Quadri

More hats and more hats.  This one is Quadri, by Michele Wang.  Michele also designed Stonecutter, the sweater pattern I’ve been dreaming about knitting since it was published.  Stonecutter was the reason I joined the JunkYarn Cable-Along, but then I got side-tracked by all of the hats.

I think it’s Kristin of Voolenvine‘s fault.  Her Quadri was the perfect cabledy knit and it inspired me to cast one on.  She’d also just started dyeing non-superwash worsted yarn, so it seemed fitting to use a skein of  the Toasty base to knit mine.

It’s the Gashlycrumb colorway, but is way more toned down than on super wash wool.  I don’t mind the difference because she made it clear that it came out less variegated and I liked the color for itself- sort of buff colored.  The only thing similar to it in my stash is her Gashlycrumb in a superwash fingering.  So, I’m pleased with this worsted skein.

Details– I used size 6 needles and much less than one skein of Toasty worsted.  In fact, I had enough left to use for a colorwork hat the next day.  I chose to knit the smallest size simply because my hat bands are usually floppy and I find my hats sliding off of my head.  I did want slouch, however, in the hat body, so I blocked it out without stretching the band.  I think the fit is great now, but I still may block it out for more height (slouchiness).  The heaviness of the giant pompom adds to the slouchiness, too.

The pompom required a serious internet search.   had a hard time finding any faux fur pompoms that I liked.  I don’t like Lion Brand’s fur moms because they feel like a much loved on stuffed animal, not at all like real fur.  I decided to try Bernat’s but they’ve been sold out for some time now.  I feel like most websites I use lately are buggy, as in showing inventory that doesn’t exist, freezing on the submit button and ordering multiple items accidentally.  I did manage to order both a dark brown and aubergine pompom from Walmart.com and have it sent to the store for pick-up.  Let me tell you, when my husband picked the package up for me, he was less than thrilled when the customer service rep. opened the box.  She held the furry pompoms above her head, turning right and left, asking if that was, indeed, what he’d ordered.

I don’t normally like shopping at Walmart, but I wanted this hat complete for my son’s soccer kickoff tournament and didn’t trust myself to make my own without some practice.  When I do try making my own, I’ll use Tiny Owl’s faux fur pompom tutorial.  Even though I decided to buy mine, Stephanie’s video was worth watching for the entertainment value, alone.  (This is off the subject, but I was downloading music for a workout playlist yesterday and discovered that the theme song for the movie Hanna, by The Chemical Brothers, features Stephanie’s vocals.)

So dark brown and aubergine were all I could find.  Aubergine is an unusual choice for me, but when you see the All in a Row colorwork hat I used my Gashlycrumb leftovers on, you’ll get why I wanted such a hue.

So, overall, I am satisfied with this hat.  I think a heavier Aran weight yarn would make the hat warmer and the perfect amount of slouchy, but I used the yarn I wanted, so I’m satisfied.

(more on ravelry, kollabora, instagram, and flickr)

So what are your favorite winter hat styles or patterns, friends?