Mods for the Celtic Cap
Contents
This page will provide information about modifications you can make to the pattern to customize your finished product. If you have mods you'd like to share in this space, please e-mail.
Use ribbing instead of a hem or rolled edge
You can alter the pattern to knit a ribbed brim of any depth. If you are knitting in the round, multiply the number of pattern repeats (let's call it X) for your cap by 16. Cast on this amount and join without twisting, and work ribbing as follows: k1, (p2, k2) to last 3 st, p2, k1. Rib until you reach your desired depth. On the next round, begin working the X repeats of your pattern. You will be X sts short, so you will have to increase 1 purl st in the middle of each repeat so that you will have the correct number of sts on the needle, arranged in their proper knit and purl sequence, when round 1 is completed. Continue to knit the cap as directed in the pattern. Thanks to Kate for this mod.
Variants on raglan increases
While you can always work your preferred raglan increases, keep in mind that the increase interval isn't constant. On a simple, boxy raglan, you often find yourself increasing on either side of the raglan "seam" (i.e., on the sleeve side, and on the body side) at the same time, and at regular intervals--say, every 2 or every 4 rows. In slightly more sophisticated raglan shapes, the frequency of increasing changes. In this multisized pattern, not only does the frequency of the increases change, but you don't always increase the sleeve and the body at the same time (it depends what size you're knitting).
What this means is that if your favourite way of working paired increases for a raglan sleeve is visually obvious, you need to make sure that you're happy with the way it's going to look before you do it. If you're working in a tweedy yarn, or one with a texture that minimizes the visual effect of increases, this might not be such a big issue. One way to deal with this is to work the most subtle increase that you know of (for example, the raise bar increase where you lift the horizontal strand between two stitches, and twist and knit into it so that you work an increase without creating a hole), and to work the two stitches of the raglan "seam" in reverse stockinette just to give the shoulders some definition. Another way to deal with this is to work a stitch pattern that disguises whether an increase is worked or not--one example of this is given in the pattern. It's also discussed here--it's the same increase method that's provided in the pattern.