Free Knitting Pattern: Basic Hat

If a woman rebels against high-heeled shoes,
she should take care to do it in a very smart hat
[George Bernard Shaw]

Our autumn is so sparkling and fresh that I can’t imagine needing a hat, but I know the cold winds will come so I thought I would offer a simple hat pattern. Two of my favorite people agreed to model the two variations. Josh, on the left is wearing the regular watch cap. Rachel is wearing a cloche version. Both take about 220 yards of yarn, are knitted in short-row wedges and joined with a 3-needle bind off. The cloche is joined unevenly allowing a step cuff to be pinned up with a broach.

Select this LINK to download this free printable PDF pattern.

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Blocking Hats (and attitude)

Grab your coat, and get your hat,
Leave your worry on the doorstep
Just direct your feet,
To the sunny side of the street.
[Dorothy Fields]

I knit the hats in the photo when I designed the pattern for a lace book a dozen years ago. When the publisher shipped them back to me after the photo shoot, they weren’t in the boxes I provided for their protection. They were all crushed together in a little shipping carton. I was dismayed and chucked them into my store room.

When I was cleaning up after Christmas, I found them, and decided I would try to salvage them. I removed the ribbons and silk flowers, and then I re-blocked them by pinning them out moist on a board and with a hat form. The process worked well. The three in the back of the photo haven’t been re-decorated yet and there is one left to do. It is of white linen and will be decorated for a bride.

An odd thing happened during this process. I was dismayed all over again when I found them but, during the restoration process, I’ve finally moved past being irked. There has got to be a lesson in there somewhere.

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