About Matte Hood
What went into the design, upcoming designs & class updates, etc.
My latest design Matte Hood is available on Ravelry and Payhip now. Enjoy 20% off this pattern using coupon code MATTELOVE until Mon Feb 12, 2024 midnight PT.
❤️
This week I’m taking a break from my customary essay to talk about this design. I’ve talked a lot about my knitting and designing journey and thought processes here.
Knitting, at its core, is a very practical pursuit where the end goal is wearability. The journey from an abstract concept to a well-fitted, functional piece is both rewarding as well as challenging. While I enjoy every aspect of the design process, I've come to realize that my greatest satisfaction comes from working towards wearability of an item of clothing.
🧶 STITCH PATTERN
For Matte Hood, I started with the idea of a warm and soft covering for the head and neck. I had this squishy and stretchy slipped stitch pattern in mind which would give a great fabric for the head covering. It just had knits, purls and slipped stitches and nothing complicated. So it was perfect!
🧶 YARN
Generally I am a bit wary of single ply yarn but I loved Malabrigo Worsted for this one. It gave excellent stitch definition.
🧶 FIT
I wanted the hood to be a somewhat loose covering around the head but adjustable. I based the sizes off head circumferences but with enough room to cover the sides of the face as well.
For adjustability I thought of an i-cord, but I didn’t like the idea of knitting an i-cord edge and extending it. It starts wearing out after a few uses. So I wanted to have a folded hem and thread the i-cord through it.
Any difference in gauge between your stockinette and the slipped stitch pattern, gets evened out when the i-cord is threaded through! ❤️
🧶 COWL
The cowl circumference is like a regular cowl and the width is slightly smaller so it just about drapes around the neck. It is attached to the hood like a sideways border. The pattern comes with detailed construction diagrams and schematic.
There are a few different possibilities for the cowl though. It could be made wider. Or it could be made long enough to loop twice around the neck. If you experiment with it, please show me your results. 🫶
These are the few things I wanted to share about Matte Hood construction today. Thank you for all the love and support. 💕
I hope you’ll enjoy the pattern as much as I did coming up with it. As always, your feedback and comments are very welcome.
CRAFTDOODLING DESIGNS UPDATE
Currently my next design, a brioche scarf is being tested. You might have seen it here in my posts as a WIP earlier.
If you are in the area and interested in taking a brioche introductory class with me, please sign up here at Fillory Yarn.
OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE
Books I’m Currently Reading 📚
Then she was gone - Lisa Jewell
Watchmen - Alan Moore
Until next time,
Kavitha. ♡
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It's a fabulous design Kavitha! Thanks so much for sharing your pattern creation process here. As always I love being able to understand what goes on in designing a knitting pattern. :)
Happy to say that I downloaded both your Matte Hood and Low Key Scarf. Will be a while before I can do some knitting, but I am looking forward to both of these items! I may add a yoke rather than the cowl to the Matte Hood. My shoulders tend to get cold and a yoke could fit under or over another garment. Not sure if I would like the cowl to open down the front? Will be interested to see what others are doing. The stitch pattern is so pretty!