Lucy Hat

contributed by Shawn

We've been getting new issues of all the latest knitting and crochet magazines. Seems like in the fall we get a new one every week! When the Winter 2012 Knitscene Magazine hit the shop I paged through it and immediately was struck by the Lucy Hat by Carina Spencer.

It took me about 3 seconds to decide that I had a friend who absolutely NEEDS this hat for her birthday. I've been working with the Dream In Color Classy yarn for another project and it has gorgeous hand dyed colorways so I picked Gothic Rose and cast on that same evening as soon as I got home from the shop. The cute little flap is formed using short rows and I used a bit of the Cloud Jungle colorway from my other project for the woven stitch band.

If I knit this hat again I would increase one stitch on the purl row before the woven stitch pattern starts. An odd number of stitches would work better for the join of the band due to the way the pattern stitch is worked.  Then on the purl row after the woven stitch section of the band I would decrease one stitch to go back to the correct number of stitches to work the decrease instructions.   Hindsight...

This was a quick project and fun to knit.  I am a bit tight on my gauge so I made the larger size to ensure a good fit for my friend. I like the stiffer fabric as it gives the hat some shape. Here it is after finishing and blocking. I love the little details of the upturned brim and band stitching.

Many customers have already picked up the magazine and yarn of their choice to make a Lucy Hat of their own.  Emily brought her Berroco Blackstone Tweed version in today so she could block it.  She chose to knit the first rows of this pattern a bit differently than it is written so her brim rolls upward instead of downward in the previous photos. Cute!

Now I am eyeing up the Willamette Coat by Leah B. Thibault knit in Berroco Vintage Chunky yarn for myself. It appears in the same issue of Knitscene Magazine so I already have the pattern ready!