•  
  • GCC: A Charming Hat

crw_8866

There are many charming hats in the world of knitting. I mean many. Like thousands. Hats are a great knitted staple with a few simple techniques for your basic hat and as many complicated techniques as you might like. These two hats are from the same pattern, the only difference is in the brim. The white one has a lovely lacy brim while the red has a slightly heartier looking garter brim. crw_8875

Both hats are from the pattern Ripley by Ysolda Teague. Ysolda is a prolific designer with many beautiful patterns that have been knit thousands of times over. If you check her out on Ravelry you will see how popular her designs really are! All of her patterns are available as individual patterns and some are availble in her Whimsicle Little Knits books. I like that I have the choice to buy just one, or the set.

crw_8872

With these two hats it’s all in the details. The lacy hat has the obvious appeal of the lacy edging. Edging is knit first and flat and the rest of the hat is picked up from it. The same goes for the garter edged hat except that the hat part is picked up from a garter piece instead of lace. To get the nice slouchy fit (which is what I was going for) there are pleats in the back. This might sound scary but it’s actually really easy and there are clear instructions included in the pattern. These 3 pleats make sure that the hat fits snuggish in the front with that nice slouch in the back. The last bit of detailing is the swirly decreasing at the crown. This isn’t a particularly unique feature but I like it none the less.

crw_8879

I made these hats out of one of my favorite yarns. Blue Sky Alpacas worsted hand dyes are quite the special yarn. I’ve knit with it before but it is always a treat. It’s a 16 stitch gauge with a hearty spin to it and soft like butter! It’s also a hand dye so it’s got a subtle variegation that adds that little something special to any knit.

To make a Ripley hat of your very own you will need:

The pattern: Ripley

Yarn: 1 skein of BSA Worsted Hand Dyes (the pattern calls for 109ish yards for the 2nd and 3rd sizes which is more than one skein of the hand dyes but I eked it out with one skein)

Needles: 6mm needles, both a 16″ circular and double pointed needles

1 stitch marker

Enjoy!

–Alexa–

Comments are closed.