This Snowfall Hat by Susan Rainey is a wonderful beaded hat, perfect for winter time smiles, and written for 5 sizes.
This is our second version of these kits -- they were so very popular last winter that we just had to bring them back!
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Please be sure to get your pattern directly from the designer on her Ravelry page here. What we have put together are yarn + beads to knit this with.
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The Design
Here is what Susan writes:
Beads as colorwork!
That is what is unique about this hat.
Instead of using beads to add bling to a lace pattern, the beads are meant to replicate the beautiful gradient yarns that we all love. Larger beads are used for this reason.
Using beads for the colorwork actually frees you from the confines of other types of color knitting. Unlike stranded knitting, you can use more than one color in a row. And it isn’t intarsia!
Yarn and Colorways
We decided to keep the yarn colors very simple: from Dream in Color, their Lamb & Goat yarn (fingering weight of 90% NZ wool + 10% cashmere, with 190 yards/ 50g) in Snow and in Night.
Snow is a creamy white.
Night is a deep almost-solid midnight blue.
This is not the same yarn as what Susan used in her original but as she recommends using either fingering weight or sport weight, this yarn will work beautifully. (Our yarns are shown on the upper right-hand corner of the top photo and again below that.)
Note that the finished sizes are meant to be worn with 1 - 3" of negative ease. Susan writes, "The hat tends to fit looser -- can't figure out why! You may want to make a size smaller than you typically wear, but the hat in any size seems to look good on everyone."
Susan's original pieces used less than 164 yards (in a light sport weight) for each size besides the Extra Large. In other words, for the sizes from XS (16") through Small (17"), Medium (18") and Large (19 1/2"). So each of our kits will include one skein of the colorway you choose. If you feel you need more, contact me and we'll set you up with a special web page for a larger kit.
Beads
Beads are decidedly a major design feature here. Our kits will include size 6/0 beads as described below.
Susan writes, "Size 6 in three colors are added in two ways: the ribbing is knit with beads that you string onto the yarn prior to knitting. The snowflake beads are added using a crochet hook of size 1.25-1.4 mm (or whatever method, hook size works for you). "
If you wish to do all one color of bead, you will need between 913 and 971 size 6/0 beads, depending on the size hat you wish to make.
If you wish to do a three-bead-color spectacular, then you will need between 211 - 232 size 6/0s of the lightest color, 362 - 400 6/0s of the medium color, and between 316 - 339 of the darkest.
The original "Snowfall" used silver/ aqua/ turquoise for the three-color version or all silver for the one-color version.
The original "Snowfall's Chance in Hell" used gold/ orange/ red for the three-color version.
If you have an idea of what colors you would like let me know. Otherwise I will choose for you.
(Please note that we will not be giving you the exact beads that Susan used. Ours are Miyuki, reputed to be the highest quality beads worldwide. Susan used a different brand.)
