Setesdal Love Hat

I finally finished my fourth Quince hat yesterday. It's been a WIP since February 28th, and to call it a huge pain in the ass is only a slight overstatement. Luckily, the final product justifies the effort:

Sadly, it's still cold enough outside to require a hat...

I've actually made this hat twice-- the first time it was unreasonably large. That's right, I knitted an entire stranded colorwork hat-- in fingering weight yarn, on size 3 needles-- without, at any point, checking my gauge-- what can I say, I like to live dangerously. And since I don't know anyone who wants a hat that looks like the Swedish Chef's toque, I started over.

I know at least one person who wants this hat- me!

Project Notes

Yarn: Quince and Co. Chickadee-- oh, how I love this yarn! Chickadee is Quince's fingering weight offering, and I thought it would be a pretty good substitute for the (very expensive and hard to find) yarn called for in the pattern. I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to have the appropriate amount of drape, but I needn't have-- it blocks beautifully. The Quince color selection makes this such a fun yarn for colorwork-- I used Petal, Apricot, and Rosa Rugosa, but there are a ton of other combinations that I can envision for this hat.

Pattern: Setesdal Love Hat by Kate Gagnon Osbourne. I knew I had to make this hat the moment I saw it in Knitscene. My only beef with the pattern is that the pictures in the magazine do not accurately represent the degree of slouchiness-- this is definitely a floppy hat.

The Bottom Line: I couldn't be happier with how this turned out, and I love having a springy hat to wear while Mother Nature takes her time waking up from winter. Up until now, I haven't done colorwork in more than two colors, and as I knitted this, I really loved watching the wonders worked by adding a third color to the mix. However... I feel that I may soon take a longish break from colorwork hats. I almost inevitably have gauge and fit issues that necessitate ripping back or starting over-- both of which activities aren't exactly compatible with knitting a hat every week. The hat I'm currently working on is on its third reboot... so far. So there shall definitely be some simpler hats coming in the immediate future!