Made in Brooklyn | The Hats

I continue to love designing and making hats - they're satisfying on so many levels. They involve just enough shaping to play with interesting motifs or techniques and take just long enough to feel substantial without being a major commitment. They're a great canvas for colorwork or cables and a great way to show off that special yarn. Aside from all of those things, I think that they can really make an outfit.

That said, a good little mix of hat designs made their way into this collection - each with their own technique, flavor and fiber.

Meet Quincy.

Garter stitch anyone? I had to get it in there somewhere. Quincy is a hat with a bit of a jaunty twist... literally. I was surprised after I finished it to learn that it can be worn in three rather different styles: (1) twist in the front, for an updated flapper-like style, (2) twist on the side (my personal favorite) for what I like to call the Urban Robin Hood, or thirdly (3) twist in the back - which makes for a more traditional looking beanie from the front and sports a hidden detail behind - its got that whole business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back thing going for it.

Quincy is put together in a non-traditional way and is deceptively simple! It also employs one of my favorite techniques: built-in I-cord - worked on both edges of the sideways garter stitch portion to make a piping-like border. Ariosa is a lightly spun, almost-roving-like merino cashmere blend. Super light and warm which makes the chunky hat disarmingly weightless.

Meet Laurel.

Laurel was a response to a lot of Japanese knitwear that I was (slash am always) looking at. I love how cables and bobbles can be executed unapologetically but with restraint and control - one of my favorite things about Japanese knitting in general, and something that serves as consistent inspiration for me. It's all about details.

The hat motifs remind me of vines and berries and are sure to add a bit of whimsy to any ensemble.

For the beret-shape, I blocked the hat over a kitchen plate, approximately 10" in diameter. Cardboard circles work great as well. For a less flared shape the hat can also be blocked without this form to have a more beanie-like silhouette.

And, meet the Beaumont Twins:

Don't you love what a little angora can do to colorwork? Smokey!

The hat comes in two versions: A traditional tam worked in 2-colors, and a 4-color beanie in shades of grey. You'll notice that the beanie-version shown has a bit more of a halo than the other... that's because I wore it for about 4 months before I decided it could also be included in the collection. Oops! I had originally just planned on the Tam having the spotlight but then I figured I'd throw in the greys for good measure.

Aside from the number of colors used, the hat is worked from the same pattern at different gauges to create the different styles. Like Laurel, the Tam version is shaped over a 10"-ish circular form during blocking (careful not to stretch the ribbing during that process!)

I hope you enjoy these toppers - stay tuned for more pattern profiling this week!

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For you Ravelers in the audience -- find Rav-Links for each of these patterns below:

Beaumont Beanie on Ravelry

Beaumont Tam on Ravelry

Quincy on Ravelry

Laurel on Ravelry