Bulbasaur Vine Whip Beret

Okay, I'll admit it, often the name of a yarn will get me to look at it more favourably.
The first sock yarn I bought was Lorna's Laces Robot Overlord. No guessing what drew me to the yarn.
Fortunately, I love it (and the Monkey socks I made from it) very much.
So when I heard that Another Crafty Girl, an indie dyer on Etsy, had a series of yarn named after Pokemon, how could I resist?
I watched her shop for a few weeks, and when the Bulbasaur yarn came up, I grabbed it.
Not only did it really look like everyone's favourite grass-type monster, it is a gorgeously complex color in general!
I knew as soon as I unwrapped my parcel that this would have to be a hat.
But not just any hat.
This had to be a leaf-themed hat to complete the Pokemon picture.

I've been listening to Alana Dakos from the Never Not Knitting podcast for a few months now and I love her show.
She's also the co-author of the popular Coastal Knits, and she created this gorgeous hat pattern called the Vine Leaf Beret.
There's been buzz about this pattern around the blog and podcast world.
It was the perfect get-together of pattern and yarn.
This had to be it.

Neither the yarn nor the pattern disappointed. It was challenging for me, having never really done a lot of cables (or a hat that fit well, for that matter), but everything came out just the way I wanted to.
The yarn is gorgeous and squishy, the pattern clear and well written.
And the resulting hat?
Well, I couldn't be more pleased.
It's my new favourite hat (and I love hats!). If only the weather was cooler so I could wear it more often!
I still have some yarn left. Perhaps some mitts are in order. Or some Pokemon socks?
One thing is clear though. I'll be getting more of this fabulous yarn, and I'll be checking out Alana's other patterns in greater detail, too.