Who Wants Another New Hat?

Ha...that would be me too (two).

So I dyed some yarn, and I was dying to use it. I looked around for a pattern and found this Ziggy Cowl:

I thought it would be perfect for the two colours I had (lots of contrast) and made for a bulky yarn.

Although speaking of bulky, look at the difference between the original yarn and the dyed stuff:

Can you see how much thinner the purple is? It's lost all of its loft. I'm just guessing here but I think it's from letting it boil the first time I dyed it. It felted together a little bit too. Once it was knit up, I couldn't tell much difference. (I know there is, but it's pretty subtle.)

The cowl is a straightforward piece of work. It's knit "in the flat" and Kitchenered together at the end to make a tube. Since I can't resist a Kitchener picture, here it is:

No matter how many times I do it, still. like. magic.

The only change I made to the pattern was to add the purple border to each side. I didn't like the zig zags going right to the edge; it didn't seemed finished. Plus it meant the two yarns carried up the side edge, but with the borders, they're hidden on the wrong side. A little "knitter's choice" I made there.

While making the cowl, I really thought that it needed a matching hat. I thought about it while knitting the cowl and decided to make it the same way. I cast on only 29 stitches and put the border on one edge only. When the rectangle was long enough to reach around my head, I Kitchenered it together.

Ok, I added a little shaping by doing short rows in the wider stripes. This makes them wider on the bottom half and brings the hat in a little bit on the top.

Then I took the yarn end and pulled it through the stitches all around the top edge.

Pull tight and secure the end, and you have a hat shape.

See? Here it is:

And the set:

The cowl is...rather large.

Most of the time you can't see the zig zag pattern very well, but sometimes it falls just right:

Despite being made from bulky wool, both the cowl and hat are light and not too dense since they were knit on larger needles. I don't think I have much to wear them with (the cowl won't fit under my high-necked coat, for instance) but usually outfits present themselves in good time.

Super fast projects; lots of fun!

Project Stats
Cowl Started: 12 Dec '13 / Finished: 13 Dec '13
Hat Started: 13 Dec '13 / Finished: 15 Dec '13
Pattern: Ziggy Cowl by Leah Coccari-Swift. Adapted for a hat by me.
Materials: Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande. Cowl: 105 g purple and 58 g white; Hat: 51 g purple and 31 g white.