Solstice Tam
Add a little winter sunshine to your life with this tam shaped like the rays of the icy sun on the shortest day, knit in a luxuriously soft 4 ply cashmere/merino blend. Skills required: Working in the round using the magic loop technique, simple lace knitting including yarnovers and decreases, working from a chart. Yarn: The Knitting Goddess (www.theknittinggoddess.co.uk) Luxury Sock (4 ply $80\%$ merino, $10\%$ cashmere, $10\%$ nylon, 400m/100g skein), colourway Winter Sun, 1 skein. Sizes: Blocked tam diameter approx 10 inches. The ribbing is very stretchy, so the hat willfit a wide range of head sizes. Needles: Size $2.5\mathsf{m m}$ and $2.75\;\mathrm{mm}$ circular needles, 100cm length. Notions: 5 stitch markers, tapestry needle for sewing in ends. Gauge - 35 stitches and 40 rows to 4" over pattern (Chart A rows 15 to 24) before blocking, worked in the round. Post blocking gauge is not given since there is a lot of leeway and blocking a sample will not achieve the same effect as blocking the circular hat.
Pattern Notes:
The shape of the tam is achieved by blocking - before blocking, the hat will look quite small. The pattern is written for magic loop but could just as easily be worked on two circulars. DPNs are possible, but be aware that there will be a fair bit of moving stitches between needles if you use dpns The tam uses only approximately 60g (under 300m) of yarn.If substituting yarns, be sure to choose one with some body and bounce, not too tightly twisted. The yarn needs to block well to allow the lace pattern to open out and achieve the tam shaping.
Abbreviations
K- knit P-purl st - stitch sts - stitches YO - yarn over PM - place marker SM - slip marker M1 - Make one stitch - with left needle, pick up horizontal strand between last stitch worked and next stitch from the front and knit it through the back of the loop. M1P - Make one purlwise - with left needle, pick up horizontal strand between last stitch worked and next stitch from the back and purl it through the front of the loop. M1R Make one stitch, reversed - with left needle, pick up horizontal strand between last stitch worked and next stitch from the back and knit it through the front of the loop. K2tog - knit two together (right-leaning decrease) - knit two stitches together. sSK - slip, slip, knit (left-leaning decrease) - slip first stitch on left needle as if to knit, repeat for second stitch. Insert left needle into these stitches from left to right, then knit the two stitches together thought the back loops. SK2P - double decrease - slip first stitch on left needle as if to knit, knit two together, pass the slipped stitch over.
About the Designer
Charlie Miller lives in a small village in Lincolnshire with a tall handsome Scot, 4 chickens, and loopy Lena the ex-racing greyhound who now mostly chases her yarn instead. In between knitting and designing, she can mostly be found cooking, sewing, gardening, and renovating the Miller residence, a beautiful if dilapidated 250 year old stone cottage.
Find her at her website, Long Cottage Industries (http://www.longcottage.com/) or on Ravelry, where, for historical reasons, she is known as charlietheherb. E-mail her at design@longcottage.com with any comments or queries about this pattern. Copyright $\circledcirc$ 2010 Charlie Miller, allrights reserved. This pattern is for personal use only. and the resulting garment(s) may not manufactured for commercial gain. No part of this pattern may be copied, reproduced or distributed without the express permission of the author. With thanks to my model, Marianne Ashworth.
Solstice
Instructions
Band
Using the $2.5\mathsf{m m}$ needle, loosely cast on 150 st. Join for working in the round, distributing stitches evenly between the two halves of the loop, and work 10 rounds in K1tbl, P1 rib. More rounds can be worked if as deeper band is desired.
Body
Purl one round, then work an increase round as follows: \*P5, M1P, repeat from \* around - 180 sts total. Change to larger needle and purl 3 more rounds. Begin Chart A. Work rounds 1 to 24 once, then work rounds 15 to 24 twice more. Note the increases on rounds 1 and three - after round three there will be 240 sts total. On the final round, place markers as follows: $\star_{{\sf k48}}$ , place marker, repeat from \* around - 4 markers placed. The work is now divided into 5 equal rays for the crown shaping (48 sts in each ray, 240 sts total).
Crown Shaping
Bwgin Chart B. In each round, \*work stitches 1 to 10 once, then the work the blue boxed stitches three times, slip marker, and repeat from \* around. 190 sts remain after round 10 (38 in each ray). Begin chart C, working five whole pattern repeats in each round, slipping the markers in between repeats. Note the extra increases on even-numbered rounds 10 and 28. 10 sts remain after round 32.
Finishing
Slip the first st of the round onto the other half of the needle, then ssk five times (5 sts remaining). Break yarn and draw thread through remaining stitches, pull closed and sew in ends. Wet block over two 10 inch diameter dinner plates placed face together to form a disc, taking care not to stretch the ribbing (see blocking photos at right). When dry, put it on your head and feel the warmth of the winter sun!
Chart B
