Explicate
I have a somewhat fraught relationship with what some folks call mindless knitting. I often reach for my knitting when I need a distraction from the world. If a project is too mindless, it won’t provide the necessary level of diversion. Worse yet, if it’s too mindless, I’ll get bored and never actually finish. And then the project will go to the pile of abandoned dreams in the corner and make me feel no end of guilt.
But not this time! This time I absolutely raced through what is, by any reasonable measure, fairly simple knitting. Because this time, when I was done, I knew that I was going to do something absolutely enchanting. I was going to embroider all over my knitting!
Should this have been enough motivation to push me through yet one more round of plain stockinette? Probably not. Was it? Oh very much so. Will it work for you? Every knitter is different, so I can’t make any promises, but I suspect it very well might!
Expound
You know that thing where the simpler something is, the more the details matter? Well the knitting here is about as simple as it gets (it’s very nearly all stockinette in the round), but that just gives the details room to shine.
You’ll start by working a turned hem (which has quickly become my absolute favorite way to start a hat, it’s just so tidy, and it keeps your ears extra warm and cozy) in a contrast color. Then you’ll work the body in your main color, carrying one single column of contrast color stitches up the side as you go. You’ll end by working a tiny little starburst with the contrast color at the very top of the hat (which is far cuter than it has any right to be).
This actually makes for a lovely (if somewhat restrained) hat all on its own, and you could totally stop here if you wanted to. But I don’t think you will. Because once you’re done knitting, you get to adorn your hat with some absolutely delightful embroidery.
As with the knitting, the embroidery is surprisingly simple. You’ll work a few rows of backstitching to build a framework then weave a lovely little lattice between the rows. I promise the lattice is not nearly as complicated as it looks (it’s really just two steps repeated over and over). You can totally do it, even if you’ve never embroidered anything before.
Though once you start, you may find it hard to stop!
Penchant Expansion Pack
There are two things you should know. First, exploring variations on a theme is my happy place. I love to find something fun, then tweak it and tweak it and tweak it, just to see what happens. Second, duplicate stitch is magic. It’s easy (you don’t have to make any judgement calls, you’re just tracing over the existing stitches in the underlying fabric), it’s useful (it’s my very favorite way to mend thin spots in well worn knits or to handle my ends on new projects), and it can be absolutely lovely.
So it seems only fitting to combine these hats (which started with a sweet little rib and then accidentally turned into two different hats because I felt like playing around with different variations) with a duplicate stitch (which gives you nearly endless possibilities for adorning your knits). And when you put them together, you end up with something rather special!
We’ll start with the patterns for both versions of the hat. Then comes a rather extensive primer on duplicate stitch to teach you the basics and walk you through several variations. Then to get you started playing with experiments of your own, we’ll end with six different ways to duplicate stitch on the hats.
So whether you make the hats and leave them plain, make the hats and dress them up, or decide to stitch all over an entirely different project, you’ll find something to experiment with. Because it’s good to have options, and I’m always looking for an excuse to try just one more version of whatever I’m up to!
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