This cozy Frankenstein-inspired hood by Syne Mitchell features light-up neck bolts. A flat-top head and fringed bangs makes this excellent snow-boarding attire. For more mellow knitters, the illuminated neck bolts add both safety and fashion to twilight dog walks.
Designer: Syne Mitchell
Finished Measurements
Circumference: 23 inches
Length: 13 inches
(Note: To make a men’s version of the hat, make the collar longer around where it overlaps in the front. You shouldn’t need to change the proportions of the hood.)
Materials
[MC] Cascade 220 [100% Peruvian Highland wool; 220 yards/200 meters per 100g skein; 10 WPI]; color: Green (#1975), 1 skein
[CC] Cascade 220 [100% Peruvian Highland wool; 220 yards/200 meters per 100g skein; 10 WPI]; color: Black (#1752), 1 skein
[NB-C] Grand Opera by Nashua Handknits [86% wool/9% viscose/5% metallized polyester; 128 yards/117 meters per 50g ball; 14 WPI]; color: Silver (#NGO.4921), 1 ball
Needles
1 set US #7/4.5mm double-point needles
1 24-inch US #7/4.5mm circular needle
1 set US #6/4.0mm double-point needles
Gauge
18 stitches/24 rows to 4†in stockinette stitch
ADDING THE ELECTRONICS: Tutorial
In this section, you’ll add LEDs to the neck bolts, giving the hood an eerie glow and that last bit of verisimilitude.
It’s optional, but I encourage you to give it a go. Isn’t experimenting with science and accepting that things may go horribly awry what the novel is all about? I mean, it’s not like this pattern calls for digging up corpses. Get thee to Radio Shack and Sparkfun for a few notions and let’s make this Frankenhood live!
Prepare the LED by trimming the long leg down to 1 inch, and the short leg down to 3/4 inch.
Note: It’s important to maintain the long-short properties of the leg, because the long leg needs to go to the positive side of the battery, and the short leg needs to go to the negative side of the battery.
Using round-nose pliers, curl the LED’s legs into sewable rings.
Cut the pointy leads off the bottom of the battery holder. Thread 18 inches of conductive thread onto a needle and wrap it around the negative pole of the battery holder, as shown.
Turn the first neck bolt inside out. Use conductive thread to sew the negative pole to the center of the neck bolt, in much the same way as you would sew on a button.
Sew the large loop of the LED to the positive pole of the battery with a short piece of conductive thread.
Using a new piece of conductive thread, sew on to the negative lead (small loop) of the LED.
Repeat for the second neck bolt.
Stitch the conductive thread to complete the circuit as shown in the diagram below, sewing the conductive thread to the male and female halves of a snap centered in the middle of the collar, in the garter-stitch border.
Note: Take care not to pull the stitches too tightly when sewing with the conductive thread or the knit fabric will pucker. Also be careful not to cross the negative (shown in green) and positive (shown in pink) traces. If you do, you’ll create a short circuit and one or more of the LEDs may not light up.
I used a zig-zag stitch reminiscent of the stitching on the iconic Frankenstein monster.
After you have sewn the circuit above and verified that both LEDs are glowing, cover the conductive thread and knots inside the neck bolts with puffy fabric paint. The puffy fabric paint acts as an insulator and prevents the circuit from shorting out inside the neck bolt.
Allow the paint to dry fully and then invert the neck bolts so they are right side out again.
Use normal sewing thread in a coordinating green color to sew on two more snaps. One above and one below the snap sewn on with the conductive thread.
The middle snap now acts like a switch. Snapping it shut completes the circuit and causes the LEDs to light. Opening the snap turns off the lights.
The other two snaps are not “live” electronically, but simply help hold the collar on.
