All the Hats

Peeking out from the blanket fort – it’s too warm to stay in there! Summer is here and I’ve made a few projects that I look forward to wearing when Winter returns, but that’s a post for another time. Today I want to talk about hats.

Making hats has been a great project for quarantine times. They work up quickly, can be fancier and complicated if you feel like you have the brain space for it, and there is consistently a need for them. I saw a lot of people work on quarantine cast-ons, but I don’t really want to have a big huge project that reminds me of a stressed out time. Yes, I have completed other big projects (posts coming soon-ish) that I will remember knitting during 2020 but those were done after my brain fog had somewhat lifted.

(Heads up. I link to Ravelry for pattern and projects. Ravelry’s latest update has resulted in users experiencing migraines, eye strain, and headaches. Maybe don’t click through.)

Starting with bulky yarns was easy. Those hats are cast on and finished in an evening. The Big Chunky Comfy Hat I knit three times. Three skeins of Malabrigo Rios turned into a Bankhead, an 1898, and a Go-To Watchcap. Then I was seduced by sparkles and made a Magpie Darling. There was the Gathering Hat, and On the C Train, and a Cabled Baby Cap. I test knit a Picket Hat and a Penguin Hat. I knit a Two by Two hat for my Dad and a Psychedelic Sheep Hat for me.

I got a new toy for my birthday last month – a Sentro Knitting Machine! I have had so much fun cranking out hats that I bought the next size up. The Sentro has 40 needles and is best for baby hats / little kids. The Miaoke has 48 needles and is more for tweens/adults, though you can make baby hats on that one as well.

I’m a cranking machine. It is so satisfying to move the yarn out of the stash and into a tangible project. I’ve used leftover sock yarn held doubled, a variety of big box acrylic, nicer acrylic blends, and some indie handdyed yarns with success. A few were disasters (bamboo sadly is just too loose and floppy at this gauge). Reversible hats are easy as is the roll brim style. The tiny top knot hat may be my current favorite. There is a bit of trial and error in working out the right number or rows to crank to get a folded over brim style hat. Blue hats will go to #HatNotHate, the rest will go to local donation calls when they happen again. I’m stockpiling, and trying to figure out the best way to organize: by size? by fiber content? To be determined.

I’m not giving up on hand knitting or crocheting hats – there’s one in the bottom corner of that pictures and at the moment there is another one on my desk. Patterns in consideration for the next cast on include Denise Bayron’s Everyday Lined Hat or Hatdana, Fatimah Hinds’ Oil Beetle Hat, and/or Thea Colman’s Night Caps.