What, let me ask you, is sadder than a dedicated knitter walking around in her winter coat without a suitable hat? This conundrum plagued my brain recently when the weather here finally turned winterish and I dug out my winter coat. The one I wore last year had gotten rather disreputable, so I found a nice coat in the back of the closet which I have had for years but never wore much. Naturally my thoughts then turned to the proper accessories. The way the coat is made, it doesn't really need a scarf, and one of the pairs of gloves I knitted with K1Frog2 last spring matched it well. But I had no hat that matched. In fact, I am down to only one winter hat, period, so clearly some hats are needed!
Time to ransack the stash. Ooh, look, another skein of the yarn I used for the gloves. That's good, but not enough. Hmm. Ah ha! Some more yarn that goes with it (and the coat)! Victory is mine!
So here's the hat so far:
Since the yarn is sport weight and I want the hat to be good for the coldest part of winter, I am making it double layered. The top part is the outside crown. Cables, knit bottom up. I'm using dpn simply because I'm using my circular needles of the same size for a different project right now. The light part covers the ears. That's the yarn that matches the gloves. 2x2 ribbing, partly for a little extra thickness and warmth, partly because the yarn is a little larger than the other and I thought the ribbing might be needed to draw it in a little. The fold between outside and inside is in the middle of the light part. At the bottom I have started on the inside crown. It's a k8p2 ribbing. Ribbed for a bit of flexibility in the fit, but mostly smooth, which I think will work better for the inside of the hat. I have tried it each time the color changes, and so far it's making me happy. The 2x2 rib could be a little snugger, but I don't think it's because it's really too large, I think it's because it stretches very easily so does not hold very tight. I'm hoping some washing and blocking at the end will tighten that up a bit.
The exciting news of the week was that K1Frog2 and Blonde Knitter would like to hold this year's NSKO East in conjunction with the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Mucho fun to be had there. I am poised to put in my vacation request at work, waiting only to find out their exact travel plans. Yay!
