Hats are fun
Matchy-matchy in my Ruska Hat and Ruska sweater.
If you’ve been around for a while, you may have gotten the feeling that I’m a bit of a sweater knitter. My collection of sweaters is constantly growing, much to the detriment of my head and feet. Until I knit the Ruska Hat, I didn’t even have a handknit hat for myself. What kind of knitter wears store-bought hats?
So I resolved to knit myself a hat. I’ve been wanting to knit one to match my Ruska sweater ever since I finished my Ruska sweater. I finally did it, and it was so. much. fun. Putting together a colorwork chart for a hat is really quite simple. You don’t have to calculate increases for neck-to-shoulder yoke growth and plan the colorwork to fit that. I can just make a straight chart, plan some decreases for the crown and go. Just designing and writing the pattern was very enjoyable.
The Ruska Hat on a rime covered rock.
And then the knitting itself. Hats are so fast! Sweaters, depending on their size, yarn weight, etc, can take up to a month. Or even a little bit more sometimes. Hats take 3 – 4 days tops, and I could probably bang one out in less time if I wasn’t so fond of deep, folded brims. The instant gratification is a bit habit-forming.
Getting a picture without Aiden in it is pretty much impossible these days.
After the Ruska Hat, I decided to make colorwork hats for two of my sisters for Christmas. I ended up designing these as well. This still unnamed hat pattern will be released sometime in February. This hat was insanely fun to create. I based it off a basic Nordic star and went from there. I did get a little carried away and make the chart way too tall for a worsted weight row gauge, but whacking off the top of the chart worked beautifully too. I’m planning to make a fingering weight version later in the year so I can use the whole chart I created.
The perfect hat for a snowy day.
But I couldn’t stop there, and I’ve already written another colorwork hat pattern. This one will be for this fall’s Forest collection so that pattern won’t be available for a while, but I couldn’t resist designing it already. My size 5 needles are currently occupied with a sweater I need to hurry up and finish so I can knit up this hat.
Designing all these hats feels very playful after years of knitting sweater after sweater. The simpler pattern writing combined with the quickness of the knit has me dreaming up even more. Maybe I’ll make a hat to match every sweater. Wouldn’t that be fun!
The pattern for the Ruska Hat is now available. You can use the code COZYHAT for 15% off now through January 9th, 2022. Follow the links below if you would like to get the pattern! If you are interested in any of the other hats, make sure to sign up for my newsletter. You won’t miss any new patterns if you are on my list.
Want to know how I make my wonderfully squishy (and secure!) pom poms? Head on over to my YouTube channel and watch my tutorial. Just a wee warning, I call the pom pom a bobble for most of the video. I’ve been watching lots of British podcasters lately. :)