In the '80s I spent a lot of time creating quilts with an art perspective. When I returned to work, I stopped making them and turned my attention to knitting. More portable and practical. Now I have time and space and a dye studio. I am planning a return to art quilt-making.

As my dyed fabric will be in limited supply, I have been building the skills to anticipate how much I need and how it might look in a design before I make my first cut.  The above image is a digital quilt using my hand dyed fabric as swatches in the program so it is a pretty good facsimile of how the quilt might look.

I have updated my free pattern for a top-down, no-swatch needed ribbed beanie. Feel free to download it from Ravelry here (click to download).

You can make this with any yarn, for any size head. Here are a few photos of the beanie knit with Shibui Knits Pebble - a fingering yarn weight with wool, silk and cashmere. Perfect drape. I knit this holding two strands together. Light as air and super comfortable.