Day 2 of Sprang-Along, this is the day we actually work the sprang!
Because this is a small project, the actual time of working the sprang should be minimal.
Today's post will be more photos and maybe I will add a video later. I wasn't sure what I wanted to share with everyone for this step until very late in the day yesterday and honestly I was a little tired and overwhelmed from all the content creation I had been doing in the previous days.
Although I think this hat works up best in plain, interlinked sprang, today I am going to share some ideas on making a hat that has a little more interest then just plain 1/1 interlinking.
First I want to share how I made my hats.
The first hat I made is just plain 1/1 interlinking. It turned out too big and so I made a nalbinded brim for it.
I wouldn't do a hat like this again unless I was making it for someone who wanted that very slouchy style.
It is cute, but not terribly functional as a hat. I like my hats to keep my head and ears warm.
My next hat I worked up smaller and I worked the first rows two threads as one. This is often used as a method for shaping sprang fabric.
For this hat, the shaping helped match the sprang to the nalbinded brim, but the regular 1/1 interlinking made the hat a little mushroom shaped on top.
I still like the hat though. I wear it on cold mornings to take care of my horses.
Another wool hat but this time with a knitted brim. I made the sprang part much smaller so I had to add a larger brim. I did not include any shaping on the sprang.
This hat is super comfy and warm on cold mornings!
This was my first time combining knitting with sprang and I love how it works out. Knitting is not my thing, so I don't know if I will do this combo much.
Hat in a gorgeous pima cotton. I wanted to try adding a second color and so I did intertwinings of the secondary color.
The brim is a row of single crochet and then a row of picots.
This hat came out more like a cloche then a beanie. I did not do any shaping on it, but it fits great.
I really like this hat and may do more for warm weather wear.
I think this hat is the most interesting. This is all sprang, except for an inner lining of nalbinding I had to include to pull the brim together.
I had hoped that the under two, over two interlaced brim would be tight enough to make a good brim, but I was very wrong!
The rest of the hat is interlinking two threads as one, with a section in the middle where I did a slightly different technique (see below). I also chained the meeting point rather then gathered.
I really like this hat and will be working on perfecting the pattern.
So those are hats I made as I was preparing for this Sprang-Along. I think you could play around with making the hat narrow enough that the sprang stretches a bit along the brim, or a bit wider and work the threads two as one.
Creating Texture and Interest in Sprang
So while there are a number of ways to make patterns and designs in sprang; hole patterns, color patterns, S and Z slant patterns, I find that playing around with the basic technique is a lot of fun.
Below, I will show you some of the patterns I have come up with from thinking; I wonder what would happen if I did this?
Double Diamonds
This is by far one of my favorite patterns to use. I named it double diamonds because it looks like a diamond within a diamond.
I don't remember what I was trying to do when I came up with this, it was years ago. But it came from a mistake for sure.
Pattern:
Row 1: Pick 2/drop 1, pick 1/drop 1 across, pick 2/drop 1
Row 2: Pick 1/drop1 across
Row 3: Repeat row 1
Row 4: Pick 2/drop 2 across
Little Vs
This is a fairly subtle pattern. I wanted my areas of working two threads as one to look more interesting. I love how it looks on this all sprang hat.
Pattern:
Work a pattern of two threads as one (so on a row where you pick2/drop1 to begin, you would pick 4/drop 2 and then continue picking and dropping 2 across)
On any row, rather then pick up the next two threads, pick up the first thread and the third thread, skipping over the second thread. The third thread should cross in front of the second thread. Do the same thing with the front threads. Drop the first thread and the third thread, skipping over the second thread. The third thread should cross in front of the second thread.
Edit: I forgot to add the second part of this pattern! Sorry about that.
You then will pick up the remaining two back threads, the second and fourth threads and then drop the remaining two front threads, also the second and fourth threads.
It looks a little bit messier on the larger yarn. We will see how it turns out.
Window Panes
I don't know why, but this pattern reminds me of window panes.
This pattern came from a little what if note I wrote to myself.
What if I started a shift row by interlinking the first two back threads together?
FYI, shift row is my term for pick 2/drop 1. I could never remember which was which with Collingwood's names, so I made up my own.
To be honest, it didn't turn out the way I thought it would at all. It is still very interesting and something I will do again.
I am certain I wrote down the pattern, but I cannot find it now.
I'm fairly sure it's:
Row 1: interlink the first two back threads together. Work remaining row normally.
Row 2: pick 1/drop 1 across.
On row two, you won't be making normal interlinkings, the threads will just twine around each other. The threads on row one will cross behind/in front of three threads rather then the normal two. The pattern is essentially lattice sprang with a row of intertwining thrown in.
Do you have any fun patterns you have come up with while playing around with sprang? If so, please share!!
I'll see you tomorrow for finishing up our sprang hats!