3 Hats (so far), 1 Pattern

I don't know why I rarely knit hats- there are no heels or thumbs in them, and you only have to knit one. It seems like they'd be my ideal sort of project, but when I consider options for yarn and patterns, I rarely remember that hats even exist.

I certainly wasn't considering them as I thumbed through the Summer 2010 Spin-Off. I was looking for the instructions for making boucle yarn (which I found, and did). But during the perusal, I spotted instructions for an easy lace hat, knit with heavier weight, handspun yarns.

It seems that spinners were challenged to spin yarn specifically for this pattern and then send the finished hats to Interweave for possible inclusion in the magazine (which featured 10 versions). I missed that deadline by a long ways, but the beauty of the pattern stuck with me. It looked easy, it only used 100 sts, and the body of the hat was worked on size 8 needles (with size 5 for the ribbing). I worked up a chart for the 8 row-10 st lace repeat (the magazine only included written instructions) and cast on.

The first hat was knit with the ugly green/pink/yellow merino yarn. The roving was flat-out ugly, the yarn was just okay, but the finished hat is really rather pretty. Go figure.

The 2nd hat is from the goldenrod dyed wool (from Color by Nature's Studio).

It really shows the stitch definition well, and I love the crown treatment.

The 3rd hat was knit from some mystery fiber with thrums and bits and pieces of thread and other colorful additions (I think it came from my friend Dana). I love how this one came out too (though I gave up on the twisted ribbing- it's fiddly and I think it looks sloppy with handspun yarn). I've never been good at knitting lace in a car, or memorizing multi-row lace repeats, but this one is just about as easy as can be.

The flecks and bits are subtle, but there.

I'm not aiming for 10 hats from this pattern, but I surely would have takers for that many if I decided to knit them (not to mention that I am currently flush with worsted weight handspun). And I haven't gotten tired of the pattern yet, which bodes well for more.

On the other hand, I have 3 workshops to teach, starting Friday, and I have a ton of prep work to do for them, so I probably will resist the urge to cast on the next hat. At least for a day or so.