Languid Trails Slouchy Hat Prototype

A handful of years ago, I went through a hat making phase. I made so many hats! As things go, my craze died off, but it left me with some good patterns. That I then misplaced.

So now the craze is back!

I think slouchy hats are super cute, and I'm intrigued by a line of knit traveling across a purl background. I've made a number of cowls with that design, and wanted a hat. So I grabbed some of this lovely bulky out of my stash, and cast on.

I named it Languid Trails in honor of lazy hiking trails in the autumn.

Attempt #1 had to be ripped out. I dove in with no planning, and once I got through the ribbing, I ran into troubles. The friend hanging out with me couldn't understand how I could be so calm about tearing out inches of work, but we all know it's better to tear out sooner than later! I just was not happy with the transition from the ribbing to the body, so I would have done it at some point, so it might as well fall with the sooner!

So I sat through my overnight shift and planned this sweetie out, wishing I had brought the yarn and needles for it with me so I could dive right back in.

A quick, easy knit.

I need to knit this a second time to work out the increases a bit better, and I think the section before the decreases start needs to be longer, but then a pattern shall follow!

UPDATE: In the end, I wasn't super happy with my "prototype." I don't think I made the hat body long enough before starting the decreases, and I think the decrease section is too long. Put two rows of pattern between each row of decrease. Will try one row between each row of decrease next time.

Also, I think I decreased one time too many before pulling the center of the hat together, so it looks messy. That, or it's just the downfall of knitting hats in super bulky weight yarn. Might have just enough yarn left over to make a pompom to doctor it up (I totally did!).

Also, didn't pull all of my stitches tight enough. So the three stitch decrease at the end of the ribbing is a bit loose, and some of the transitions after the knit lines back to purl are a bit loose. Will have to work on that with the next one.

Right now it's just really big and round and floppy. I don't like it!

Knit on Size US 11 ciruclars. One skein of Big Twist Yarns Natural Blends Solids, 98 yards, in colorway Aged Brass.

Hidden Highway "Slouchy" Hat

After the travesty of the last hat, Languid Trails Prototype (post pending blocking), I decided to give it another whack.

This one is Hidden Highway, because it's a strand of three knit stitches traveling up a reverse stockinette background. More of a highway than a trail.

It was supposed to be a slouchy hat, but it's more of a beanie. And it's a bit large through the hat band. And it's a bit too short.

I did about 6 rows of repeats in pattern after the increases after the hat band, or 1.5 inches, but I probably should have done 2 to 2.5 inches. Then I could have stretched it over a plate or balloon to make it really slouchy. As it is, I'm not going to block it, and I'm going to give it to a big headed friend. He gets most of my hat prototypes. He doesn't seem to mind.

I cast 64 stitches on for the hat brim, and increased to 80 for the hat body. I need to redo my math and cast on around 50, maybe, for the next hat.

I like how the decreases at the crown turned out on this one. On the last hat, Languid Trails, I decreased too many times on the crown and it ended up looking a bit odd. On Hidden Highway, I decreased the reverse stockinette sections down to 1 stitch (on Languid Trails I decreased down to 8 stitches), and used s2kp2 on the 3 stitch wide knit sections, bringing the final stitch count on the crown down to 16, before I threaded the tail through the remaining stitches and pulled the crown tight. I worked one row in pattern between each decrease row. 

Size US 11 needles, 0.8 skeins Big Twist Natural Blend Solids (approx. 80 yards) in colorway Light Gray.