Tuesday, February 27, 2007

A head hugger of my own

Here at Hilltop there was a hat model that I loved. It was a cute little ski cap made out of GGH Soft-Kid and Noro's Kureyon held together, and I would wear it every time I worked (except maybe those few weeks in summer when the temp actually broke 80). Sadly, the Soft-Kid went away, and like most floor models of discontinued yarns, the hat was sold.

But! Soft-Kid is now back in stock! I jumped at my chance to make a Soft-Kid/Noro hat of my very own. The pattern is Ann Norling's Head Hugger, and I'm not surprised it's one of the most popular patterns at Hilltop. It's quite possibly the perfect basic hat pattern: pick your size, plug in your gauge, pick your stitch pattern and go. With sizes from infant to large adult, and gauges from light DK to heavy worsted, it's actually like 125 hat patterns in one. All that and it's written clearly. This is my new go-to hat pattern for those times when I just don't feel like doing the math.

Rather than using Kureyon as in the original, I went for a little extra softness with Noro Silk Garden.

Noro Silk Garden
This is a yarn I've always shied away from; the variegations were just too much for my tastes. However, when held together with a strand of GGH Soft-Kid:

GGH Soft-Kid

the color changes mellow. The resulting fabric looks almost like fair isle, done in soft tweedy yarn.

Head Hugger

I love this hat. It's soft, it's colorful, it's cozy. I hate to say this, but I wish winter would hang on for just a little longer! I'm not ready to put my new hat away until fall!

7 Comments:

At 5:03 PM, Blogger Wendee said...

ooohh! So pretty. What Noro colorway did you use? And what gauge did you decide on when holding the two together?

 
At 6:50 PM, Blogger Martine said...

Thanks! It's colorway 205, which is "purple, fuschia, blue." (And the soft-kid is #37, raspberry). I ended up with about 3.5 st/inch, which is what I got on a size 8. I'm a really loose knitter though, so I'm guessing normal people would get that on a 10.

 
At 9:18 PM, Blogger Megan said...

working here is sooo hard, how am I ever going to knit all of the beautiful things you people keep showing me?

 
At 10:05 PM, Blogger Petpig said...

I have to agree, that hat would be one of my favorites too. I might have to try one in similar colors, but with an airier yarn. It gets too hot down here in LA. Any suggestions?

 
At 12:52 PM, Blogger Martine said...

All the mohair in the Soft-Kid definitely would make it too warm for LA. I'd keep the Silk Garden and combine it with something like Rowan Cashcotton. The cotton would keep it cool, but the angora in it would add some texture and bring the two strands together.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 
At 5:07 PM, Blogger manic hispanic said...

martine you knitting fool!! it looks great!!

 
At 5:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice hat! It matches your hair!
How about Summer Tweed and Silk Garden? They're both very "organic" yarns.

 

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