Last March, at Edinburgh Yarn Fest, I spotted Anna Elliott wearing a great hat (Anna has many great hat designs). She’d knitted this particular hat in Buachaille shades squall and furze and it was really striking. In its bold, graphic simplicity it immediately reminded me of the mid-century ceramics that had inspired Anna to create it.
I loved the hat, and asked Anna if she was thinking of creating a pattern. I’m very pleased to say that she’s now done so, added a pair of mitts using the same motifs, and an alternate colourway.
The haar / hedder version is a slouchy hat with fold-up brim, and fluffy pompom, while the furze / squall version is neater and more beanie-like. The pattern is written for two sizes.
The mitts, meanwhile, feature shaped thumbs and deep ribbing for a snug fit around the hand and wrists and the pattern is also written in two sizes. Anna’s design is fittingly called Offbeat, includes instructions for both hats and mitts, and you can find it here on Ravelry.
I love Anna’s design, and I thought it would be nice to pop some Offbeat kits in the shop too. The kits come in both colourways, and both style options (with the pompom version involving one more skein of yarn). The kit price represents around a 10% discount on buying the yarn separately, and includes a free KDD project bag in which to store your knitting. If purchasing the kit, you’ll need to buy and download Anna’s pattern separately.
Congratulations on creating this fantastic design, Anna!
KDD & Co 
Love this simple colorwork! Both versions are so lovely!
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I had already decided to make these mitts with some Buachaille in my stash; I chose a different colourway, using Haar and Squall. They are lovely, aren’t they? So glad to see you feature them here.
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Cool!
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A lovely mid century modern design invoking memories of Hornsea Pottery. Fabulous.
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Lovely nostalgic design. Love it, Anna!
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This Offbeat pattern of Anna’s is seriously intriguing to me. I have been trying all day to figure out what the memory is that it is calling up. It is the kind of memory that you can only see out of the corner of your mind’s eye. But I finally got it. Way back when I was a toddler in the late 40s, early 50s my mother sewed living room curtains that featured wavy-bordered squares of concentric bands of color. I went looking on the internet for words to describe the curtains and found fabric that was very close on Etsy — barkcloth, mexicali, 40s — https://www.etsy.com/market/barkcloth_curtains. Amazing.
Thank you so much, Anna and Kate for reviving this memory for me! I love the hat and gloves and, come the morrow, I will be buying the kit & the pattern!
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