Oh, cashmere, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
Before I go all Shakespeare on you, dear readers (too late) I'm excited to share this new design with you, the Demmit Hat. This hat is special to me for many reasons, one of them being the yarn. The YARN! Stunning 100% cashmere bulky weight from Pepperberry Knits ensures your head will be kept warm (did you know that 100% cashmere is one of the warmest fibers and is even warmer than wool?), it'll last, it's beautiful and goodness, is it ever soft! Hand a knitter a ball of cashmere and you'll have a very happy knitter.
Unsatisfied by the monochrome muted colors of factory produced cashmere yarn, Pepperberry Knits founder Heidi Hennessy, began experimenting with color by hand plying single strand cashmere on her trusty Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. What turned out was a stunning multi-tonal yarn that gave even the simplest projects a richness of character and depth of color. Word got out about her bold, rich in color hand plied cashmere among her local knitting community and not too long after, she was selling her exclusive yarn to yarn shops, traveling to trade shows and selling on the web around the world.
Today, the team at Pepperberry Knits creates its 100% cashmere yarn in the same tradition of how it all started. Their highest quality fiber is still plied at their facility in Boise, ID with their hands caring for every skein they make. Their love of luxury fiber, rich saturated color, fresh design and hand knitting continually drives them to create fashionable and intuitive knitting patterns and new colors of cashmere yarn to share with the worldwide knitting community!
The Demmit Hat knits up on US 10 needles and uses 2 hanks of Pepperberry's Soft Spun Solid Bulky. Because of the thickness of the yarn and the large needle size, you can knit this hat quickly making it yet another ideal holiday gift knit for some special. Twisted stitches, a lace leaf pattern, reverse stockinette and a spiraling, slouchy crown ensure an interesting knit packed with techniques.
Pepperberry has been kind enough to offer up a coupon for 15% off their Bulky to make this hat! Head over to their website and use the coupon code DEMMIT15 and the 15% discount will be taken off at checkout (they also have free shipping on orders over $100). Coupon is good from Monday, November 3rd through Sunday November 9th.
Photographed in Aurora, Ohio, my friend Louisa (whom this hat is named after) and I trekked through the woods behind the studio where we film Knitting Daily TV to shoot this hat. Cashmere and a great friend to share it with? That's my idea of a perfect fall day.
The Demmit Hat can be downloaded here.