Hats

I almost didn’t do any “Christmas knitting” this year. Things have been moving at astounding rates, lightning-fast life changes and growing babies and more. Knitting time, especially on a deadline, seemed like a pretty low priority combined with a pretty high stress-factor.

And yet, I was going to be knitting anyway (I have to. I’m addicted to having something to do with my hands, and I get twitchy without some crafting.). And money’s tight, but my stash is robust. Thus, I turned to hats.

Hats for everyone!

Hats are quick. Smally yardage needed (often under 50g), larger needles, relatively easy to size for the giftee on the sly. Both men and women wear hats (and here in Canada, everyone needs to!). On account of these factors, I churned out 8.5* hats in less than a month. (I also finished an ongoing pair of travel-knitting socks).

Almost every close family member got a hat. My sister got 2. I kept one for myself (it got mighty snowy in these parts!). Poor Dru, of course, did not (see note below).

Did I photograph these hats? Of course not. That would have been clever. But I can tell you that I knit:

• 2 hats of my own devising, with an Owl Cable [like this one here](a small-run spun alpaca, & Silkroad Aran Tweed)
• 2.5* Turn A Square hats (alpaca + Noro Silk Garden / Eco Wool + Noro)
• 1 “Fake Isle” Tam (#3) (Eco Wool + Noro)
• 1 Urchin beret (some bulky handspun/handdyed alpaca from the East Coast)
• 1 generic garter rib hat of my own devising (Noro)
• 1 basic baby hat of my own devisng (Malabrigo)

All this hat knitting did not make me sick of hats, either. I’ve just cast on for something new for myself, and feel like the members of my immediate family deserve handknit hats of their own. Oh, and I need to make a teacozy. Which is basically a hat for an inanimate object. So it’s back to the small circular for me!

* True to the nature of “stashbusting” patterns, I got most of the way through the 3rd Turn A Square hat and ran out of the main yarn, so it’s on hold until I can, of course, go buy another ball.

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