Flat Top Hat

Pattern:Flat-Top Hat, page 43, in the book Modular Knits by Iris Schreier

Yarn:Noro Silk Garden, color 225

Needles:US7 16" circular Webs bamboo

Size:21" head circumference

Modifications:Inserted st st panel on intended gs sides to conserve yarn and add visual interest.

Comments:I was walking through Webs and this ball of Noro Silk Garden literally jumped off the shelf and attached itself to my leg. I told it "NO! STAY!!", and put it back on the shelf, but when I turned it jumped down again, intent on following me home. What could I do?? I picked it up and said "Oh, come on, I think that flat-top hat uses only one skein, let's go check the book...."

The hat was fun to knit, primarily because it presented new techniques in modular knitting. I'm always up for new techniques. I did it while watching Star Wars Episode 3, and so screwed up someplace along the way, but in the end it worked out perfectly. I seem to remember ending with the wrong number of triangels on the top - there should be six all the same size and shape. I ended up with five of the sme size and shape and one confused little bugger about half the correct size. I adapted it by making a second error triangle of the same shape which filled in the space, made a flat top, and a wearable hat. Moral: Do not knit new techniques while watching sci-fi action films

Aidan's Hat and Mitt Set

Pattern:Yankee Knitter Hats and Mittens by Melinda Goodfellow

Yarn:Plymouth Encore, color 1444, and scraps of Artyarns Supermerino from various projects

Needles: US6 straight and circulars

Size: Toddler

Modifications:Stranded colorwork superimposed onto pattern alternating the blue and green with the brown on alternate rows, hat worked in the round not on straight needles.

Comments:I had just finished the Mittsicles samples, made a hat and mitten set for the kid in that, and thought "What am I going to do with this Encore Girl got and did not use? I wonder if there is enough to make a hat for Aidan..." A few hours later we had a hat and mitten set. Fun, fast, simple, and the boy loves them.

Ethnic 3 Hat

Pattern:Created by Dori Betjemann for Ethnic 3 class, and since released by Cascade as a three hat pattern

Yarn:Colorado Yarns Vail

Needles:US2

Size:Adult large

Modifications:None

Comments:Ethnic 3 class covered a range of knitting traditions, from Latvian mitten traditions, to Norwegian hats and shawls and Baltic sock methods. This Nordic hat pattern is based on a hat in the book "Knitting in the Nordic Tradition" by Vibeke Lind. The hats featured student's choice of symetrical or asymetrical decreases, or alternating angle decreases - I did one of each. I love this hat.