Valley Yarns Hailstone Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Hailstone Capelet

What is Being Made

The Hailstone is a plush capelet designed by Julie Turjoman, crafted as a warm layering piece perfect for frosty winter days. This garment features a cozy, comfortable fit with a special stranded colorwork yoke that incorporates an important message—"love is love is love"—knitted directly into the design. The capelet is available in three sizes (S, M, L) with finished bottom circumferences of 50, 58, and 66 inches respectively, and lengths of 15, 16, and 17 inches. Designed to fit with 6 to 8 inches of positive ease, this intermediate-level project creates an elegant, wearable piece suitable for anyone seeking a warm hug during cold weather.

Techniques Used

The Hailstone capelet employs several advanced knitting techniques that elevate it to intermediate difficulty. The garment is worked seamlessly in the round using circular needles, which creates a continuous fabric without seams and allows for a smooth, professional finish. Stranded colorwork is featured prominently in the yoke section, where multiple colors are carried across the stitches to create the meaningful message pattern. This technique requires careful tension management to ensure even, consistent stitches while working with multiple yarn colors simultaneously. The construction includes strategic decreases worked at regular intervals to shape the capelet from the cast-on edge upward, creating the proper silhouette and fit. Shaping rounds are interspersed with stockinette stitch sections worked even to establish the desired proportions.

Stitches Used

The Hailstone primarily utilizes fundamental knitting stitches executed with precision. Stockinette stitch forms the main fabric throughout most of the capelet, creating a smooth, classic appearance with a flat knit side and a bumpy purl side. This stitch is worked in the round, which means knitting every round to achieve the stockinette texture. Knit two together (k2tog) decreases are used extensively to shape the garment, reducing stitch counts at specific intervals to create the tapered silhouette. The pattern includes multiple decrease rounds strategically placed throughout the construction, with decreases spaced at regular intervals (such as every 7, 8, or 6 stitches depending on the decrease round) to ensure even shaping. The stranded colorwork yoke introduces the complexity of managing multiple yarn colors within stockinette stitch, requiring the knitter to carry unused colors across the back of the work while creating the pattern on the front.

Materials and Yarn

The Hailstone is designed to be knitted in Valley Yarns Brodie, a luxurious cashmere blend yarn composed of 95% cashmere and 5% extrafine merino wool. This sumptuous fiber blend provides exceptional softness and warmth, making it ideal for a capelet meant to feel like a cozy embrace. Each ball of Valley Yarns Brodie contains 50 grams and yields 154 yards. The pattern requires 4, 5, or 6 balls of the main color (MC) in shade 170 Cream, depending on size selection. One ball each of two contrast colors (CC1 in 185 Obsidian and CC2 in 214 Blue Lagoon) is needed for the stranded colorwork yoke, allowing for the meaningful message to be integrated into the design with striking color definition.

Needles and Notions

Successful completion of the Hailstone requires US 7 (4.5mm) circular needles in both 16-inch and 32 to 40-inch lengths for the main body construction. An additional set of US 8 (5.0mm) circular needles in the same length options is required specifically for working the stranded colorwork yoke section, where the slightly larger needle size accommodates the additional yarn thickness created by carrying multiple colors. The pattern specifies that needle size should be adjusted as needed to achieve the required gauge. Additional materials include stitch markers for tracking pattern repeats and shaping points, and a tapestry needle for weaving in yarn ends after completion. The recommended gauge is 20 stitches and 28 rounds per 4 inches when measured in blocked stockinette stitch, which is essential for achieving the correct finished measurements.