Variations on a Theme

Being one who tends to take an idea and run with it for a while, I made a couple more caps in the grid pattern that I used for the Stained Glass cap. On both of these I started out as I meant to go on and the grid reaches all the way down to the ribbing unlike the first cap where I changed the pattern midway. With the blue/wine variegated yarn under the grid, it reminds me of a seascape or a snow field at twilight seen though a multi-paned window.



The pattern is easy to knit, taking only a little more concentration than a plain cap. Here's the pattern:

Two colors of knitting worsted weight yarn (you can get perhaps 3 to 4 caps out of two 3.5 oz skeins)
Size 10.5 circular knitting needle, 16" length
Two double point needles, size somewhere near 10.5 but not critical.
Yarn needle

Cast on 66 stitches with grid color, join, being careful not to twist stitches and work 2.5 to 3" in k1, p1 rib.
Body: using grid color, row 1: knit around; row 2: purl around; row 3 knit around
Join background color (variegated or solid)
Row 4 to 6, k5, slip next stitch onto right needle as to purl, repeat around, ending with slipping the last stitch.
Repeat last six rows four more times, then fasten off background color & repeat rows 1 to 3 again.
Knit 4 rounds even.
First decrease row: Knit 2tog around (33 st)
Knit 1 row even
Second & final decrease row: With a dp needle, k2tog 8 times, switch to 2nd dp and continue k2tog to last stitch, k1.
Cut yarn leaving a long tail, gather the top stitches and using the yarn needle, close the top of the cap & fasten. Run the beginning tail end into the backside of the ribbing (I run it through the cross yarns in the middle of one of the knit ribs which hides it pretty well even if the ribbing is turned up.

On other topics, I've added links to a few of the blogs I read regularly to the sidebar. This list will probably grow in the coming days as I continue to surf my way around the various knitting rings. It's interesting what shows up when using the RANDOM button - it must be similar to the rush of playing a "one-armed bandit" {g}. I click on the button and wait with bated breath to see what wonderous new site will appear. There are so many wonderful people out there, welcoming me into their knitting world, displaying their latest projects, giving me new ideas and longings.. Sometimes I run across a site that hasn't been updated in months and I pause to wonder what happened to that knitter - and hope that it's just that her interests changed and not that something dire is keeping her from posting. At other sites, where I've been before, I feel like an old friend coming in for a cup of tea and a bit of catch-up chat. It's a good feeling and I thank my fellow bloggers for it.