Pattern Info
Instructions
The design has a beaded roll brim followed by plain knitting, then a beaded band emphasized in purl stitches. For the beaded areas, you manipulate two strands of yarn, one with and one without beads. This is a simple way to introduce the beads as needed into the knitting.Difficulty:
Category: Knitting
Type of item: Clothing
For: Women
Style: Retro / Vintage, Classic, Traditional
Materials
heavy worsted weight (12-ply UK weight) mohair/merino blend yarn in white color; 10/2 tencel thread in natural color; Miyuki size 8/0 (3 mm diameter) glass seed beads in a color mix of pearls, crystals, grays and blacks
What was your inspiration?
This hat is a flapper style, inspired by the movie "Agatha" with Vanessa Redgrave. Women in the 20's and 30's wore these lovely cloche hats. Laura Andersson (the designer with whom I collaborated on this pattern publication) envisioned one with a beaded band ... which started us on the way to creating this hat design. A second inspiration was a biography of Bella Abzug, a politican who did a lot for women's issues. Bella was famous for always wearing a hat; hence Bella's Beads.
What are you most proud of?
Fire Mountain Gems showcased this Bella's Beads Cloche that I made in their full-page color ads in the Creative Knitting and Knit 'N Style magazines.
What advice would you give someone starting this project?
Pattern instructions include two versions for the crown; one as shown here with the beaded garter spokes, and the other with beaded purl circles.
Adult small[medium, large] - finished circumference 19[21, 22]" to fit head approximately 21[22, 23]". Heavy worsted weight or UK 12-ply yarn - 105[115,125] yards. 4 stitches/inch over stockinette on larger needles. Suggested needle sizes US 6 and 8, 40 g size 8/0 seed beads. Supplemental thread for carrying the beads: 35[40,45] yards. Written stitch instructions.
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