Rainbow Stocking Hat

I do like a silly hat and this is a very silly hat.

I’m sure I’ve said before that I’m enjoying working with colour in the cold, dim months. I had a bag of leftover 4ply merino yarn in gorgeous colours that I wanted to do something with. So I got them out and they kind of arranged themselves into a rainbow. A slightly unfortunately arranged rainbow.

I had also been thinking of making another stocking hat after having given mine away a few years ago. These two things could become one! I looked again at the colours and refined them down to a smaller selection, happily of very similar yarns. The grey is slinky superwash with 20% nylon. The rest are pure merino. All are lovely and soft to the touch. The green and red are the (nearly) yellow and orange previously overdyed for other projects.

When I started in, I wasn’t sure I would carry on. 4ply makes for many stitches. After I did the first few coloured bands I was hooked though.

I made up the pattern as I went along. I think I’d start with 6 fewer stitches and smaller needles but I managed to drag it in to fit quickly and neatly enough.

I do enjoy the way that bottom up knitted hats feel like they accelerate as you go. This has a 6 stitch reduction every eleven rows, or twelve rows nearer the end. So that acceleration was pretty slow, but still the later stages get kind of exciting.

And then it was done!

The reverse stocking stitch bands give it a bunch of structure and bounce. It almost sits up by itself.

I put a bead in the tip to keep it round. Said bead is really a reproduction medieval woolen button. I had spare and I thought it would stay put better than a shiny bead.

There is a lot of knitting and a lot of sproing in this hat. The two pictures below show it partially stretched out and then sprung back.

and of course there must be a pic of it modelled. I was concerned that it might be TOO silly but no, I love it.

Not the original plan but I like it

Take about three metres of black and white wool jersey. Use it to exhaust some dye that you don’t quite understand the behaviour of yet. End up with a messy streaky ombre which was very much not the aim. Get grumpy with it and throw it in the naughty corner for a year or so.

A year or so later, realise that you can cut two skivvis, one from each end. The darker blueish grey end makes quite a nice darkly grungy shirt without further effort.

The paler end just looked dirty until I had some fun with food colours. There are days I would enjoy some mad colour to wear. I amused myself by making sure the red and green are the right way around for port and starboard, or they in wearing.