one.

I love the colour, fit, softness of the yarn and just the whole thing.

This is one of those rare patterns that is just so clever I wish I'd written it myself. It's also really fun to knit, and has the bonus of looking and feeling wonderful when it's finished.

I made this one in Rowan Kid Classic, and again managed to get the whole hat out of one ball, just. This yarn gives a lovely halo and is very soft and warm.

The only difference with this version was that as the ball of yarn seemed smaller, I decided to start the band with only one ruffle instead of two, which the pattern calls for. When I finished the hat in the end I had enough yarn so just knitted up a second ruffle, picked up stitches above the lower, larger ruffle and bound off the two rows of stitches together. This has resulted in a row of unnecessary bumps on the right side, but you can hardly see them and it's not a big problem. If you didn't know, you'd just think it was part of the pattern. I had first tried to pick up stitches on the band, knit the smaller ruffle in reverse and cast off, but no matter how many versions I tried, the cast-off edge was completely straight and didn't curl like the ruffle edge should. Therefore I changed it, knitted the second ruffle separately and attached it, which worked out better.

I don’t think I’ve got this one out of my system yet, so if anyone wants one, please just ask: I’ll be happy to make one for you.

Have you read this book? It's The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs.

If you have read it please let me know what you think, but don't tell me the plot as I've only just started it.

I'd heard of this book a long time ago, but never got round to getting it for myself. Then Jayne brought it to Knit Night one week. She'd bought it in a local charity shop, and it turned out that this actual book belonged to Victoria, who's also in our group. She had read this very book and taken it in to the same shop when she'd finished it. So now it's come full circle; the whole group is sharing it, and it's my turn to borrow it.

I love that we're all sharing it. It's meant to be really good, and some of our own characters may even feature in the book! Happy reading and knitting.