You know how to do a provisional cast on, and September's project will teach you to graft in garter stitch, so all you need to become a master of sideways hats is some short-row shaping!

I've long been a huge fan of Woolly Wormhead's A-MAZING hat designs. A browse through my Ravelry projects reveals that I've knitted 8 of her hats over the years, and I can safely say that there will be MANY more in the future. So I was absolutely delighted when Woolly agreed to create a design for A Year of Techniques, and here is Ruschia:

I first came across Woolly back in 2008 when I was a very new knitter and she had just published Going Straight. Her book showed me the technical side of knitting for the first time, with her detailed tutorial on grafting and innovative approach to hats. And over the years Woolly has continued to push boundaries and make me look at hats, AND my knitting, in new ways. Her latest collection (due out very soon) is Elemental, and features short-row colourwork hats, knitted sideways. Each time I think Woolly must really run out of new ways to create beautiful hats she knocks me sideways (pun intended!) with a new design. Thank you Woolly!

You can choose whether to use the wrap and turn or the German Short Row method, and a full photo tutorial is included for both techniques. Woolly used German Short Rows when she knitted the sample Ruschia, and I used wrap and turn when I made my own hat. The beauty of short-row shaping in garter stitch is that you don't need to work the wraps with the stitches on following rows, if you use the wrap and turn method. And German Short Rows are brilliantly easy to use too. You may find it helpful to try both out on a small swatch before committing to one or the other on your hat. When the pattern files are uploaded on 6th September you'll find both methods described, and the video tutorial will launch at Mason-Dixon Knitting on 4th October, ready for the official knitalong.

Once again we have yarn available for making your Ruschia hat - Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran is a beautiful blend of merino and silk, coming in rich jewel-like colours. We have all the yarn required for the projects in A Year of Techniques available in the shop, and there are a few Spring Kits remaining, along with Summer and Autumn Kits. The Winter kits will be available to pre-order tomorrow (we won't be shipping them until the books have been dispatched!).

Thank you once again to Woolly Wormhead for joining team A Year of Techniques, and for creating such a fantastic hat for us! It's not too late (at all) to join in with A Year of Techniques - if you order a print + ebook combination (£19.99 plus shipping) you'll get the first 6 patterns now, with the remaining 6 delivered on 6th September, and the print book will be shipped very shortly. We can't wait to share it with you!

Tune in tomorrow for the reveal of November's cosy design.

March 2022 Update: We are now managing our whoelsale distribution in house. Our books are currently available from Purlescence (UK), Modern Daily Knitting (USA) and Strickmich (EU).