I knitted a hat!

That's right, your eyes have not deceived you. I actually knitted this hat. Go me.

Weirdly I hadn't intended to relearn knitting right now (I've started and stopped so many times over the years) but the thought has been sitting quietly at the back of my mind for a while. I've surprised myself.

On a side note, it's really hard to take a good photograph of yourself wearing a hat. I felt like a contortionist trying to get the angle I wanted.

It all started with a handknitted hat my Dad received for Christmas from a family friend. My brother saw it and loved it so my mum offered to knit something similar. As I stood in the wool shop with her, browsing colours and hat patterns, I had a sudden urge to knit my own hat. More specifically, knit a replacement beret style hat for the one I lost in Edinburgh last year on The Day Where Everything Went Wrong (stomach bug, missed my bus, lost my hat, my hatless head got rained on etc.)

This hat is better than my old one though because it has a bow. Me being me, I couldn't help but feel the need to embellish the hat. As you've probably deduced from my blog/style, I struggle with the concept of "plain".

I have to admit that I knitted this hat twice. The first version turned out massive. Spaceship on my head massive. It may have looked cool on a big Jamaican dude with a glorious head of dreadlocks but on me it looked ridiculous. As it only took me two evenings to knit I unravelled the whole thing and started again on needles a size and a half smaller. But not before documenting it on my mobile phone. Big lolz.

I initially worried that hat version 2 would go the opposite and be too small. Admittedly it doesn't have quite as much slouch as the pattern picture shows (Sirdar 9698 Hayfield Chunky with Wool if you're interested) but I like it and considering the wool is 75% acrylic it'll probably grow over time. I think it did me good to reknit the hat too as my stitching was much more even second time round.

I love the swirl created by all the decreases. Knitting feels like some kind of wizardry! This is the first time I've ventured beyond basic scarves and cushion covers, rectangles basically, so this hat feels like a huge achievement. 

 I was feeling pretty funky wearing my hat with my old dungarees.

Dare I say knitting might actually stick with me this time. Sure, I still need to figure out how to fix mistakes instead of just shoving it towards my mum saying "fix please"  but I like how I can knit in bed when I can't sleep (which happens a lot) or on the sofa in front of the tv. Knitting allows me to be lazy and productive at the same time.

Now onto the next hat. Then maybe a cardigan? No, I need to fix the fitting issues on my Christine Haynes Emery bodice and get a dress sewn. Hmmmm, to knit or to sew...