What’s better than a hand-knit hat?
I’ll tell you—it’s a hat knitting pattern that is clever enough to escape boredom, yet simple enough to allow easy memorization.
In this case, done and done. There’s enough basic stockinette to make this a thing of ease. Still, the line of “bricks” that adorn the brim and a “sidewalk” up the rest of the hat keep things from feeling monotonous. The brick motif is easily memorized. Especially for meeting or TV knitting, I love not having to whip out a pattern or fear annoying my companions with clicks of my row counter.
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| I wish the camera captured the color better... |
And then there’s the fiber. This yarn from Neighborhood Fiber Co. is nothing short of splendid. There’s something about a really good wool, isn’t there? Nothing else has the spring between your fingers, the clarity of stitches, or the ability to hold such lush colors. Even before this blog, I was—and am—a yarn snob. Whatever I work with has to feel luscious between my fingers. It’s too much a part of the process for me to slog through something that doesn’t offer the tactile pleasure I seem to need from knitting.
I once met delightfully outrageous knit designer Steven Be at a yarn show in Chicago. He was clad in a sweater famously knit from a Willie Nelson eight-track tape. Fascinating, impressive even, but totally unappealing to me. Plarn—yarn made from shreds of plastic bags—never calls to me, either. I understand the functionality, I support re-purposing, but those things are not why I knit.
Well, I suppose it’s yarn functionality isn’t a value for me. Item functionality is another matter. I think mittens are functional and I enjoy knitting them. Granted shawls—my personal favorite—are mostly decorative, but when some restaurant’s air conditioning is making your teeth chatter, they feel mighty functional to me.
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All this is to say that while I’m sure I (or someone I love) will use the hat, it’s most important to me that I’m enjoying knitting it. I enjoy knitting this, and for that I’m endlessly thankful to fibre space.
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