Tams – Page 2

Jamieson’s Dicey

Published on June 10, 2014March 11, 2019 by Jen6 Comments

I’ve been busy making some shaping improvements to my Dicey Highlands Bonnet design. Here knit with Jamiesons Of Shetland Spindrift 2ply wool yarn, with my new favorite diced band style using three colors. I think this particular one is more a man’s cap, and there is a particular Scottish fellow who may just have his name on it come Christmas. About the design elements. I’ve come to the opinion that it should be blocked flat , with the diced band brim eased into flatness as well , instead of blocking it with faced-band standing up . . .

The toorie is as before, one simply threads the ties of the toorie through the middle of the crown and ties it on . . .

Simple & pure ,

strong & good mannered too . . .

Such personality !

I am smitten already with this handsome creature . . .

The confident, all-natural, pragmatic sort . . .

My Dicey pattern is already a year old, and now I am only just now studying it’s many facets while trying out all kinds of yarns and test-knitting, for I honestly feel that the design is so deserving of every attention. This pattern will be having extensive test-knit samples knit up by myself and some friends, and is undergoing an update soon.

I’m already casting on another , testing my new shaping ideas, in a lively ensemble of colors… so watch this space ! 🙂

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Details on Ravelry HERE

Vineyard Rows Tam

Published on November 12, 2013September 10, 2024 by Jen14 Comments

Walking along the old mountain vineyards close by, I found inspiration for a design which I have named “Vineyard Rows”. A California Highlands Bonnet if there is to be one ! I chose four natural shades of Jamiesons Of Shetland Spindrift yarn, because I happen to love this black & white photo of the historic vineyard landscape I took a year ago. Near the highest vineyard knoll on the mountain perhaps, rows against an Autumn sky, leaves blowing off of the vines as a storm was brewing… it was a walk to remember ! So I came up with this . . .

Vineyard Rows Tam : http://jenjoycedesign.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/vineyard-rows-tam/

Vines of grape leaves wind about the wheel, in borders and peeries, along with interruptions of bold checked dicing. To me this tam brings together California Wine Country with Scottish Highlands. Embroidered grape clusters adorn the rambling vines with French knots in wine tones, creating a spectacular and colorful needlework finish I think!

I really went wild with the notion of the toorie and decided that a tam must have accessory options ! Why not an accessory for the accessory ~~ why not tie one on for the mood you’re in ? Basic black, wine red, & marled toories !!!

But before I embroidered the grape clusters into the vines,

I took the hat out into the woods…

jenjoycedesign©tam in woods

Against the moss . . .

And lastly, against a blush of colorful Autumn leaves, showing how the tam’s outer most rim is traditionally useful in shading from the sun.

Well there you have it, my latest design of a tam named “Vineyard Rows”. I have created this tam for all the lovely walks I’ve enjoyed in the beautiful aesthetic of these old vines ~~ this tam is in tribute to them.

If you haven’t yet read a post I made about Knitting & Wine , it is the prelude to this design, as well as other posts and photographs of nearby vineyards, you may peruse in all vineyard posts .

♣ ♣ ♣

Vineyard Rows pattern may be found here .

((as well as details on Ravelry here ))

Azure

Published on July 6, 2013February 14, 2025 by Jen15 Comments

I’ve been knitting in a heat wave for a couple of weeks, thirsting for that which best expresses my summer blues, and so I’ve produced the latest which I call it simply ” Azure “. It is a perky beret shape I’ve experimented from my latest pattern Dicey , that is I am considering augmenting the pattern with more beret shapes, graduating from the traditional Scottish Beret into less voluminous ones. This one is definitely narrower and vaguely muffin-shaped as are some of the Old World Scottish bonnets I’ve seen.

But what I love most about this beret is the color-work in the band while the crown is a single complimenting color, it is all about the subtle Fair Isle motif that one can barely see, from the two shades of blue, one angle the motifs pop out, another they disappear into each other. I am going to have to design a new pattern from this, because I love it so much. With Dicey and this experiment, I have learned how to make a lined band, concentric decreases, experimented with several shapes of varying lengths, and practicing my new invention, the turning i-cord which is the edge of the band, super tidy and substantial, and also focusing the design into the band alone, in a Guarda Pampa sort of affect. Oh, and I’ve also been toying with the little puff thing on top which the Scottish call a toorie!

Dicey

Published on June 2, 2013May 28, 2026 by Jen21 Comments

My new beret design I’ve named ” Dicey ” is a simple and fairly traditional Scottish style bonnet. It has a checked, or ‘diced’ band as it is called. It has come to me in a sort of time capsule of childhood memories of Peter Rabbit . . .

as well as my present-day intrigue of a name by “Tam O’ Shanter” . . .

In a poem by Robert Burns ‘Tam O’ Shanter’ tells a story of a farmer named Tam, who gets drunk with his friends in a public house and then rides home on his horse Meg, enduring a night of terror and misfortune. (click to go to resource)

The Scottish forename “Tam” (for Tom) followed by “mishanter” (misfortune, ill-luck, the devil) = Tam of shanter . Coincidental how the name for the style of Scottish bonnet which Tam wears is what we think today of the voluminous hat with a pom pom on top of it. Its evident that the hat called a ‘tam’ came from Robert Burns’ character.

Oh, and check out this old tobacco label ! The dicing on the band is rather vaguely penned . . .

Actually, as far back as 1500’s the bonnet was a popular thing to wear throughout Europe, and the diced or checked band is a motif I find very timeless and yet fashionably dynamic !

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Dicey is knitted with Virtual Yarns Hebridean 2ply shown here in colors “Selkie, Red Deer, and Sun Dew” (with a few rounds of Jamieson’s Spindrift black).

A small semi-felted pom pom, or “toorie” which sits on top, makes Dicey just a little bit whimsical, with real ‘sassitude’ .

Dicey has a sort of horizontally ‘incorporated’ cord stitch ( i-cord) bordering the diced motif either side . . .

Dicey has a built in ‘cord’ stitch knitted right into the fold on the band, lined with more rounds of knitting, then the turned hem is knit into the fabric with no stitching afterward, very neat and tidy !

Dicey is very much the traditionally inspired bonnet I wanted it to be.

Dicey has been undergoing many design changes since its beginning, but I feel I’ve finally arrived with the right motifs, the right techniques, the right yarn, the right gauge, the right shape.

I am pleased it is finished, and the pattern can be found on Ravelry here .

Really Red Tam

Published on January 10, 2013November 24, 2022 by Jen25 Comments

I am very proud to finally show you the tam I made !!! It goes in a set with my Really Red Cardigan. I had knit the tam before the holiday gift-knitting crunch set in, then put it aside to be photographed after the new year. New year … check. Photographed…. check. I am over the moon about having this particular cardigan & tam ensemble finished because only a couple of months ago, after having hibernated well over a year, the cardigan was doomed to die a tragic death of getting unraveled out of existence! After much persuasion from a friend, I committed & cut the steek, finished the cardigan, then surprisingly soon after, decided to knit up this tam to go with it. Maybe it was meant to have waited until now, as the rains of the season has made the moss so verdant ~~~ and just look at how well the moss sings praise to the red wool !