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| What’s that creeping up over the hills? |
Here is my first completed project from the Stephen West Knitalong “Westy’s Besties”, the Kvosin Hat.
Please note: the Kex Blanket is going to take a little longer!
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| Don’t be ridiculous! Spring is here! |
I used a single ball of AlbaYarn in Spring green for the main body of the hat, and leftovers from Betty Jean, Bettie’s Pullover, and Audrey in Unst for the other colours. Christine was my colour consultant for the fair-isle section, and thank goodness for her help, as it was a muddy mess before she advised me! Who knew that if you used a graduated tonal palette for the background stripes and a strong contrast for the star motif, it would really POP? It sounds so obvious, but I clearly couldn’t work it out for myself!
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| Roo – you’ve either got terrible dandruff, or that is SNOW! |
I have to say that I wasn’t totally convinced by this pattern while I was working on it. My instinct is to over-complicate, and I couldn’t accept that knitting a scarf, seaming it, and then knitting sideways for the brim and crown would produce anything approaching a shapely piece of headwear. Oh how wrong I was! Trust the Rock Star Knitter, Roo!
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| Yup! Snow. Sigh. |
See, what you have here is a recipe for a funky slouchy hat. You could adapt it in so many ways to suit the wearer. I was thinking a band of piratical purple skulls and crossbones would go down pretty well in some circles, with a striped black and neon yellow body. And actually you could use a good self-striping sock yarn (Goth Socks anyone?) and a plain colour (shocking pink!) for the crown and brim.
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| Strangely lop-sided at rest |
I chuckled when I realised where that plaited tassel-cord was coming from, and I saved that part of the project as a special treat to myself after a long day. That is such a “designer” detail, don’t you think? And yet somehow it is also a hat for an ancient mariner. I can imagine a vintage photo of a gnarled old fisherman wearing this headpiece! FL says it looks Scandinavian – yes, I can see that too.
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| Love this detail! |
I didn’t have a future owner in mind as I knitted. I was simply using stashed yarn and joining in with the Knitalong. Being fingering weight, I would view it as a summer hat for this part of the world, though I was thinking it could be lined with fleece or wool jersey to make it warmer and windproof. I am tempted to keep it for myself, but it would need to be lined to be practical. For the moment, I am setting it aside in the Future Gifting pile. Does that warrant giving myself a treat? Oh I think so! ; )
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| So cute! |
FuturePrimitive soaps released their new spring range the other day… a bar of Gossamer Ghost has my name on it, I reckon!