A while ago I gave my mother this hat for Christmas (click on picture to go to the original post):
She initially liked it, but this winter I heard through the grapevines (well, my Dad) that she had complained it wasn’t warm enough on account of the lace. At first I planned to make her new hat in cotton, but she wanted merino for maximum warmth. I mulled it over and then suggested a cabled pattern with only a little bit of lace (I just like lace, okay) from Kim Hargreaves’ Misty collection. I actually own four pattern books from this designer (the aforementioned Misty, Heartfelt, Thrown Together and Precious), but after the less than happy experience I had knitting the Jen cardigan I had needed some time to cool off before I could look at them again.
Honestly, I feel very meh on this hat, but I do think my mom likes it so I guess mission accomplished? You see, the problem with giving the recipient of your knitted gift the opportunity to choose yarn and colour for themselves is that you might not always like their choice. (That’s it, no more democracy in the future!) Personally, I think a more vibrant colour would have suited the pattern better, and I’ve mentioned my love-hate-relationship with white in general before. As you can see, I tried to add some colour to it with leftover yarn from my Birds Eye hat, but I feel like I’ve only made it worse. I tried to achieve the look of Purl Soho’s sleek, minimal designs, but the single rows of colour just disrupt the flow of the cables. Frankly, I’ve had better ideas. I also think the shape’s a bit odd?
Anyway, I really like the cables and the lace bits of the pattern, they were fun to make! The pattern itself was well written, too – it was made in just two evenings while catching up on the second season of Hannibal. I liked it so much in fact that I decided I’ll give one of Kim Hargreaves’ garment designs another go at some point. Maybe I’ll even try the Starr pattern again someday, I’m thinking yellow or orange would be stunning!
Pattern: Starr from Misty by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Soft-Merino by Wolle Rödel (100% merino)
Modelled by my mom, by the way! 😀
2 responses to “Kim Hargreaves’ Starr”
I must admit that the addition of the thin colour stripes gave this hat an interesting shape (at least a visual illusion of a different shape), but the hat itself is a bit too bulky on the top of a head for my taste, and your stripe breaks this bulkiness. That’s how I see it.
The most important thing is, as long as your Mother likes it, it’s good! *^o^* And being from the merino wool, it’ll be warm and cozy for Winter, and that’s a winner!
That’s a good perspective, thanks 🙂 I personally prefer less bulky hats as well, so maybe that’s why I have such a hard time coming around to this one.
Yeah, I thought so too. She has a warm hat she likes, so that’s awesome.