Hat Trick 2010

It's that time of year again, time to knit some hats! We started discussing the second annual Puck This! knit-a-long back in November and I've been chomping at the bit to get started. The goal is to knit (at least) three hats in the month of January, but that shouldn't be a problem for me; I had 50 different hat designs in my queue! It was seriously hard to wait until New Year's Day to cast on.

Unfortunately, in all my excitement, I messed up my first hat. I started to make Kirsten Kapur's (Through the Loops) Wood Hollow Hat in Cascade 220, but mis-read the pattern and mis-crossed the smaller cable in the design. I wasn't really enjoying the feel of the yarn either, and I already have a hat with that same yarn, so I set it aside for frogging.

In the meantime, I picked out another pattern I've been wanting to knit for a really long time, Jared Flood's (BrooklynTweed) Habitat. I really enjoyed knitting his Koolhaas pattern with Malabrigo and I planned to do the same this time.

I knit the brim extra long and folded it in half for double the thickness, squishiness and deliciousness of Malabrigo. Hopefully it keeps my ears nice and toasty warm this winter. I love the way cables look in Malabrigo and Jared has designed such an interesting hat both to look at/wear and knit. No two rows are the same - so that means lots of chart tracking - but you don't get bored. I just started the crown decreases last night, so I should be able to finish soon!

As soon as I do finish my Habitat, I'll be back at the Wood Hollow Hat. I really do love that pattern, and yesterday I picked up the perfect yarn for it. After discovering Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool this summer, I knew it would be perfect for a hat. Plus I love the fact that it's a locally spun yarn. Bonus: I found a new yarn shop near work that carries the yarn I wanted! Heritage Spinning and Weaving in Lake Orion, MI is less than 10 miles from work and was very nice. I'm always apprehensive about new yarn shops, how they react to a guy walking in. Everyone was very nice and helpful and did not once assume I was there for someone else. I picked out two skeins of Shepherd's Wool in the Berries colorway.

The color is pretty close in this photo - berries really is the perfect name for it - though I really had to massage it in Photoshop. I'll try to get a better photo this weekend when we have some freaking daylight! Maybe I'll already have another finished hat.