Two more hats

Hats are still happening.

And hats can still be humbling.

I've decided to go for the WoollyDozen challenge again in 2022, so that means a hat design by Woolly Wormhead each month. It seemed to take me FOREVER to knit the Get Garter Beret in January out of light fingering weight yarn, so I wanted to pick something out of bigger yarn this time. 

I chose Mirallat, a sideways knit hat. I've knit all 5 sideways knit hats in the Elemental collection, and I mistakenly assumed this was written for the same gauge. I hastily chose two colors of Silky Wool from stash (Wasabi and Blue Spruce), noted my preferred needle size for this yarn (3.0 mm), and cast on. It begins like this:

I've heard people say that a hat IS a gauge swatch - have you heard that? Maybe hats knit from the brim up can be gauge swatches, but this one can't (at least, not as compared to a human head). Still, I knit on. This is how it looked partway through:

I really should have known that things were rather "off" at this point, but I forged ahead anyway. This is how the hat looked when it was time to do the final sideways graft to close it up:

It's hard to tell how big it really is, though. How about putting another hat on top for scale? This is a lovely hat (Rav link) that fits an adult head:

At this point, I considered ripping it out. But people convinced me that every hat finds its head. This might fit someone with a large head and/or a lot of hair, especially long dreads or braids. Another knitter said her local hospital requests larger hats that fit over bandages without adding pressure. So perhaps there is a head out there somewhere for this hat. I'll let you know if I find one! I went ahead and did the graft and wove in the ends. It's now in the DONE pile:

Cool design, but I should have used fingering weight yarn. I heard from one knitter that this design even came out on the large side in fingering weight, so she removed a few rows. I'll keep that in mind in case I knit it again.

I cranked out another easy hat last month, too. One night, I realized that I needed something knittable for an evening lecture the next day. I wanted something in a larger yarn and a light color, in case the lighting wasn't great (it never is). I chose an old ball of Nashua Handknit Julia in a beautiful shade of light blue ("aqua fog") and cast on so that I could work on the ribbing during the lecture. The rest of the hat was very meeting-friendly to knit, too, so I had it finished pretty quickly. This is the Sea Spray Hat. It has a little slouch if you don't cuff the brim:

...and it fits closely like a watch cap if you fold the brim:

Boy 2, who is home for spring break, immediately commented on this hat. It reminded me that he requested "a light blue hat with a pom" when he was 5. He doesn't want a pom pom, but he still loves light blue - and it looks very handsome on him.

According to Ravelry, I bought this Julia yarn at 40% off when The Mannings closed in 2015. It is a delicious blend of 50% Wool, 25% Alpaca, and 25% Mohair. I wish they hadn't discontinued this yarn, because it's lovely. It makes great hats!