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Deborah Newton Designs Hat for Christmas at Sea

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block island hat deborah newtonThere are lots of different charities and places where you can send knit items to bring a little warmth to other people, but one that I really love the idea of is the Seamen’s Church Institute’s Christmas at Sea.

The institute was founded in 1834 by the Episcopal Church and it provides advocacy, training, legal help and pastoral care through visiting chaplains to mariners working in the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Port of Oakland and on inland waterways and the Gulf of Mexico.

Christmas at Sea aims to bring a little holiday cheer to people working away from home during the holidays (and in foul weather throughout the winter season) by providing knit and crocheted garments and accessories to maritime workers.

The group has an approved list of patterns, any of which can be made in washable yarn of your choice (though dark colors are best).

This year the group has teamed up with North Light Fibers and Deborah Newton to produce a new pattern — the Block Island Hat — available as a standalone pattern or a kit complete with North Light Fibers’ Ocean Avenue worsted, made in maritime colors especially for this project.

The hat includes diamonds, ladders, cables and chevron and takes one skein of yarn to knit. The kit, which comes with a project bag and your choice of yarn, costs $75, while the pattern alone is available from North Light Fibers for $35, with all proceeds going to the institute. Learn more from the institute’s newsletter.

Is this a cause you’ve given to in the past? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via North Light Fibers.]

Looking for more Christmas themed Knitting patterns? Check out some of our favorite Knitting patterns on Etsy and

These Christmas Knitting Pattern Books on Amazon

 

Comments

  1. I have started this hat, and want clarification on the BC and FC. Is the cable done with one stitch twice in the four stitch section? Or two stitches, once.

Have you read?

Knit a Classic Aran Cardigan with this Free Knitting Pattern

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time. 

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring. 

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. 

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row. 

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves. 

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body. 

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy. 

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn. 

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]