Working on a new Crochet Hat and Top Pattern - Asterid
It's been a long Summer and I haven't written a post for a while.
My brain has been consumed with working on the new hat pattern from my last blog and turning it into a matching top pattern too.
The top feels like it's taken so much brain work.
I've tried to make it as customisable as possible, working out places where the rounds can be repeated and extended.
It's been both exhausting and educational!
Crochet tops have always been my passion but hats are a great way for me to work out the kind of stitches I want to use.
I've discovered that hats are like useful swatches!
I wasn't sure about the new hat at first as it seemed really "over the top flowery" but I decided to embrace my inner flower fairy and just go with it.
Thankfully, an over-flowery hat gives me lots of stitch options for a bigger project like a top.
Originally I wasn't sure about what direction to take the top.
I thought about a mandala top where the crown of the hat would be at the back (an idea I may still explore one day).
I had a wonderful idea for a jacket that still needs processing in my brain and has left me with a stack of Asterid motifs ready to use (see opposite!) Instead of bobbles these motifs have little fans. I imagined the motifs being at the hem of a jacket but I've yet to figure out how the rest of the jacket would look!
In the end I decided I wanted to explore a yoke top again, like Frith.
It's taken me a while to get my head around how to translate the stitches in a way that they can be used in a made to measure pattern.
The stitch patterns popped out of my head naturally onto the hat. It took me a while to work out multiples and also how they would fit smoothly to make a flat yoke.
Asterid starts off with a diagonal mesh which mimics the overlaid mesh on the hat, without the bulk of extra stitches behind it.
The bobbles are like a string of beads on a necklace.
The yoke is extended with shell stitches, which sit under the the "seed pod" bobbles like a bed of leaves.
The body of the top is a lightly textured shell pattern, which isn't featured on the hat but mimics some of the other shell details.
The Frith Top also has a shell stitch on the body, but a slightly different version.
I've been enjoying alternating colours for the rounds of shells - a great way to use up partial skeins as I'm trying to work mostly from stash these days.
The hem features all the stitches on the side/brim of the hat, which makes the lower edge of the top flare out into a peplum.
One of the things I particularly enjoy, about this set of stitches, is the way the shell stitches, on the hem, are anchored down to subsequent rounds.
There is a lot of dipping back into previous rounds in Asterid, which I really enjoyed creating. It was a real nightmare explaining it all, however!
Asterid is definitely one of my more complicated designs.
As well as writing the pattern up with step by step photos, I also included videos demonstrating the stitches and handwritten charts.
Both patterns are currently being tested and will hopefully be available later in the year.
Wish my testers luck!
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