My love of dip stitches shows no sign of abating! I spent much of last summer down a dip stitch rabbit hole, and I’m thrilled to share with you the glorious Apple Swizzle Hat that Thea Colman has created for Boost Your Knitting.

Dip stitches are the group of stitch patterns where you work into the fabric below the needles, and pull loops of yarn across the surface to add texture. Unlike the tuck stitches we met in March, these aren’t intended to gather up the fabric, but rather to add textural interest with strands of yarn lying flat across the fabric. Once you are no longer tied to just working the next stitch, it opens up a whole world of possibility for where to put your needles.

Featuring a simple cable motif, in combination with this cute Dip Down 3 stitch, Thea’s Apple Swizzle design will have everyone thinking, “well, I’ll just work one more repeat before bed…” and we all know how that ends!

I almost had to hide the hat I cast on for working the tutorials, as I was in danger of keeping on knitting without regard to sleep or the many other projects I should have been working on at the time. I’m thrilled we are now at the knitalong month and I can speed through my hat (and maybe a second for me to wear…!). The combination of the bouncy Fyberspates Vivacious DK with its subtle variegation, and this stitch pattern is really marvellous. Sometimes you just hit on that perfect match, and I think this is one of those occasions. Too much colour change would hide the stitch pattern, but this semi-solid gives it depth and interest without any detraction from the star of the show: the dip stitches. Thea has knocked it out of the park!

We have launched the dip stitch knitalong over in our Ravelry group, where lots of friendly knitters will ooh and aah over your dip stitch projects. You don’t need to be working an Apple Swizzle Hat – you can work from any pattern that uses dip stitches. Whether you are wondering about yarn choices, or cast-on methods, or have a question about the pattern, the knitalong thread is absolutely the fastest place to get help with your project. And don’t forget that if you are wondering about something, the chances are that others are too, so your questions help everyone. Post away!

As an aside, it was truly wonderful to see how many knitters now share my love of the tubular cast on (I always worry that it is only me that feels so excited about these things!), and I hope that this month you’ll be equally thrilled with dip stitches. Massive thanks to Thea Colman for her beautiful design. We are really looking forward to seeing lots of Apple Swizzles, and other dip stitch patterns appearing in the knitalong thread and across social media!

If you’ve not already joined Boost Your Knitting, it’s not too late. Just head over to our online shop to purchase the programme for £30 (which includes worldwide shipping), and you will have access to all four patterns and tutorials released so far, and your print book will ship in September 2019. Happy dip stitching!

All images in this blog post are © Jesse Wild.