Something Special for the Holidays

In week 3, when I shared my Go-To Crochet Pattern, I mentioned a hat that I discovered at Stitches East, and said I would try to get it done for week 4.  Ah, my hooks were wrapped with the best of fiber intentions.  A few disclaimers.  I wasn't sure the pattern could be completed in a Sunday afternoon of football.  But the family and I were beginning our vacation, which gave me a little extra hook time on the plane ride.  I also knew that for at least part of week 4's Sunday afternoon, I wouldn't be crocheting at all.  You see, we had tickets to see an NFL game live!  Yes, this was going to be one week where it was Sunday Football with a side of everything else.  But that was also okay, because we'd be back in our room before the Sunday night game and the Monday night game was a snoozer.  

To my surprise, I opened my project bag on Sunday night after the live NFL game, and found I had all of the embellishing yarn, but had forgotten the main hat yarn. A desperate search through my luggage didn't help.  Now what to do?  Aw, shucks…I need to buy yarn?  Twist my arm a little harder, please.

This week's pattern is the Flapper Hat from the hat, scarf and gauntlets set offered by Kollage Yarns and designed by Shannon Mullett-Bowlsby. The pattern calls for Kollage Solace and Glisten.  The Solace is what I left behind.  With all due respect to our good friends at Kollage, I did swatch the hat using the Glisten for the main body.  Yes, I remember that in week 2, I said I never swatch hats.   This swatch was not for size; it was to see if the Glisten hat would pass what we call the 'scratch test'.  Glisten is a beautiful alpaca/silk blend with a metallic thread.  It was the metallic thread that worried me a bit.  Based on the density of the crochet pattern, would the hat be soft enough for a head sans hair?

Result?  All-Glisten would make a beautiful hat, but not for someone with a sensitive scalp. Consider an all-Glisten version as a special gift for someone when their hair grows back, or maybe for yourself as a treat!  What the Glisten would do in a knitted pattern?  Hmmm…I believe I have enough to try that in the future.  

The folks at Jessica Knits in Scottsdale have always been good to me when I've visited there over the years. They consoled me in the loss of my Solace and found me a substitute.  Now armed with two new skeins of yarn, and my husband rolling his eyes as if to say 'are you sure you didn't do this on purpose, just so you could go to a yarn store?', I could finally begin!  

The hat introduces the crocheter to two new cluster stitches, but overall is not difficult.  Four flowers and two leaves follow to embellish the hat.  The flowers and leaves were done with the Kollage Glisten that I had.  I will admit that I didn't pay enough attention to the instructions of the large flower the first time and worked the whole thing backward, or maybe inside out would be more appropriate.  The pattern is written correctly, it was the line 'working under petals just made' that my brain didn't compute with large flower #1.  Gave me a chance to do it all over again.  Lesson learned? Under the petals means under them, not over them.  Read…sometimes twice.

All told, even though I did not completely make the hat on Sunday afternoon, I would say it's possible to complete through both Sunday afternoon games, with a carry-over to the Sunday night game and you might have a few of those flowers or leaves creeping into the first quarter of MNF.  Depends on how fast you crochet.  Stated another way, it is a beautiful hat that doesn't take long.

On our way back home to Illinois, I used the plane time to sew the leaves and flowers on to the hat.  As I was doing so, it caught the attention of all three flight attendants.  Each of them thought I was finishing it up as a last minute Christmas gift and all three wanted one!  As I shared our Halos of Hope story, and how different patterns are tried to see if they make good caps for cancer patients, one of them said 'can you imagine how special someone would feel with a hat like this for the holidays? It could be worn with their seasonal attire, and the beauty of this hat would help them not to feel different or sick.'  I couldn't have said it better myself.

Thank you Kollage Yarns for introducing us to your pattern and your yarns.  We hope we've done it justice and promise to use that Solace to make another!