You Can Make That: Hat Attack
It’s that time of year where hats start invading your local department store. Walk into Bergdorf or Barney’s, and you’ll see big chunky hats with enormous fur pompoms for sale for nearly $300. Don’t get me wrong – I love these hats. Eugenia Kim in particular brings us slightly (or very) exaggerated proportions of hats that are a bit irreverent, but more than anything, remind us how fun it is to not be too serious. While there are so many of her hats that we can’t replicate in our knitting, there are others that make me think “Let’s have some fun, and let’s make these ourselves.”
Here are a handful of Ms. Kim’s perennial favorites. Depending on whether they have a fur pompom or not, they range from $200 to $300. No, I’m not kidding!
This year, we are delighted to carry Loopy Mango’s Merino No. 5. This incredibly soft, extra-fine merino wool effortlessly knits into a luxuriously chunky and warm hat courtesy of Loopy Mango’s Her/His Beanie patterns. Grab a massive fur pompom to finish it off, and you have a ringer for the nearly-$300-hat which is Eugenia Kim’s signature winter look. A skein of Loopy Mango is $28, and a pompom is $45. Plus, your handmade hat has got a lot of love knit in it, so you do the math!
If you want to scale down the size of the yarn (as Kim does with the top two ribbed beanies above) just use a lighter weight yarn.
If you’re working with a fingering weight yarn, check out Julie Hoover’s impeccable ribbed hat called Harper. Fold the brim for a tight beanie or wear it slouchy. Top it off with a large or small fur pompom to add some sass (small fur pompoms are new this year!!!).
Roku by Olga Buraya-Kefelian is another impeccably written ribbed hat pattern for a worsted weight yarn. As with Harper, this hat is versatile and can be worn as a beanie, slouchy and obviously with or without a pompom.
A couple of awesome, new and very distinctive ribbed hat patterns include Hatch by Emily Greene and HOJ by Olga Buraya-Kefelian.
Hatch appears at first glance like a simple ribbed hat, but the ribs evolve throughout the hat, playing on proportion. This project also happens to be perfect for newbie knitters, and is written for Brooklyn Tweed’s Arbor, which is a dream to knit with!
HOJ is knit in a brioche stitch, with some twists and turns. This dramatic and modern take on a ribbed beanie is a wonderful project for anyone who 1) wants to look awesome and 2) is ready to delve into brioche knitting with some twists and turns. HOJ calls for a worsted weight yarn, so try knitting this up in the new Falkland Heathers or Iris, a new soft singlet from Pure Bliss.
If you like the cabled hat by Kim pictured above, try knitting up something like Proof by Jared Flood. These thick, strong cables will look great on a man or a woman.
Another beautiful cable hat is Vik Beach by Gabrielle Danskknit. This is one of those hats where ribbing seamlessly melds into cables, and little details like that make me feel happy. Plus, this one looks great with or without a pompom!
Don’t labor too much in deciding with hat to make or wear! Let it be fun and quick, and the type of thing that you can pass on to a favorite person easily! Choose crazy colors and don’t be afraid of pompoms – when we’re covered with our dark coats and surrounded by snow, a little levity and color can go a long way!
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