anna knits - traveling cable hat

A few months ago I knit a Brooklyn Beanie (free pattern) for my boyfriend. He got great use out of it at the beginning of the winter, but with snow storms and record low temperatures hitting New York he needed a warmer hat. About a year ago, I bought some luxurious merino wool from Purl Soho, and after knitting this hat I still had a little over a skein of the Toasted Charcoal yarn left. With this yarn in mind, I started looking at The Purl Bee for a pattern. I settled on the Traveling Cable Hat, which was free (yay!), and would allow me to practice cables.

MODIFICATIONS: After reading some of the reviews for the pattern on Ravelry, I decided to use size US7 and US8 needles, instead of the recommended size US5 and US6. (My boyfriend's head circumference is about 23 inches.) I also modified the pattern to be less slouchy by knitting the cabled pattern a total of three times rather than four. The pattern used just over one skein of yarn (164 yards per skein). While the hat fits well and has stretched out a bit since I finished it three weeks ago, if I were to knit it again I might even go up another needle size, just to make it a little roomier. The one technical issue I had was that since I did not own 20-inch circular needles, I knit the hat on 16-inch circular needles, which was a little fussy (due to the over-crowding), especially at the beginning.  

In the end, I think the hat turned out beautifully, and I would recommended this pattern (with the needle adjustments I mentioned above). As you can tell from the picture of the hat being modeled (reluctantly) above, it has already gotten a lot of use. While I love seeing my knitwear in use, I am definitely ready for some warm weather. How many days is it until spring??

anna knits - regina hat

Process pics:

First attempt Regina Hat:

This post is WAY overdue as I finished these hats in February/March, but better late than never, ya? Anyway, a few months ago I saw this hat made by @littlellama on Instagram and fell in love with the pattern. Inspired to knit my own hat, I went on Ravelry, and, by a stroke of luck, stumbled upon the exact pattern @littlellama had used. It is called Regina by Carina Spencer and it is a free download.

I decided to make the hat with some yarn I already had, Bernat Softee Baby in Flannel with size US4 and US6 needles (see first attempt Regina Hat pictures). I loved the flexibility of the pattern, since you create the crown based on the number of stitches you use to make the band as opposed to using a set number of crown stitches. But while I enjoyed knitting the hat immensely, I was not totally happy with the result. In the end, I was not a fan of the way the back of the hat slouched (you can see this better in the picture from the pattern), and I felt that the yarn I had chosen was not right for the pattern. I wanted the hat in a more substantial yarn.

With these criticisms in mind, I embarked on the pattern for a second time. This go-around I treated myself with a skein of Purl Soho Worsted Twist in Toasted Charcoal, and used size US6 and US8 needles. I kept the band pretty tight, because I knew I wanted the hat to be snug rather than slouchy. (You can measure the band on yourself as you go.) While knitting, the fan part may seem a little weird at first, but if you trust the directions you will be fine. Blocking is essential as you want the fan to lay right. I wet blocked mine, and used pins to hold the fan in place (see picture).

I was very happy with the result, and ended up giving away the hat as a present. I have another skein of the Worsted Twist and think I might knit up another Regina hat with it. I would definitely recommend this pattern to anyone who has mastered a basic hat and is looking for something a little a little more challenging. Leave a comment or email me with questions!