Fresh off the needles: The Pickle Hat

After one last heat wave a week ago, I think it’s safe to say we’re in the full swing of fall. It’s finally time we get to pull out our hand knits. I knit this hat that I’ve dubbed the Pickle hat approximately two heat waves ago and I’m so happy I finally get to share it.

The Pattern

This is the second time I’ve knit Seaforth by Karie Westermann. For whatever reason, when I knit it the first time, I decided to make the larger size, which I never do. The thing turned out too big and now I hardly ever wear it. It was so fun to knit, though, I knew I had to make another one.

The pattern is clear and concise, it even gives you some great tips so you can modify it if need be. I’m not all that great with lace patterns. I’m so not great at them that I’ve given up ever trying to knit shawls with lace. But this pattern is only four rounds and incredibly well written which makes it easy enough even I find it extremely simple.

The Cast -On

This is in no way anything revolutionary, but my new favorite cast on for hats is the German Twisted cast on, which is the cast on I did for this hat. It’s super stretchy and is incredibly comfortable to wear. I especially like it for baby hats. A lot of times, when I use a regular long tail cast on, my niece will grow out of the brim of a hat even though there’s a ton of room left in the actual body of the hat.

The Yarn

In January, I made it a goal that I would support indie dyers. My first purchase was this wonderful worsted weight yarn by Dyeabolical Yarns in the Okie Dokie Atrichokey colorway. I love this yarn so much. The color is perfect. But since I’m not too familiar with what an artichoke looks like, I was always thinking of pickles whenever I was knitting it. Hence the name Pickle Hat.

My favorite thing about this yarn? This was my first time using indie dyed yarn, so I wanted my pattern choice to be perfect. I think I cast on at least half a dozen different hats. This yarn held up through all of them. I love a yarn that can handle my severe indecisiveness. It also leads me to believe that it’ll wear well over time.

One of the main reasons I haven’t been buying more indie dyed yarn is because a lot of yarn dyers have shop updates, where they dye up batches of yarn and then put it all in their shop and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Without fail, I always miss them. Either, I find out about the update too late, or when there is an update, I don’t have the money in my budget to order. What I loved about ordering from Dyeabolical Yarns, is that she dyes to order. Which means, I was able to order when I had the money in my budget to do so and I don’t have to worry about it.

I couldn’t be more happy that this is the pattern I settled on for this yarn. They work so well together and it’s already becoming one of my favorite hats.

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