Hats!

These days, I've been churning out hats, hats, and more hats for the 7long project. The Stash and Burn girls are collecting hats for a pediatric oncology ward at UCSF in my old neighborhood. It's a good cause and very local to me, so I'm happy to do this. On a selfish note, I get to try out all sorts of hat patterns :)

I must be on an EZ kick these days. Mittens last time. Now, I've knit two more patterns from The Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann. First up, the Ganomy hat. It's supposed to be gnome-like. For adults, it looks a little funny. At least, how I made it. If I were to knit this again, I would make it smaller and lessen the pointiness on top. I can see how it can be fun for children to wear, like a costume hat. I hope they see it as a fun, playtime hat! Otherwise, I just made a very uncool hat.



This is an example of my old stash. I bought this green acrylic yarn from Walgreen's back in 1994. Yes, I know this because the receipt was still in the bag. And yes, Walgreen's must have sold cheap yarn way back then. It's not great yarn, but it's not as rough as Red Heart. I've never given it away or thrown it out because that would've been wasteful. Couldn't do it. Anyway, I knit this Ganomy hat on size 9 (5.5mm) needles to get gauge at 4 stitches per inch.

Next, the Three-Cornered hat/beret/tam, also from the Almanac. If you follow EZ's sizing directions, this hat will be HUGE. My husband laughed at me as I modeled the hat and said it looked like a spaceship sitting on my head. Plus, it covered half my face. Not a good hat to donate. So I frogged it and sized it way down. Started with an 18 inch circumference, instead of 20 inches. Now, it looks less spaceship-like and won't swallow some poor child's head.



I used Vanna's Choice acrylic for this hat and size 8 (5mm) needles. Less than one skein. Haven't used this yarn before, but I recommend it if you're looking for acrylic yarn. Soft and thick (aran weight). Nice colors too.

Additionally, I've knit two more hats, just haven't taken pictures yet. Another Fake Isle hat and a basic ribbed brim hat. These are instant gratification projects. I can make them within two nights, which is speedy for me. (I know others can bang these out within a few hours.) Currently, I have a lace top on the needles as well, but the hats are more fun.