orange candy

My sister-in-law gave me a few skeins of yarn a couple of years ago when she decided that she wasn't a knitter after all. In that pile were one and a half skeins of fuzzy bright orange American yarn called "Lambs Pride" from the Brown Sheep Company, spun and dyed by them in Nebraska. It's an 85% wool and 15% mohair worsted weight yarn, so it's soft with a lovely halo, but I thought the orange was a wee bit intense on its own and have been wondering quite what to do with it. My recent stash-busting revealed nearly a whole ball of white Rowan aran weight yarn and, well, one thing led to another and this pop of colour was born. 

The pattern, Here and There, by the very clever Veera Valmakii, is brilliant. I've got a thing for garter hats, they have so much body and squoosh. This one is knitted in the round from the bottom up and includes a simple cable on one side. The cable stitches are slipped on the white colour rounds so the cable ends up slightly shorter than the stripes and has the effect of scrunching the hat up a bit on that side. Cool. And, there are only a few decrease points at the crown, so the top is a flat, squared off slouch which is also very groovy.

I noticed in the project pages on Ravelry that other knitters had altered the pattern so that the colour changes happened behind the cable, instead of at the centre back. I thought about doing that, but didn't. You know, if you twist your yarns at the change and pull them nice and tight, you barely see a jog where the colour changes, and you get a neat faux seam - I like it.

But alas, this funky hat isn't for me. It's a birthday gift for my non-knitting sister-in-law who gave me the fuzzy orange. I'm quite excited about giving it back to her as a fantastic hat. Don't despair, I'm going to make myself one too, and you know the best part? The original pattern was designed for Malabrigo worsted weight yarn... I've not used Malabrigo before and from all accounts it's the Queen of yarns. It's expensive, but this pattern uses just two skeins. So, ooooo la la. Guess what I'm making my hat in? 

My Ravelry page for this orange candy hat is here.