A while back I mentioned on my Facebook page that my husband and I have plans to visit Iceland this spring. Of course, with plans for an adventure like that, you need to prepare! By prepare, I mean knit hats and socks like your life depends on it!
Since I’ve been on a design kick lately, I wanted to design something for myself that would suit all my needs. Here’s what I knew I needed in a hat for this trip:
- It had to be warm. The weather can be unpredictable in Iceland and at the time of year we are going it can be anywhere between -5 to 10 degrees celsius. Add the wind chill to that (and there will be wind) and you can bet your bottom your ears will freeze off. So this meant that I wanted a double ear band as well as some sort of double knitted section on the head so it would be warm as well.
- I wanted a colour pattern rather than a single colour, and I wanted a bit of texture. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to achieve this by doing a fair isle pattern or some sort of patterned stitch, but it had to be done in a way where I was carrying yarn across to create a thicker piece. I also had a vision in my head of beach stones and wanted to try to create a sort of ‘pebbled’ pattern. I know, pebbled beaches on my mind when making a hat for one of the coldest places around. Go figure.
- I wanted it to be mostly fitted and not a slouchy hat. I could have some ‘sag’ at the top but I wanted it to hug my head. I don’t know if I have an oddly shaped head or if I just made previous slouchy hats too big, but whenever they touch the hood of my jacket the front gets pushed down over my eyes, and that annoys the crap out of me.
- I wanted a pompom. I don’t know why this was a necessity but if I was going to somewhere cold where I would be bundled up, a pompom just feels right. Don’t even try to make sense of my thought patterns, professionals have tried and failed. Let’s just move on from that quirky pompom obsession.
- It had to be somewhat neutral. I love colour (as you can see from many of my other projects) but in this I wanted it to be somewhat neutral in colour. Mostly because I knew I was going to do a pattern of some sort on the hat and I didn’t want it to be too busy.
Anyway, before I could set any of that in motion I first had to choose a yarn.
I decided to go with Scheepjes Merino Soft in colours 605 (dark blueish-grey) and 603 (light grey). I’d used this yarn in a previous project (which I can’t share until later as it’s an upcoming collaboration with Scheepjes that hasn’t been released yet) and I really loved the feel of it. It’s very soft and squishy and I knew it would be more than warm enough when used double in the way I planned. Heck, it’d probably be warm enough not doubled, but I had a plan and I was sticking to it.
The Merino Soft, like other new Scheepjes yarns, has the handy Easy Start tag. I’m getting so used to having it that now I get quite annoyed when I have to dig around in a ball looking for the end. It’s so simple, yet nobody else has thought of it, I wish they’d all get with the program.
I actually started working on the hat design in early December, but I’ve been lucky enough to have an extended winter holiday (which I am still enjoying!), so my time has been spent doing other things as well. I also tore the hat apart and started over so many times that it became a bit of a joke among the family. Hey, I’ve made hats and given them away because I didn’t get the fit just right for me. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake this time!
In the end I got the size just the way I wanted and was able to move on to the actual pattern of the hat. More on that later!
This post was made in coordination with Scheepjes. All work, photos, thoughts and opinions are my own.
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