November Project of the Month: A Cap for Nessa's Mother

It's been a busy week here at Rosie's! We packed up the Uhaul yesterday and sent Lisa, Stacy, DC and Abby down to Baltimore for Stitches East which is this weekend (Friday-Sunday) at the Baltimore Convention center. Every year we pack up part of the store and head down to Stitches where we set up a booth (three booths this year!) and sell yarn and meet people. This year Lisa, Carol and Laura are all signing Knit So Fine in our booth at 3:30 on Saturday, and we also have a trunk show of all the garments! They are really lovely. Be sure to stop by and try on your favorite! We also have a lot of the yarns there so you can purchase projects and get your book signed all in one fell swoop. Stacy is designing our booth space this year so it's sure to be adorable. Kate and I also made kits of all your favorite Rosie Knits patterns, like Selbu Modern, the Sugar Mountain Beret, Trellis Lace Capelet and more. They are super cute. Stay tuned, the kits will be available in the shop and online for holiday shopping this year. They are sure to be a hit. Which brings me to the topic of this blog post, the new Project of the Month!

A Cap for Nessa's Mother

I know the name is sort of a mouthful, but there's a story behind it.
Years ago, when I first started working here, the office was strictly Lisa's domain. Occasionally she would ask me to print out a pattern for a customer and I would take a deep breath and dive into the tangeled mess of files. Throughout the years so many patterns had been written, rewritten, edited, renamed or abandoned that the "My Documents" section of the office PC was overrun with files called things like, "Sweater revision for Frances" or "How I make my buttonholes" or "A Cap for Nessa's Mother." I familiarized myself with all of them so that I could help the customers and also so I would know where to find a basic worsted weight watchcap pattern for a toddler (the file called, shockingly, "Kid's Worsted Watchcap") so I could just print it out for a customer instead of pouring through books. There's all kinds of useful things in that "My Documents" folder that Lisa has accumulated over the years: Items like, "Big Cable Hat" "Child's Poncho" "Crocheted Kippot" "Easy Felt Bag" and "Fuzzy Fingerless Mittens".
A Cap for Nessa's Mother began as just that. A woman, ostensibly named Nessa, came in with a hat that her mother had knit years ago with yarn and a pattern from Wanamakers, so long ago that Wanamakers was not only still in business but it also had a wool department. Her mother had lost the pattern and wanted to make the hat again. Lisa looked at the hat and concocted a pattern for her. Years passed, and then I resurrected it in all it's cute glory. The time has come, and this is a great quick knit perfect for an "in-between projects" project or as a quick gift for the holidays. I knit this one in Manos Silk Blend color 3044 briar, Stacy has already whipped one up in Black. It uses under one skein of yarn, so it's also great for using up scrap yarn you have at home. I would guess that I used about 3/4 of a skein, or about 100 yds. Download the free pattern now!

See you at Stitches!