Rory and Jojo

Continuing with my theme of "The Year Of Accessories!", I give you a new hat pattern, Rory and Jojo.

This idea sprung up and was entirely knit while I was binge-watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix.  [How did I not see that series when it ran the first time?  I blame having small children in the house. :)]  The bright blue eyes of both lead actresses inspired to name the hat after one of their characters.  "Jojo" is the type of yarn I used for this hat - Jojoland Splatter Dash.  It's a soft, silky 100% merino with a lovely sheen that will keep you warm without any itch factor.  And it drapes like buttah.

 I originally envisioned this as a slouchy-style hat, but while putting in the final edits from the test-knit, I decided to write in a length modification so people can make it a beanie-style (fitted, not slouchy) if they prefer it that way.  I'll be knitting a sample hat for that style myself as soon as I have a couple other projects off my needles.

 The brim on this hat is made from 2/2 cables, so if you're a "cable without the needle" kind of person, this is an easy project to work that way.  And, there's only 4 rows that actually use the cables, so it'll keep your interest without totally souring you on cabling.  The dense fabric of the brim is nice for keeping ears warm when the wind is blowing!

All the beanie styles can be made from one skein of Splatter Dash and so can the smaller two slouchy styles.  Actually, I made my Adult Small hat from one skein (97grams!) but I include a little extra yardage in my pattern estimates so people don't run out of yarn and hate me.  But if you like to live on the wild size (or don't mind shortening the length by a couple rounds if you come up short on yarn), go ahead and just get one skein for the smaller adult slouchy style.  Chances are good that you'll be fine and you'll save yourself $15.  Speaking of saving money, I see that the Yarnia website has this yarn on sale for $10 (and free shipping on $50 orders)!  This is nice yarn and that's a great price.  It's tempting me to get more for future projects!

Many thanks to the fun testers who worked on this project - queenbayman, JudyeNaz, gloriajj & schmitt642.  I always appreciate the work my testers put in on a project, but on one like this, where I decide to do something like change the crown decreases at the 11th hour, they deserve even more thanks!  (Speaking of, a couple of the test hats have a pointy look to the crown decreases that wasn't what I intended - the new decrease pattern will take care of this and round out the crowns of hats made from the final version of the pattern.)

So dive into your stash and see if you come up with a skein of DK (or two).  You may have Christmas knitting already on your needles, but this hat might make a lovely gift for someone on your list, too....