Happy release day! April showers were in short supply in our neck of the woods, but May seems to be making up for it! If you too are still waiting for May flowers, never fear, today’s Confident Knitting pattern is bloomin’ marvellous. Take a gander at this spring-y beauty, the Variance Hat by Shetland designer extraordinaire, Janette Budge!

I think you’ll agree that Janette has created a hat that really is Something Special. Whatever moniker you can think of for ‘something pretty amazing’ will do … it’s the belle of the ball, the apple of an eye, the bees’ knees, a real peach of a hat! It features a Shetland star motif that will be familiar to any lover of colourwork, while the hat’s dramatic colour blocking keeps everything feeling really fresh!

Those Shetland stars are not only easy on the eye, they give us the perfect opportunity to explore catching floats! I’m really excited to delve into this technique with you this month, as I think it’s one that often trips knitters up! We’ll be focussed, of course, on the how of catching floats. We’ve got in depth tutorials showing how to catch floats depending on how you like to hold your yarns. But, just as importantly, we’ll be exploring the why and the when of float catching. Because while, in some situations, it’s absolutely essential for the evenness of you knitting, or the functionality of an item, to catch floats, very often, you really needn’t bother. So this month is all about both perfecting the technique, but also learning what your personal preferences are when it comes to floats. Sometimes, becoming a more confident knitter is also about knowing when you don’t need to make extra work for yourself! As usual, we’ll be chatting all things related to this month’s technique over in this month’s topic at The Knitalong Hub.

Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper Weight was, of course, the obvious choice for Shetland designer Janette Budge. And can we just talk about these colours for a minute? I love the expertly blended and spring-y exuberance of Janette’s palette! It’s the perfect hat for a chilly spring day and will be a nice reminder of warmer times when the depths of winter return!

If you’ve not joined in the Confident Knitting fun, you can shop the whole Confident Knitting collection over in the online shop! When you purchase Confident Knitting, you’ll get all three patterns + in-depth photo tutorials that have been released to date, as well as new pattern + tutorial at the first of each month. Print copies of Confident Knitting (and full PDFs for those who purchased the eBook only option) will be released in September 2021 and the projects and monthly knitalongs will continue through February 2022! We have a limited number of Spring Kits, with all the yarn for the Variance Hat as well as the Flux Hand Warmers and Evolve Cowl, in stock. And Summer Kits are also now on sale! So if you want to grab the yarn for the next three to-be-released projects (including the Summer Kit’s hand-dyed offering) do have a peek – just check your Welcome Pack first…! And if you fancy developing your own palette for Janette’s hat, we’re well stocked in 68 shades of J&S!

Want more stranded colourwork tutorials? We’ve collected some of our greatest video hits on one handy page! And if you’d like to browse some inspiring finished hats, do make sure to check out Janette Budge’s online shop, where she has finished knits for sale as well as exciting accessories like Shetland knitting belts!