A Shot in the Dark

I had an idea for a hat that was mostly dark, shot through with some light strands. There are several ways to accomplish this; I decided to play around with vertical stranding, taking it diagonal and seeing how far I could push the technique. It turns out, pretty far.

The result is my newest pattern: Shot in the Dark. It’s a quick hat to knit up, using worsted weight yarn (Morehouse Farm‘s new Glenleigh Worsted) and I find it appealingly eye-catching. I’ve already been asked by a few knitters how I accomplished the colorwork. So far, folks have guessed duplicate stitch, embroidery, stranded with really long floats, ladderback jacquard, and applied crochet. It’s none of those. Vertical stranding is fun and it’s perfect for places like this where you want a shot of color far apart from everything else.

The pattern explains how to do it and I’m confident you’ll pick it up quickly. But if you’d like to work on it together, I’ll be teaching Vertical Standing at the Morehouse Farm Open Farm Day next Friday, October 14, and you can register on their site. Morehouse Farm is right down the road from Rhinebeck, so if you’ll be in town for the weekend, come a day ahead and spend some time with me and the sheep! Morehouse has also invited me to teach this class virtually with them in November, so stay tuned for more details on that option.

You can find the hat pattern for sale on Ravelry and in my Payhip shop.

If it’s chilly at Rhinebeck, you may spot me wearing this hat around the fairgrounds. I’m just a little bit obsessed with it.