Schiehallion Hat in Lalland Lambswool : Pattern
Originally celebrating the paintings of the artist Dora Carrington (Bloomsbury Group) in a hand knitting piece, this pattern uses cable and colour to create a painterly knitted canvas showing the landscape and geology of Andalucia.
Dora Carrington stayed in Yegen (a remote village in the Sierra Nevada mountains Southern Spain) with the writer Gerald Brennan (The Face of Spain) and Lytton Strachey at Brennan’s house for some time in March 1920. She found it a ‘unique arcadia’ and had ‘seldom been so happy continuously day after day’. Her incredible painting of the mountains towards Almeria has been an all-time favourite of mine. Her reading of the landscape and colour of this extraordinary part of Spain is deep, rich and evocative.
I have tried to approach the design of this hat in the same way; bringing a richness to the pattern and to the colour using Lalland Lambswool in both DK and Aran weights. During the long, strange time of lockdown I began to reflect on the nature of painting, knitting and landscape.
In love with the Scottish Highlands, I have always been drawn to the rather mystical mountain, Schiehallion, which can be seen from a hill that I take my wee dog, Loui, up every week. I have applied the same techniques from Dora to make a new hat. Fair Isle, cable and Fair Isle Cable!
The pattern can be worked using the left over yarn from knitting the Gilet, but also details another colour way. It can be knitted completely in Lalland DK, but can be knitted using Lalland ARAN as well.
Yarns
Di Gilpin Lalland Aran Lambswool (100% lambswool spun in Scotland, colour blended by Di and finished in Yorkshire). 100 gram balls. Meterage: 150m/164yds to 100gr.
Di Gilpin Lalland DK Lambswool (100% lambswool spun in Scotland, colour blended by Di and finished in Yorkshire). 50 gram balls. Meterage: 175m/190yds to 50gr.
All Lalland Aran weight yarns are knitted as a single strand. All Lalland DK weight yarns are knitted with 2 strands together. One drawn from the first ball and one drawn from the second ball.
Needles
1 pair 4.50 mm needles. (Adjust needle size if require to achieve tension).
A set of 4.5mm dpns for the border section, where it extends beyond the cast off of the shoulder edge
Notions: Cable Needle and Darning Needle for sewing up.
Finished Measurements
Length: 22cms from Cast On to crown (8.5 ins)
Width at Cast On: Approximately 58cms (23 ins)
Skills: This pattern is for experienced knitters. It requires following charts and uses Fair Isle and cabling techniques.