Miller’s Hat for Snook
It’s been pretty chilly around here lately, so I finally convinced the Snook to let me knit him a hat. This is tricky business. He doesn’t like things that make his head itchy. He’s hated every woollen beanie I ever put on him. I’d have to get creative. While surfing Ravelry one day, I came across this photo of a guy wearing the unusual Miller’s Hat. Hey, I thought. That looks neat! So I bought the pattern. I decided to go with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool) for the project, despite all the drawbacks. (Cotton isn’t as warm; knitting cables in cotton kills your hands; cotton tends to be a stiffer fabric than wool.) The main selling point was that I knew it definitely wouldn’t make his head “itch.” I ended up having to restart the hat a couple times because I kept stuffing up the herringbone stitch around the band. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it (i.e. read the chart symbols properly), and it looks really cool. I ended up adding quite a few stitches – a whole extra cable repeat’s worth – to make it looser and to compensate for my famously tight tension. I did the whole thing on a 5mm needle, not bothering to change for the cabled bit. I also skipped a couple of the plain rows towards the end, not wanting it to be too slouchy at the top. As for the edging, I just picked up a zillion stitches around the edge, not really caring about the number. (Basically, I winged the whole thing.) It looks… interesting, huh? He likes it. I think he looks like a damn hipster, but it’s unusual and slouchy and keeps his ears warm. That makes us both happy.

More details and photos over on Ravelry…