July 2012 #1 - Purply Plum Panache

Now is this a party hat or what? I was inspired by a hat that Debbie (a.k.a. bellsisterdebbie) made for the Camp Happy Times Campaign and wanted to create a simple knitted hat with an inset of ruffles. I found what I thought was a very pretty ribbon like purply yarn that would pair well with my favorite Berroco Comfort. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was actual an open lacy number, of which I had no idea how to use. I surfed through Ravelry, but all the projects listed were scarfs. What to do, what to do? I decided to just start knitting and perhaps something would come to me, and this is what I came up with.

I used Berroco Comfort in Boysenberry Heather and Starbella in Plum Preserves on a size 7 16" circular needle and a set of 7 dpns. Stitches used are knit, purl, and k2tog. With the Comfort only I c/o 88 stitches and did a k2p2 ribbing for 10 rounds, then knit for 8 more rounds. The next round was very slow going as I added in the Starbella. Not having worked with such a funky yarn before I wasn't sure what the suggested method was, so I picked up the loops as I went and added them to my left needle and then stitched them along with my next stitch, one at a time. Hence the slow going. After one round of the double stitching I knit regular again for 5 rounds and then repeated the process two more times. I then added a purl round for interest and began my decrease rounds. When I got to towards the top I added the Starbella back in every stitch for a few rounds just for additional interest. It certainly isn't a hat I'd want to wear, but then I'm pretty conservative. But I've gotten some nice comments on it from some younger people and my guess is that there is someone at camp that will think it’s a fun hat. It is certainly a bit wild looking.