First hat of 2022 - Get Garter Beret

 

I'm pleased to report that I squeezed one hat across the finish line this month (so close!). This is another Woolly Wormhead design from her Get Garter collection, the beret. I actually cast on in November, but I had to set this aside because the yarn was too skinny for me to see it well around my eye surgeries, and then I didn't trust my brain to stay on track in December. Most of this was knit in January.

Like other sideways hats, this one is worked in panels - 6 panels. This photo doesn't show exactly one panel, but you can start to understand the construction. The brim is 13 stitches and then there's a sharp increase that sends the garter ridges off at a diagonal. There are short rows that create a swirl at the top, like on a soft serve ice cream cone. Here is the side view:

And here's the bird's eye view:

This skein of yarn is fairly aged, as I bought it at Sock Summit in 2009. It was a special show colorway dyed by Wool Candy called "Microbrew," but the skeins in the booth were all superwash merino. The owner kindly offered to dye me one in superwash BFL, so I ordered it. When it arrived in the mail weeks later, the dye job looked less "semi-solid" to me and more "extreme value variation that will result in pooling." So, it sat. I thought maybe the value variation would help accentuate the swirl. I think it does this somewhat, though the effect could be stronger. If you browse the completed projects on Ravelry, you can see how some yarns obfuscate the swirl while others enhance it. I'd say mine is in the middle somewhere.

It's neat to see a hat grow from something that starts like this, with a provisional cast-on, to a three-dimensional hat!

I already have another hat on the needles, but it's not a WW design.