Headwear Bonanza!

As I've said before, it is my firm belief that a person can never have too many scarves, armwarmers, or hats. Here are three FOs that support this theory, plus a fourth that more or less fits the category.



This is the first thing I ever crocheted. Back when I was stagnating in the "I can only knit stockinette rectangles" phase of my knitting career, I really wanted to learn how to make hats. A couple of my crocheting friends taught me how to make a basic beanie using single crochet worked in a spiral. This is the result, made from Lion Homespun in the now-discontinued disco colorway on a US K hook.




Fortunately, my crocheting abilities have progressed a bit since then, and I made this during a crochet-a-thon back in Februrary that also produced my Blue Star Cloche and Rose is a Rose Hat in the course of one week. This is the Dorothea hat from the Modern Flapper Hats collection. Like the other two, it's made with Motohiro Premium Merino (100% wool). The flower is a chain stitch flower made from leftover "Rose is a Rose" yarn and a bead stitched in the middle.




I made this in an attempt to use up stash yarn. It started life as Knitty's Coronet but went through a few alterations along the way. I had one skein each of Olympus John Lennon Peace (100%) and Katylana Soft Colorful (100% nylon), so I combined them. The John Lennon yarn is worsted weight, so I made the cable brim as instructed, but the Soft Colorful is bulky, so I used US 10 1/2 (6.5mm) needles and only picked up 54 stitches. When it ran out I switched back to the worsted yarn and US 8 (5mm) needles, increasing the number of stitches to fit. This pattern really suited the yarns well thanks to its fold-up brim construction; the wool yarn is a bit scratchy, so having it fold over the super-soft yarn works out perfectly.




This last FO isn't quite a hat, but it DOES get worn on the head, so I'm counting it anyway! I made this a really long time ago but somehow never got around to taking photos. It's the Head Hugger pattern from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, with very little regard given to yarn type or gauge. I used the instructions for the neckwarmer, knit up in the now-discontinued Lion Kool Wool, which is a thicker yarn than the pattern calls for. The flowers are made with Micro-spun leftovers from my Pippi Kneestockings. It was the second pattern I completed from SnBN, and only the second item I've made using the actual colors from the pattern (the first being an Adults-Only Devil Hat).