Learn the Musselburgh Hat (Ysolda Teague)

Transcript:

Amanda:  So Heather, thanks very much for having this little chat with us about this famous Musselburgh Hat by a Ysolda Teague, Edinburgh knitwear designer.  And Heather, you’ve knit three of these hats and they are beautiful.  They are absolutely stunning. Are you going to model that one?

Heather:  There you go.  So it’s a lozenge shape. So you have a crown at the top and then a long straight section and then a decrease to create a crown at the opposite end.  And then when you want to wear it, you just put one end inside of the other.  And you can wear it either kind of slouchy, if you’re a cool person, which I’m not, or you can turn it up and have a nice brim. And then you’ve got four layers on your ears and your forehead in the wind.

Amanda:  Lovely, really nice in the winter. Very nice and cosy.  So it’s been quite a popular design for Ysolda, hasn’t it? It’s a unique design.  So when did you first come across this, Heather?

Heather:  So it was recommended to me by teacher that taught me to knit, Helen and she said it was a good pattern to try.  And I was just a beginner knitter. And so I did find it a bit challenging to get started.  But yeah, it’s a really addictive pattern.  I’ve made three now and I’m working on a fourth.  So I think a lot of people find that with this pattern addictive.

Amanda:  I’m the same. I’ve knit four and I forgot to bring them today.  So I would absolutely agree it’s a tricky cast on.  In fact, we’ve got Mary and Susan here, they’ve got the the cast on just beginning there.  How are you finding it?

Mary: Stressful.

Susan: It’s very stressful. Yeah.

Amanda:  Yeah. It’s a tricky little cast on to get started. But we promise you, Heather, and I promise you that once you get going, you’ll be fine.  So do you have any hints and tips that you can offer new ladies knitting this?

Heather:  Yeah, I think the first thing with the with the cast on is just to maybe just sit and just practise the cast on a few times to get comfortable with it. But once you once you’ve got a few rounds of increases and it’s much easier from that point on. 

And I think one of my top tips is once you’ve knit the crown section, weigh your ball of yarn.   And knowing what you started with, you’ll know how much yarn you’ve used in the crown weight wise. So if I’ve used ten grammes to make the crown of the hat, then I’ll keep an eye on how much yarn I’ve got left. And maybe when I’m down to about twelve grammes, I would know I’ll have to start the decreases and I’ll have enough to finish the hat.

So that that’s what I did with this Fairisle one because I really didn’t know if I was going to have enough yarn to get to the end.  So I was just weighing the yarn and making sure I had a good idea.

Amanda:  Of course the other thing is is that you can make it a double hat.

Heather:  Well, this one effectively is because it’s got a different outside from the inside? It’s got different patterns on the  ends you see, so you get quite a different effect depending on  which way out you’ve got it, yeah.

Amanda:  So you used more blue wool at this at this end and you used more red at that end.

Heather:  Yeah, exactly.  So it’s come out quite Christmassy.

Amanda:  Yeah, it’s nice.

Heather:  You could have it stripy at one end and plain up the other, or two different colours, or whatever you like really.

Amanda:  I think the other beauty of this pattern is as Ysolda says, she has tutorials, doesn’t she, on YouTube? But she talks about the fact that you can use different size needles, whatever you’re comfortable with.  You can use different weights of yarn. And then she gives you a chart so that you measure how many stitches every 2.5 centimetres and according to how many stitches you get in 2.5 centimetres, that tells you which pattern instruction to follow, which pattern instruction.  How many stitches.

Heather:  So yeah, it’s super versatile. It’s a really good way to use up any leftover yarn that you’ve got because you can use just about anything for it.  And also you don’t have to do a tension square, which is nice.  You just get started.  I find that I quite often skip doing the tension squares.

Amanda:  And being perfectly honest, I kind of hate with a passion, DPNs.  I know some people like them, some people don’t.  What about yourself? Are you a DPNer?

Heather:  No, I quite like them. I’m not too not too fussed with them.  But then I’ve also got for the one that I’m doing now, I’ve got these really shorty little sock circulars.  So you can get really short circulars.  So you can just stay on the DPNs for a little bit of time and then get on to increasingly sized circulars.

Amanda:  That would be me.  As soon as I can get on to the circulars,  I’ll be on the circulars.

Janet: Can I ask a question – can you do these on a magic loop?           

Heather:  I think you could. Now the cast on. I don’t know, because I’m not good with magic loop myself, but yeah.   

Amanda:  She does say here that you can use magic loop.  Let’s see. Yeah, so she’s got videos, she’s got really good YouTube videos of cast on.  She says cast on  stitches using your preferred centre out cast on … e.g. disappearing loop or I-Cord belly button. I have no idea. Or Emily Ocker’s cast on and divide stitches as follows.

Heather:  So there’s different ways and means and I do believe that there are even more  than Ysolda’s YouTube videos.

Amanda:  I think there’s other people who’ve done YouTube videos as well.

Heather:  So I would definitely recommend YouTube.  I would definitely recommend using a Lifeline after you’ve done your crown section as well.  Like any actually.

Mary: Can I ask, what’s a lifeline?

Heather:  Yeah, so a lifeline is literally, you take some scrap yarn or I use crochet threads.  I’ve got it in my bag somewhere and you just thread it on a needle and then thread it through the live stitches on your needle and just keep knitting.  Just leave it in your knitting and just keep knitting. And then if ever you have to rip back, when you rip out, it’ll just act as a natural break and it’ll stop on that cord. And then you then just pop your needle back in.  So whenever I’m doing any knitting project where the pattern changes from like a crown increase to a straight section, I’ll pop a lifeline in in case something goes wrong, I don’t have to redo this.

Amanda:  Exactly, you wouldn’t want to lose all your work. 

Heather:  So it just gives you that little safety net. So I’d pop one of them in.

Amanda:  Well, thanks very much, Heather.  And your hats are absolutely stunning. Thank you. And they’ve all pulled up in the middle.  Really beautiful they are.

Heather:  Apart from the demo model that I’ve made today, which didn’t.

Amanda:  That’s always the case.  My, my first couple didn’t, and I ended up just having to put some little stitches in them. But I mean, you have to stitch up that middle in any case.

Heather:  Yeah. So it looks fine.

Amanda:  Well, thanks for having a chat with us today.  Thanks very much.