Tramontane

Some time last year, I had this idea for a hat. I wanted something slouchy and slightly lacy. Something out of thin yarn I could wear for the in-between months of the year.
Something more cute than functional, but still useful.

Thus, Tramontane was born. You can get it on Ravelry here! And until the end of May, you can get it for free with coupon code "first-free".
Tramontane combines an asymmetrical brim with playful lace and smooth crown decreases. You can make it more or less slouchy, depending on your needs and wants.
I love this hat and wear it all the time! In summer, I scoot it back for more of a face-framing accessory, while in spring and autumn, I pull it forward for a loose-fitting beanie-beret cross.

What's your favourite hat of the moment?

Rainy day hats

There's nothing like a change in weather to make you want to cast on a hat. Or maybe that's just me?
I test-knit the latest design by the inimitable Mel of SingleHandedKnits fame, Drizzle the hat, and it came out great, if I do say so myself.
It's a simple, straight foward hat with a flattering rolled brim and just enough lace to keep you occupied but not frustrated.
I knitted mine out of my beloved Tails DK base in a new colourway, Looks Like Rain.
The colour is inspired by dark, rain-bearing clouds and grey skies. Have you ever really looked at thse clouds? They're not a flat grey, there are heaps of colours swirling in there!
Looks Like Rain appears just grey on first glance, but when you look closer, you'll see pops of yellows and reds and pinks and blues throughout. It's still a tonal yarn, so lace and patterning will stand out cleanly.
I think it would make a very flattering garment colour, personally.

And guess what? There will be pre-orders of this very colourway, together with a coupon code for Mel's awesome Drizzle hat, going up in the shop very soon!

Do you have a favourite hat type? Do you have a hat on the needles right now?

Hotham Hat 2012

I had this single skein of Madelinetosh DK in Mourning Dove. It's gorgeous, and squishy.
I bought it alongside the yarn for my Vivian cardigan to check out the colour, and I freaking love it.
So it needed to be something. Something awesome.
Like, say, a super ssquishy, medium warm hat?
Enter the Koolhaas, which not only has a neat name, but a cute look about it. It looks clever. It looks the good kind of handknit.
Its chart is tiny.
Perfect.
I knit this hat during a bus trip and several car trips up and down my home mountain, Mt Hotham, this snow season. And I finished it just in time to get no wear out of it at the snow. Such is life.
It's still a fabulous hat. And it fits perfectly.

Waving Hello/Goodbye

Yarn, meet project.
Sometimes, I really want to make a specific item. Sometimes, I want to use a specific yarn.
And in the case of the Headbumps hat made out of slow-changing Zauberball Crazy in Fliederduft, both came together in a fun and flexible knit.
The colours are a bit duller than I usually wear, but this little beret goes with heaps of things, conveniently dressing up or down as the occasion requires.
Added bonus: It goes with some of my knitted scarves.

Vintage Videogame Blue Blob Hat

I've been wanting a fingering-weight hat. I've been wanting a hat in a greenish blue. And I wanted to knit a Woolly Wormhead pattern.
So that's exactly what I did.
The Arkanoid (yay video game reference!) knit up quickly, and the finished result is an awesome, wearable beanie that isn't too warm or thick.
Perfect for the not-so-cold Melbourne winter. And that's really all I can say about it.

Slacker Rainbow

Sometimes, you just need a hat. When you're me, this need strikes often, and it strikes quickly.
I loved the Starving Artist hat I made back in April, so I felt it was time for another rainbow beret. Enter the Slacker Rainbow. It's a nice hat, and certainly very bright, but it's a great example of good, not great.

The yarn wasn't as wonderful either in color or texture. The pattern was pleasing, but not OMG-awesome.

The result is fine.

I still love my Starving Artist hat more.But don't tell this hat that. He might get sad. And sad rainbows just aren't right.

Feed Your Artists

We were going on a day trip to Geelong and I needed something new to cast on.
I'd bought a skein of Noro Kureyon while we were in Japan, and I knew it needed to be a hat.
A Starving Artist, to be precise. The pattern is by Laura Linneman, of Knit Girllls fame.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable knit. Quick, straight-forward and pretty. The yarn is interesting to work with, and the colours are just as magical as people say they are.
This may well become my new favourite hat, and that's saying a lot.

Swedish Chef Hat

 The Swedish Chef is not just a Muppet, he's also the inspiration behind one of Another Crafty Girl's cuter colorways. She's got a whole series of Muppet-inspired yarn, in case you're curious.
But it was the wild colors (and fond memories) of Swedish Chef that spoke to me.
So much so that I custom ordered a skein to have it right NAO.

And it's adorable. Very Skittles in the sun, it's a pastelly yarn with tan to tame it a bit.
It had to be a hat.
I've made a hat from ACG's yarn before and loved how it turned out, but this time, I wanted to combine one of my favourite yarns with one of my favourite designers and some mods.
So I was going to take Stephen West's recently released Dustland Hat (originally written for worsted weight yarn) and modify it to work with fingering weight yarn for a lighter, slouchier transition weather hat.
After all, we still have quite a few warm days ahead of us, and hats are more fashion than function for a few months yet.

I cast on 120 stitches, going up from the largest size provided, but keeping my total divisible by 8, since that was relevant later in the pattern (well, ok it didn't really matter, but all the other sizes were divisible by 8, and I just wanted to belong).
After that, i did the ribbing to the same height as specified, then did each pattern repeat roughly 1.5 times to keep a similar height each time.
I did the crown decreases over two rounds to get me to the specified stitches, then worked the rest of the hat as written.

It turned out just like I thought it would. okay, it's a little bigger and slouchier than I expected, but it's all good. It works.
I couldn't quite decide whether I loved it or hated it at first, but I think it's a very fun, cheery hat, and I can't wait to wear it out and about.

Is it a hat? is it a tea cozy? It's pink!

 So I thought I was knitting a hat.
Out of some pretty, very variegated acrylic yarn.
The knitting was fun and went quickly enough.
Of course, I didn't swatch for gauge. Why would I?
It was going to be a slouchy hat, so it was going to be fine.
but I rushed, and I was kind of done with the project, so I finished it a bit faster than I should have.
The slouchy beret turned into a beanie. And on me, it looked a bit like a kid's hat. not a flattering style.
Not even my usual stand-in model, the feline overlord, was impressed. What to do?
I was seriously considering ripping back and redoing the crown for more slouch, when I noticed my teapot.
I'd been mentally queueing a couple of tea cozies. On a  whim, I dropped the small hat onto the tea pot.
It's perfect!

So while I thought I was knitting a hat for me, turns out I was knitting a cozy for my tea pot.
And we're both very pleased with the result.

Baristafarian Hat

Sometimes, I get an idea in my head. Often, these don't work out.

This time, the idea was a hat of alternating knit and purl ridges, giving a three-dimensional, bee-hiveish effect.

I checked several patterns on Ravelry, but decided I'd just wing it.

Yeah, not so great actually.

You know that whole gauge thing?

Even when the hat came out ludicrously large, I thought it'd be fine. It was 'afarian, supposed to look that way. undaunted, I finished the hat. I even put it on.

It sank down over my ears, and no level of adjusting could fix it.

I strung some hat elastic through the brim, but the fact remained, the hat was too big.

All right then. Let's try that again.

I didn't bother with calculations, just ripped out and cast on a random, smaller number of stitches.

Better.

I tried on the brim, and it seemed to fit okay this time around.

The finished hat is... meh. It's a fine hat, but it lost a lot of the cute floppiness I had originally envisioned.

I put an applique on it, and the kitten totally makes the hat.

It's still cute in its own right.
It's just not the hat in my head.