It’s with a lot of nervousness and excitement that I announce today is the release of my first knitting pattern!
Model: Rochelle New / Photographer: William Waldon
The pattern is Victory, and inspired by Fair Isle tams of the 1940s. Cleverly tucked in among traditional motifs, you’ll find the V sign and Morse code used in the WWII-era “V for Victory” campaign.
Vintage Fair Isle patterns often called for using “oddments” of yarn. It was a great way to use up leftovers in a gloriously colorful fashion that was popular in the 1940s, as well as being part of the “make do and mend” mentality of the era. It’s still just as useful for today’s knitter who has partial skeins from various projects that they’d like to use up!
Yarn
1 ball of Excelana Wool 4 Ply (174yd / 159m per 50g ball) in each the following 5 colors: Cornflower Blue (Main Color), Nile Green, Alabaster, Ruby Red, Powdered Egg. Excelana is a 100% British wool created by the collaboration of vintage knitwear designer Susan Crawford and John Arbon of Fibre Harvest, and is a wonderful choice for vintage-inspired knits.
If substituting yarn, you will need less than 50g / 174yd of 5 colors of fingering weight / 4 ply.
Gauge
32 sts / 32 rnds = 4″ / 10cm in stranded stockinette stitch
Needles
2.75mm (US 2) needles or size needed to obtain gauge
Size
One size. Will stretch to comfortably fit head circumferences up to 24″ / 61cm. If a slightly larger or smaller size is desired, simply go up or down a needle size from needles that give you correct gauge.
Construction
Tam / beret is worked in the round in stranded stockinette, with centered double deceases (explained in the pattern) to shape the crown.
How to buy the pattern
You can buy Victory on Ravelry directly or visit the pattern page for more info (whether or not you’re a member).
For the first 48 hours, Victory will be 20% off to everyone, no coupon code needed.
So go visit Victory on Ravelry to purchase the pattern now!
Looking for a Victory knit-along, perhaps??
As part of the just-announced Knit for Victory knit-along this winter, I’ll be knitting another Victory as one of my projects (the sample went off to live with the gorgeous model). Think of it as a mini-KAL within the larger KAL. My posts will be geared towards knitters who are relatively new to Fair Isle and I’ll go quite slow, so if you’ve been waiting for a chance to try colorwork with a bit of hand-holding, now’s the time. If you use a 100% wool like Excelana, it’s also an excellent project choice for Wovember!
I’m thrilled to finally release my first pattern. I’ll share about my inspiration, photos and more in future posts, but right now it’s just time to celebrate. 🙂
Rochelle New says
Ahhhh you’re amazing!!! I’m so so so proud of you. Everyone will love the pattern I just know it 🙂
Rachel says
What a fabulous hat- and a fantastic model (waves at Rochelle 😉 ). It’s beautiful Tasha- and on my list!
Rebecca says
So awesome, I knew I would love it! You pay so much attention to detail and the colors you choose are amazing, and a fabulous model to boot! 🙂 Congratulations! Well done!!
Gail says
Looks fantastic, Tasha! Congratulations!
Shannon says
Ahh, love!
Just bought it, because I have this vision of a greyscale or otherwise monochromatic version. My instict is always to go high-contrast, but something about the beautiful colorwork makes me want to give it a try (or maybe it’s because Seattle weather has settled into its grey and rainy state for the winter?).
Congrats!
Tasha says
Thanks! Ooh, I love the sound of a monochrome palette for it!
Linda says
That’s so sweet! I’m new to your blog but can imagine your excitement. Congratulations.
Kate-Em says
This is gorgeous. Congratulations on your pattern release. I am so excited about Knit for Victory and your idea to do a knitalong for this Tam is great. I am not very confident with colourwork so it will really help me.
Evie says
Beautiful!! Congratulations on your first pattern!
Alexandra says
BOUGHT IT! This is awesome! I love how it looks and am excited about dipping my toes in Fairisle waters! Yay!
Ginger says
Absolutely lovely! This is so cute! Rochelle looks so adorable modeling it, too!
Siri Andersen says
Many congrats on your first release! It is lovely 🙂
Amanda says
Wowzers! What an impressive first pattern! congratulations!
Rosie Wednesday says
This is beautiful! Congratulations!!
Sarah says
Congratulations on your new pattern! It is so pretty! 🙂
Kim Campbell says
This is awesome! I can’t knit (YET!) but I love this so I bought it anyway! lol! Plus, as my daughter is a maker and seller of things I love to support others. Congrats!!!
Tasha says
That it so sweet of you Kim, thank you! 🙂
3girls1apple says
Knitted hats are super cool. My mom makes them for me all the time. Maybe I can show her this model because it is fabulous. Thanks for sharing from 3girls1apple.com
Jenn says
I had a feeling it would be a beret! It looks fabulous 🙂 Perhaps someday when I think I can tackle Fair Isle, I’ll give it a whirl!
Tina Vines says
I’m thinking I should give this beauty a try! it’s so gorgeous. Congrats Tasha, wonderful job.
Emily says
Very nice and congratulations on getting your first pattern ready for sale!
Alyson says
Gorgeous! I posted a link on my Tumblr, hope this helps 🙂
Jessica Cangiano says
That is as awesome and exciting as the day is long, dear Tasha! Way to go! This pattern and the example Rochelle is sporting of it both look amazing! You’ve really, really done a superb job here.
♥ Jessica
Lauren says
As someone who has seen this hat in person, I can 100% vouch that it’s GORGEOUS in real life. I am so so happy and excited for you with this pattern release – hopefully there’s more where that came from 😉 I’m totally down for a KAL – even if I don’t have time to join and, well, actually knit along, I can at least follow the pictures and ~learn~.
Speaking of which, I’m a terrible commenter buuut I wanted to thank you for posting that tutorial on short row sleeves! For real! Short rows are my favorite way to set in sleeves, but I’ve never known how to adapt it to a pattern that doesn’t have it exclusively written in. Now I know. You da best ♥
Tasha says
Thanks Lauren– feels so great to finally show it off to more than just a few people. 😉 Btw glad to hear you liked the tutorial, I know you love that method!
Lauren says
Oh, and by the way – Rochelle is totally a babe and looks super babely in the pictures, but I reckon we all knew that anyway, huh? 😉
kate says
Congrats! What a great accomplishment Tasha! 🙂
Jessica Owens says
Love it, bought it, can’t wait to make and wear it!
Deborah Garretty says
Fabulous pattern, congratulations! Excelana is fantastic to knit with (I’ve knitted with it several times) and this will definitely be joining my queue of New Year knitting.
Loran says
I don’t knit much but I’m not only going to attempt this hat but a sweater as well for your KAL. I’m VERY excited about these new skills and read your entire series of posts as you knitted your red pullover. I mostly understood what you were saying!
Your model is just too lovely : ) You guys never fail to make me smile!!!
Elena Knits says
Wow, Tasha! It’s beautiful!
Pauline Stevens says
I am so happy that I found your site, with so much info and so many tips. I especially liked your short row sleeves, I have avoided set in sleeves like the plague. Now I can’t wait to try this, I hope I do well. I have stuck with raglan sleeves for years as my set-in sleeves looked terrible.
And I am anxious to check out more of your site.
Thank you, Pauline