For the second test knit assignment I was given an interpretation of a pattern detailed in “Textile Conservation and Research” by M. Flury-Lemberg. Item no. 26 Men’s hats from the shipwreck of Gnalic, page 471. I have that pattern and I also have my own interpretation, which is not identical to the test pattern.
The interesting thing about this pattern is that it does not make a flat fabric, but a conical one. That saves time and yarn, and wool can be stretched into the desired shape quite easily.
I decided to do both to have a side-by-side comparison. Both version have quite a few guesses because the pattern in the book is not as specific as modern knitting pattern usually are. I can't wait to see some photos of these caps to see how my guesses measure up!
I started with my interpretation to have that out of the way before starting on the assignment test pattern. I have chosen not to stack the increases and decreases, and kfb as the increase.
I only washed and gently stretched the crown into shape, no fulling or using a form to block the crown. Hence the wrinkles. The crown is 34 cm in diameter vs. 30.57 of the original, but I expect it to shrink with fulling.
Yeah, I didn't weave in the end. Partly because I don't know if they did, and partly because I can snip it off after fulling. The brim is also hand stretched, and not very evenly either. There will come a time in this project when I'll toss all the test caps into a washing machine and full the lot of them. There will be a proper and tidy blocking after that.
I chose the same kind of wool to knit the cap #2a as the first one, but the needles 0.5 mm larger (as specified in the 2nd test pattern). I measured the time spent knitting for this one as well, and it took me 863 minutes to complete this one. Compare that to the 1664 minutes it took me for the first cap. The difference in needle size is too small to explain the difference, I believe the difference comes from the pattern.
