Penchant
Exploring variations on a theme is my happy place. The more I look back on my earlier work, the more I see that this has always been the case. I love to find something fun, then tweak it and tweak it and tweak it, just to see what happens.
For these hats, that meant starting with a pretty little ribbing then setting to work with increases and decreases to make that ribbing wander off in a rather fetching fashion. But you see, there’s more than one way to do that. And it was too hard to pick just one, so I ended up doing two. Because once you realize you can get two different versions of a hat, each delightful and each with a different vibe, just by changing how you stack up your increases and decreases? Well it’s hard not to go ahead and do exactly that.
Restraint was never my strong suit!
And speaking of my scandalous lack of restraint, these hats are especially well suited to further adornment. When I was done knitting, I used duplicate stitch to doodle all over mine (you’ll see that in two of the pictures here).
Decorum & Comportment
Do I realize that not everyone will want to walk around with two wee pointy bits (ears? horns? who am I to say) sticking up out of the top of their heads? Oh yes, that’s why I made them optional.
Am I going to wear them sticking out and absolutely revel in any funny looks they garner from passersby? Also very much yes!
But you, should you happen to be feeling a bit more subdued, can absolutely tuck them in if you prefer. The hat is equally adorable either way.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to commit to one option or the other. You can totally pop the points in or out as the mood strikes. And, as we all know half the fun of being a knitter is having truly smashing accessory sets, you can do it while sporting the delightful matching mitts!
Correlation & Causation
Ok, let’s get this out of the way right up front. They’re reversible!
They’re reversible, and not just in the ‘looks the same on both sides’ sort of way. They look totally different (and, if I may say so, totally awesome) on both sides. Which, if I’m being honest, absolutely fills me with glee! Because how can you not like getting two totally different looks from the same piece.
For you, who are no doubt more fashionable and more organized than I am, this means you get to decide which side you like best and show that one off. For me? Well for me it means I can yank my hat or mitts out of my coat pocket and put them on on the way to the mailbox and not worry about talking to my neighbor for ten minutes with my clothes on inside out (again, this is not something that would happen to you, because you totally have your act together and would never have that problem).
And no, no before you ask it isn’t any harder to work reversible cables than it is to work regular cables. The process is exactly the same. Set some stitches aside, work some other stitches, then work the ones you set aside. It’s just, if you set the right stitches aside, you end up with something that looks like you did a magic trick when you’re done.
And who knows, maybe you did!
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!
Tacit & Implicit
These shouldn’t be this enchanting. They really shouldn’t. That bit of fancy business there is just cables (easy cables at that, borderline boring cables). No really, I promise. It’s made from simple little two by two cables, lined up right next to each other and then stacked up one atop the other.
There’s absolutely no reason for it to be this charming. And yet...
I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s something to do with how orderly and tidy and logical they are? Or maybe it’s because they are cables but somehow don’t actually look like cables? Or maybe it’s just me and I am alone in finding them unspeakably endearing?
But somehow I don’t think so. I suspect you probably find them every bit as delightful as I do. Though I was so enamored of this whole project that I had to knit two different hats, which might be a tad bit excessive. It’s totally cool if you just want to make one!
Constellate Hat & Mitts
I’ve never been any good at knowing when to stop. And I used to feel sort of bad about it—to think that, if only I could be a bit more moderate, a bit less enthusiastic, things might be easier.
But these days? These days I just embrace it. When I like something, I really really really like it. And that’s ok. Actually, it’s kind of fun!
So given how I feel about the first of these patterns, it should surprise absolutely no one that I wasn’t ready to be done after just one hat. Not even after one hat worked two different ways. Because wow does working this with a contrast color do something sort of magical. I should have known there there would need to be mitts (also worked two different ways because once you know, how could you not). Oh and just possibly a bonus version of the hat just for super secret friends, because sure why not.
This is just how I’m wired. And I’m totally going to bring you all along for the ride. Though whether that’s a promise or a threat is up to you!
Semblance
I know. I know it looks kind of tricky right? Like you’re going to have to do something slightly unsavory with a cable needle. Or maybe like you’re going to find yourself doing a lot of counting and murmuring under your breath. Maybe even a bit of swearing if it’s been a particularly challenging sort of day.
But I promise it’s not.
That delightful little faux cable is actually shockingly simple (if you’ve done basic decreases like an ssk or a k2tog, you’ve totally already got the skills you’ll need, and the stitch diagrams will walk you through it so you won’t ever feel lost). In fact, the whole fancy bit is only five stitches wide and two rows high. That’s it…one teeny tiny fancy bit that you’ll have memorized in no time. Then you just stack it up, and it looks kind of amazing.
It’s that most magical of things…auto pilot knitting that manages to look really impressive!
Oh and you absolutely do not have to tell anyone how easy it is. You can just let them go on and on about how tricky it looks while you stand there feeling smug. Feeling smug is one of life’s little pleasures, and you can totally indulge!
Forthwith & Posthaste
I have a small weakness for speckled yarns. And by ‘small weakness for’ I mean ‘complete inability to refrain from buying.’ But, just to make things fun, I also have a hard time actually using all those gorgeous speckled yarns in projects. Because sometimes the lovely speckles I adore so much don’t play nicely with the complicated stitch patterns I tend to want to use.
But I’ve finally figured out the secret to actually using my (possibly alarming) stash of speckled yarns. The secret is (as it so often is) restraint. The secret is that you only get one showy thing per project. So if you’ve got some gorgeous speckles that want to strut their stuff, you have to give them a restrained stitch pattern on which to do it.
In this case that means a lovely long stretch of stockinette up top (speckled yarns really shine on stockinette). But I couldn’t knit a whole project in plain stockinette and retain my will to live, so there’s a rather delightful bit of dramatic swoopy business down at the beginning (speckled yarns will also generally behave themselves over ribbing and nice straight lines, assuming you make the lines long enough that they stand out against the exuberance of the fabric). And of course there’s a pretty crown and thumb, because why even knit hats or mitts if you can’t have those!
And don’t worry, you absolutely can make this with a non-speckled yarn and it will be lovely. But if you happen to have an opinionated yarn you’ve been having trouble finding just the right project for, this might well be it.
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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