chunkystripy hat

Unsurprisingly, around the time it got Really, Really cold, there was a bit of knitting queue reprioritisation - my Christmas present knitting stream was put on hold for some emergency warm stuff.

Now Mr Rubbishknitter never usually asks for knitted things. I'm always offering but he just says, I'm not that bothered, wouldn't you rather spend all that time knitting something for yourself? Which is entirely fair enough I think. I certainly don't like to foist unwanted knitted items on people; I dread falling into that stereotype of the homemade gift giver where the recipient opens it and smiles politely, then feels obliged to perpetually wear something they actually hate.

So I was quite surprised when out of the blue the other day, he asked for a hat. And not only that, he described what he wanted in incredible detail. The colour shades, the thickness of yarn, the shape of hat, and even knocked up a picture of the stripe pattern in photoshop!!1!!1eleventy!!1! I didn't want to put him off by being too eager and casting on before he'd finished the sentence, so I just nodded casually. But of course I was secretly really, really pleased about this! While I don't want to force people into unloved woollens, obviously I do get quite excited when people actually want me to make them something. So I extracted all the required information, then went to my LYS the next day, bought yarn and cast on before he could change his mind.

This is the result.


It's knitted out of King Cole merino blend chunky, in wine red, navy blue and cream. I really do love King Cole for their affordability and huge colour range. And the chunky weight is super warm, like a duvet for your head. Which comes in mighty useful right about now.

The design is basically Mr Rubbishknitter's, my only addition was the 2x2 garter rib stitch pattern. He wanted it quite baggy, so I thought ribbing might counteract that a bit. I cast on 68 stitches and carried on in garter rib and stripes till i got to the crown, where I decreased along four evenly spaced lines till I got to the top. It was unbelievably quick to make, and the result is so satisfying warm, I think I may have fallen back in love with chunky yarn. So fickle! A couple of snowflakes and the laceweight is left sitting forlornly at the back of the drawer waiting for me to call. (Sorry laceweight)

He wanted it really long so it could be pulled down over the eyes. I think he may have been subliminally influenced by Dr. Seuss.

the cat in the hat	mr rubbishknitter

Anyway, back on with the Christmas knitting now... mostly... honest. Ahem, apart from maybe these wafer thin robot mittens I appear to have just cast on for me. *whistles nonchalantly*