Da Crofter's Kep

My fourteenth hat of 2021 is a special one - it's the official 2021 Shetland Wool Week hat pattern. I've been wanting to make one of these iconic fair isle projects for a while now. When S1 asked me for ideas for a 7th anniversary gift (the traditional gift is "wool" - !), I decided to ask for yarn to make one of the Shetland Wool Week hats. They are all beanie-style hats, which look terrible on me, so I asked her to pick a design and a colorway that would suit her. I would have the fun of making the hat, and also be able to look forward to seeing her wear it in Scotland someday when we travel there together.

She chose the 2021 design, Da Crofter's Kep. This is the main pattern photo:

The hat uses six colors. The designer, Wilma Malcolmson, thoughtfully created five different color combinations using five different sources of Shetland wool. Of course, you could choose your own colors, too! S1 really gravitated toward the hat made with all natural shades from Foula Wool, a farm on Foula island west of the Shetland isles. Unsurprisingly, this yarn was unavailable to me in the U.S. in late May. I managed to find a U.S. yarn shop selling a kit with Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift in similar shades. That was my anniversary gift - seven balls for seven years. (Actually, we've been together 7+20 years, but it only became legal to marry in Pennsylvania in 2014, so that's when we got an official anniversary date and commenced the fun gift exchange.)

Luckily, a conversion chart was also provided, so I didn't have to figure out the difference between mooskit, mogit, and moorit.

I dutifully swatched. Here's my swatch pinned out to block.

I did not get gauge, and confusingly, my row and stitch gauge were off in different directions. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just knit the hat. I was already using the needle size (2.5 mm) specified for the smallest size hat and didn't want to go down any further.

I just adore these little 25 gram balls of Shetland yarn. Here they are all organized in my project bin:

I'm making decent progress on the hat. The shades are mesmerizing.

When I passed the washed swatch around at Knit Night last week, everyone was surprised at how soft it is. This hat is going to be dreamy.

I can understand how knitters develop a stash of Shetland fingering wool for stranded colorwork. It has an addictive quality, and little bits and bobs are useful as accent colors. This will definitely not be the last time I work with Shetland yarn. I've been enjoying the color combinations inspired by Shetland photos on the Jamieson & Smith blog - take a look if you're interested. 

I once heard a podcast episode in which the host talked extensively about knitting ALL of the Shetland Wool Week hat designs. She even included a recommendation about the best order in which to knit them. The idea of making all eight of them (Ravelry link to the entire collection) is intriguing!