October? Seriously? How did this happen?
I love October. Trader Joe's recently brought out their pumpkins and gourds, paper pumpkins hang in school windows, bakeries have leaf-shaped cookies and piles of apples, the playgrounds have a ring of leaves up against the fence, sweaters become the norm and the chill of the mornings mean you can see your breath in the air. It means we're one step closer to winter and the bone-chilling cold I crave is right around the corner. I feel like high-fiving October then giving it a "welcome back, friend" fist bump.
October weather is also hat weather and everyone knows I do love a good knitted hat.
I recently picked up a ball of Cascade's Longwood yarn, gave it a good squeeze and scwoosh and declared it the perfect hat yarn.
A worsted superwash with a nice ply to it and really good yardage just shy of 200 yards meant I could one of my favorite things that I talk about here again and again - get an entire project out of one ball of yarn. I tend to wear my hats to tatters, so being able to throw it in the washer and dryer and breathe a little life back into it is a must. I also decided I wanted a neutral-colored hat and noticed the palette for this yarn to be on the more sophisticated side (let's just say I had a hard time choosing which one I wanted to knit with). I found myself getting obsessed with this yarn and thinking about all the things I could knit with it.
After deciding that the scwoosh factor of this yarn demanded a more 3-dimensional pattern with twisted stitches (and I love when patterns bleed into the brim), cables and bobbles, I grabbed my needles and got to work. Certain yarns look better with more 3D work and this yarn has such a lovely hand and bounce to it that I was thrilled with the results. New favorite hat yarn? Check. New favorite hat? Check.
Welcome back, October (insert fist bump here).
Download the free Isla Cloche here.