Ruthven is a bottom up hat pattern, designed by Weichien — The Petite Knitter, perfect for anyone looking to satisfy their yearning for further stranded colourwork practice! Work in two or three (or four!) colours to experiment with your own design.
The Ruthven hat makes a great second project to gently stretch your stranded colourwork skills. It’s worked bottom-up with enough slouchy length to pull down over your ears. The corrugated ribbing brim introduces a fun new skill: you’ll work the knit stitches of the rib in one colour, and the purl stitches in another. The double layer created by the stranding adds extra warmth, and corrugated rib has crisp vertical lines without as much stretch as regular ribbing. You might find the purl stitches tricky: even for experienced knitters, corrugated ribbing can feel quite slow, so don’t be surprised if it takes longer than you expect. The results are well worth the effort, and once you’ve completed the band the rest of the colourwork will be much more familiar.
The effective colourwork pattern features a small repeat, similar to the motifs used in Mulben, and the bands of pattern offer the perfect canvas for playing with colour. Choose a simple two colour option; try out a gradient, fading towards the top; work each band in a different colour; or use multiple colours per band to highlight the tips or centre rows of the motifs; the possibilities are truly endless.
The slouchy crown, perfectly gathered to top with a pom-pom, is worked in a solid colour. If you’re new to switching to dpns, or magic loop, you’ll be able to focus on that without attempting stranded colourwork simultaneously. The pattern includes three sizes and, with so many creative possibilities for colour play, you might struggle to stop at one!
Build your skills by following the links to our clear step-by-step tutorials.
Available in three sizes — small[medium, large].
Finished circumference: 21 1/4[22 3/4, 24]” / 53[57, 60]cm.
Finished length: 9½” / 24cm
Learn all of the skills you need to make Ruthven designed by Weichien with our beginner colourwork course. The Stranded Colourwork Basics course is a 4 week self-guided online knitting course, with continued access to the course so that you can return to each chapter for a refresher, again and again, whenever you need.
Heavy fingering / sport weight wool yarn.
Shown in Rauma Finull PT2 (100% Norwegian wool, 191 yds / 175m, 1.76oz / 50g).
Total yarn: 195[225, 250] yds / 180[205, 230]m.
Main colour approx: 120[130, 140] yds / 110[120, 130]m.
Contrast colours: the yarn amounts needed will vary depending on how many contrast colours you use and how you decide to arrange the colours.
The needle size that works best for your yarn will depend on your individual tension. The recommended needle size for the yarn is a good starting point.