Swirly Hat Pattern for Your Knitting Pleasure!

I have been dreaming of a hat like this for a while now.  I wanted the swirly feeling of a soft serve ice cream cone, in a hat.  I think I've gotten pretty close with this little number!

My friend Kathleen ordered this and it's knit with Spud and Chloe worsted, washable, wool and organic cotton.  I LOVED working with this yarn!!!  It has a lovely weight and doesn't have that wierd stretchy, rubbery feeling that some of the washable wools I've used have had.  Maybe it's the cotton?  I don't know, but I really like it and have added it to my list of favorite go-to yarns!

Kathleen had specified orange, blue, and green but "no wimpy pastels" and I think these hues did the trick perfectly.  Spud and Chloe have some lovely colors to play with!  I used their "Moonlight," "Turtle," and "Firecracker," and other than the rollup brim which was knit in "Moonlight," I used all three yarns for every row.  This was not easy and I had my fabulous husband video tape me showing you how I handled all that craziness so that if you've not done much colorwork (like me) it might get you started with less frustration than I experienced (I started this over, twice).  You can find that video here.

Here's a few more shots of the hat (which is sized approximately for a 6 month old who isn't born yet so no pictures on that baby's sweet noggin yet).

Oh my goodness!!  I love the stripeys!

Without further ado, here's your pattern!  Have fun, and as always, feel free to ask for help or clarification!

Fiber Arts Friday!!!

I'm a stay-at-home mom, but Fridays are still super special.  I get to go work at Mr. Food in the evening (all by myself!), and it means that tomorrow is family time, and the next day is family time!!!  It's nice to anticipate.

I also love Fridays these days because it gives me an excuse to focus in on my fiber projects and think about them, and touch them, and love them up as I play with all the artists who participate in Fiber Arts Friday (Which you can find over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder).  This is particularly enjoyable when I have not a motivation filled week or have been focusing on other projects!  Today is one of those days so I am fully prepared to love up my knitting projects with a gentle love filled vengeance!

So, Dave helped me wake up this morning to a grey, wet day:

But, look!  Warm cozy fire blazing away...

...and the projects awaiting!  Note: this is my semi-nonfunctional storage system in the living room.  I like to have my projects handy but have to keep them IN things to discourage boys and dogs from exploring.  This is what I've been driven to :).  Oh, and that gorgeous painting?  My friend Amye Austin did that when we were in college.  She's amazing huh?  You can find her invitation and stationary design website here.  It's under construction, but promises to be lovely!

Ok, back to Fibers!  Now, I've set the scene, but we need to take one more thing into account before I toddle off to play!  Where is Oliver???

Sweet boy.  I love him.  But, I'm also glad he's sleeping!  So off to choose a snuggle up on the couch project to share my morning coffee with...And the winner is....

The little baby hat I'm having so much fun designing!!  This is for my friend Kathleen who ordered it for a friend of hers who is having a baby.  Her shower is in a few weeks and I need to have this done by next weekend when I will see Ms. Kathleen (hooray).  I'm attempting to do three colors in vertical stripes wrapping around bebe's head into a little teeny tassel.  We'll see how it goes.  Carrying all that yarn around might be too bulky as I get more into the project.  No Problem though!  Starting over is quite common in my world and when I'm designing it's all good.  I get to learn from each of my attempts and my planning gets better and better with each project.  MMMMMMmmm.  I love knitting.

Happy Fibering everyone!!