Two hats

Last Sunday was a pretty exciting day here because I finished not one but TWO hats. One had been on the needles for nearly a month, and one for just a few days. You know how knitting is…

First up, here is my version of the Sockhead Slouch hat on Z:

I think she looks pretty happy about it! She requested a hat that was snug around the forehead but roomier thereafter, so I increased the stitch count by 20% right after the ribbing. She also wanted a generous amount of “hang time” in the back and that’s exactly what we have here. (Photos taken in her lab – it looks super science-y, yes?)

We did a fitting a week earlier so I could get a sense of how big she wanted it. After the photo below, I worked 1” more and then did the crown decreases:

I think you can tell from these two photos that the fabric really loosened up after blocking. I used Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere (70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon). Its put up is a generous 113 g skein; this hat used 103 g. The ribbing is a little over 4” and then there is about 10” more to the top of the crown.

A hat made of fingering weight yarn requires a lot of stitches, but simple stockinette knitting in the round is so portable and soothing. I have a feeling this won’t be my last Sockhead Slouch.

The other hat is a quickie I made for Boy 1, whose minion hat is showing major signs of wear. The pattern is Windshief.

I used Julia from stash. He wanted a beanie-style hat that would not fight with his hood should he choose to put it up. This simple stockinette hat with a twisted rib wedge fit the bill.

You can see that he’s tugged it down over his ears. It might help if I had worked a few more rounds before starting the decrease… but I also think I need to try a pattern that has a little bit of shaping. He doesn’t like a hat that crowds his eyes, but he wants his ears covered. I might not need a full ear flap, but maybe something like the 1898 Hat?

The weather here has turned toward spring and I think these hats won’t be worn until next year. I was just a couple weeks too late with them – we had temps in the 20s earlier this month. But, as knitters know, winter always comes again. AND WE WILL BE READY.