Posted on 17 Comments

Quick Knits for the Menfolk, part one

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Somebody needed a new hat.  Two somebodies, in fact, but this post is about the smaller somebody, in particular.  The hat I made him three years ago was starting to feel a little snug and look a little crummy.  Pilling and such.

He picked out the yarn, and I picked out a pattern that would keep me interested.

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As an aside, do you know how I picked such a lovely pattern? I searched for hat projects that my Ravelry friends had made (if you have Ravelry friends, you should try it!)  My contacts have such great taste, I knew one of them would have already made something perfect.  And I was right – Grace‘s Fr. Dave’s Hat grabbed me right away.

I am so pleased with the result.  Just one little complaint.  The crown is a bit wonky, and I could be wrong, but I think it’s the fault of the pattern.  I followed it to the letter through the first several decrease rows, and then just winged it at the end, and I think if/when I make this again I am going to do my own decreasing method right from the start.

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(please forgive the blurry image – some people don’t know how to sit still. ahem.)

My main issue with the crown decreasing is the K2tog stitches.  I feel like those spots should actually be P2tog, to keep the rhythm of the purled stripes going up the full length of the hat.  If I make another one of these, I’ll try it my way and post my specific changes.  At the moment they’re all theoretical, so I don’t feel comfortable sharing them.

This hat took me 3 evenings to finish.  That’s a perfect size project, in my book.

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The details

Pattern: Irish Hiking Hat

Modifications: Just the winging-it at the crown that I mentioned above

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Sunset

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Posted on 17 Comments

17 thoughts on “Quick Knits for the Menfolk, part one

  1. Lisa, your photos always bowl me over. How did you manage to get such a detailed and beautiful close-up of your pattern in that second photo?!

    The hat looks great, and it looks like your boy knows it! I love the expression on his face 😛

    1. Thanks, Megan! I don’t know how much you know about photography, so forgive me if I’m being too basic here, but in most auto-focus cameras you can hold the shutter button halfway and wait for it to focus, *then* press it the rest of the way to take the picture. That’s how you can tell if you are too close to get a nice focus. Sometimes, if you are physically too close, you can back your body up, and then use the camera’s zoom function (if it has one) to get in nice and close.

      1. Yes, my camera does have that function and I always use it – mine’s not a DSLR though, it’s sort of between that and a point-and-shoot. I expect your camera is just a much higher resolution. Either way, it looks great!

        I love the pumpkin hue, too : )

        1. Your camera sounds like the one I had just before this one. I loved it! Saved my pennies for a year, though, and just got this DSLR in August. I knew it would be better, but I was really shocked at how *much*.

  2. Love this hat and am thinking this is going to be my next project as I’m think I’m finished with the set of knitted placemats. Love the color, also. Your boys are growing up so quickly and into such hunks! Okay, I know you’ll have to make him a larger hat now with that said!!!!! Sorry Mom!

    1. Forgot to correct my wording when I changed the way I said someting. DUH!

    2. They were amused that you called them hunks 🙂

  3. I still can’t believe that you are a fairly new knitter (are you? how many years has been been off the loom?) and you’re doing all this cable stuff. amazing!

    1. Hmm, I think I started with needles in 2009. Yes, Fall 2009. I guess I am just highly-motivated! Cables (at least, simple ones like these) aren’t really that hard. They look more complicated than they are. That’s one of the things I like about them 🙂

  4. Very, very nice hat, Lisa. I’m going to friend you on Ravelry! I may have to knit this one, too!

    1. Thanks! Yep, it’s a really nice-looking hat. I’m thinking I need one for myself…

  5. you know Lisa….I remember way back when, when you first started “knitting” on those looms and you were petrified to try needles. Look at you now. Amazing the knitting growth you have done in the last years. This is an awesome hat….though Purple would of been a better color

    1. Hey now, no need to put “knitting” in quotes like that – looming is a perfectly legitimate way of getting from point a to point b! I’m insulted on behalf of the me from two years ago 😉
      But, yeah, I have to agree, I’m having a wild ride here with needles! And I hate to say this, but nobody in this house really wears purple. I sometimes do “eggplant” but that’s about it!

  6. Three nights?! This (again) blows my mind. Beautiful work and ohhhhh that color!

    1. It might have possibly been four, but certainly no more than that. Thank you! It was not really as hard as it looks. And yes, he picked the color himself, but I find it pretty swoony, too. I have a little bit leftover…

  7. […] was no cajoling to get him to put on the hat and pose, no pleas for him to stay still (unlike some younger brothers I could mention).  He just put it on, told me he loved it (yes, loved [what a good boy]) and went […]

  8. […] just loved Eamonn’s Irish Hiking Hat so much, I spent much of the last month contemplating one for myself.  I found a lovely sea foam […]

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