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Friday 13 November 2009

winter is here....

... well, irish winter at least. probably people in really cold areas would laugh at us - but for some people (like my husband) riding a bicycle without wearing a woolly hat at 5 or 6 deg. C (plus!) is icy cold, so a new hat was needed. I had started on a dubbelmossa once before, in 3 colours of alpaca (commercially spun, from meadowsweet alpacas in wales) - but had to frog this, because it turned out to be too large. unfortunately DH has a tendency of "loosing" his hats somewhere - and was down to only one, which shrunk a little bit more in each wash - so the new one was supposed to be warm, large enough, but stretchy and non-shrink, if possible. I had a nice ball of sock wool in my stash - the main colour is a dark burgundy red, the second ply is a multicolor in blue-petrol-green colours (which I just realised is totally invisible in the photo:)) . I started with a normal hat, rib 1k/1p - but on a provisional cast-on. the main part is stocking stitch, with a star-shaped crown. I then put the live stitches on the needle again and knit the same all over again in the other direction. I expected to run out of yarn eventually and had planned to finish the inner part with another sock yarn in solid burgundy - but I managed to do the whole hat with one 100 g ball - and about 1 1/2 yards of yarn to spare:)
a picture shows the end result before fixing both sides together. this is easy (the only thing of importance is to remember to sew in the cast-on and finishing yarn before decreasing for the other side - or you can't reach them anymore:)), just put the yarn end on the inner part through the hole in the crown, pull the whole thing into the other side, come out on top of the outer layer and sew together. if you do this invisibly - you actually end up with a double-sided hat. you could of course make the stockinette part of the inner side from fluffy angora or cashmere - if you tend to get a cold head. but remember that when worn the rib will be made of four layers of knitting - which should be warm enough in average european winters.
this is the hat - ready to wear, only the flash made the yarn more purple than burgundy. I offered my one and only hat (sea green with blue) in exchange, in case DH thinks the colour is "too female" - but no, he's quite happy with it as it is. ok - off to start some new projects now! or to finish some UFO's maybe?
Materials: Funny Strumpf Color Sportivo 100 g (Coats GmbH)
Needle 3 mm, circular and dpn for crown, 73 % wool, 24 %Polyamid, £ % Polyester

4 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

I have seen this but never made one-just a beauty of a hat! I will have to make one for family in the northern US as here in FL I don't have any need for one!

Woolly Bits said...

I think the idea comes from sweden or norway - and I am sure hats are needed there! I have "hagrid" hair on my head, no need for extra coverage:))

Helen said...

ooh! it looks so lovely and cosy and warm

Leigh said...

I think I can appreciate your Irish winters, as they are probably similar to what we have here in the American southeast. Northerners assume we don't need heat because we live in the South. But combine chilly temps with high humidity and a body gets cold!

The hat looks like a great biking hat. I love the colors