Scandinavian Hat #3

I’ve never been big on rereading books. I can watch movies more than once, but only if it’s been a while since the last time I saw them. For me, part of the entertainment value is in the surprise that goes along with not knowing what’s next. Familiarity ruins the surprise.

When it comes to making, a certain amount of repetition can be a good thing. For example, when I’m learning a new technique, going through it more than once can improve my skills.

Many times, the surprise of how my vision of a certain material will come together with a given pattern keeps me trying new things. A simple change in materials or tweak of the instructions can get me through multiple versions of the same design without a bit of boredom.

This doesn’t happen with every pattern. Once is more than enough for some projects — I think we’ve all been there — but the #03 Scandinavian Hat by Deborah Newton has held my interest through three versions so far.

The red hat was knit with larger needles and I skipped a pattern repeat on the purple hat, resulting in a range of sizes.

My latest version of this slouchy beanie was by request. My daughter searched through my stash of leftover sock yarn and chose an assortment of cool grays and blues, to be set against a black background as follows:

• Fingering weight handspun Louet Northern Lights Wool Top in 28 Icy Winter (I call the resulting yarn Stormy Skies)
• Two different variegated gray sock yarns that no longer have labels
• Cascade Yarns® Cascade 220® Fingering in 9620 Castor Gray
• Cascade Yarns Heritage in 5601 Black

For a while now, I’ve been thinking that I may need to order a few skeins of basic solid fingering weight wool yarns to help use up my leftover multicolored sock yarns. Since I wasn’t confident that I had enough black yarn to complete the hat, I ordered a skein of Dale Garn Daletta in 3695 Black (plus a skein each of Jagger Spun Heather in Edelweiss and Valley Yarns Huntington in 10 Natural to get me through future projects). I alternated knitting with the two black yarns as I worked through the various stitch motifs.

The knitting went along smoothly, as it did the previous times I made this pattern. I used US-2 (2.75 mm) and US-3 (3.25 mm) knitting needles once again, but made a larger pompom by request. The Castor Gray and two variegated gray yarns are all used up, and I am now a firm believer that making pompoms is the ultimate stash-buster!

I enjoyed making the Scandinavian Hat one more time, and seeing how the chosen colors changed the look of the design. My daughter loves her new hat, and I love seeing her so happy! That’s something worth repeating.