Hat 13 – Putting on my Top Hat

Yes, Gentle Readers, I have knit a top hat. It is the pattern Marlene from the book Hat Couture. I love this book because the hats are so much fun, with lots of embellishments and such. I will be adding a ribbon and other items after the hat is completely dry. To get the hat to stand up, you must knit at a very tight gauge. I used a size US 10 needle on a super bulky yarn. The yarn is Ella Rae Mega. It is a single spun yarn and it was ideal for this project. I have never knit with yarn before. It is okay to knit with, but it did have some weird strands of something in the yarn, maybe guard hairs or nylon. I am not sure which.  They were easy to pull out so it wasn’t a big deal, just strange. The biggest problem with this hat is the tight gauge. My hands would ache like the dickens after about an hour of knitting. I was a little worried about how it looked before I blocked it, but I love how it turned out. I can’t wait till it is dry and adorned and I can wear it out and about.

Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Hat 11 is the Helmet hat from Vogue’s Ultimate Hat Book and knit out of Spud & Chloe’s Sweater. It took forever to knit. It was not hard, but very fiddly. There are cables and twisted stitches. It is supposed to have an extra band thingy at the bottom of the hat. The first time I did the band it was too many stitches, so I pulled it out and tried again. This time I ran out of yarn half through the bind off. I looked at what I had and I did not like it anyway so it came out again and stayed out. I also made it smaller than what the pattern called for. I made it to fit my head.

I liked knitting with the yarn; it held up well to the ripping out I did and it was very soft. It has very nice stitch definition.

Hat 12 is the Northwoods Hat I designed for the MN Shop Hop. I could not knit with the yarn we had for chosen for the hop, so I knit it out of Smart. I found the yarn sort of splity, but I still think the hat turned out. It would have been better in green so the lace would look like trees (which was the look I was going for). Overall, I think it is a great design, if I do say so myself.

Hat 11.25 – new invention. So when I was working on the design for the Northwoods Hat, I wanted to see how the lace looked in the round. I knit a little tiny hat to check it out. In order to block it, I had to find something to stretch it upon. Through much searching, I found this.

                     

After it was all blocked and dry I realized that I had invented a new thing: a clown nose cosy! 

I know, I am a genius! No doubt I will become a millionaire with this great invention.