I have new hat designs in a couple of Fall publications that were recently released. Designing for books has such a long timeline – both of these hats were designed over a year ago – so it’s always a funny thing ‘releasing’ them to you, when they feel like such distant memories already!

The Wanderer Cap is part of a new hat collection that was curated by my friends Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre called Weekend Hats. Interweave hasn’t officially released this title yet, but it is available for pre-order.

The hat was knit with Shelter in our Hayloft heather. It’s funny looking back on this after having just released Rosebud… I never seem to tire of using Garter Stitch as a backdrop for smaller, cabled details. The base of the ribbing utilized a crisp 1×1 tubular cast-on. A good tubular cast-on always delights me with its charm – such a clean, perfect way to start a new piece of fabric.

The second design is in the same color family. I guess I was really feeling the pull of golden, heathered yarns, eh? Tilden is a stranded hat for children, worked with 2 colors of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. (I think every child should have a colorwork hat made with real Shetland wool!)

This hat design is included in a wonderful new book by Larissa Brown called My Grandmother’s Knitting. I’m always so excited when I see a knitting book that thinks outside of the box and brings something really unique to the crowded bookshelf. Larissa’s books always have that quality, and this one is no exception.

Larissa is interested in stories. With this work, she set about interviewing well-known designers in our industry to learn more about their family histories, and who it was that deeply effected their early growth and development as a Creative. Many designers share sweet stories about who it was that shaped their appreciation for our craft, and/or their artistic practice in general.

I speak a little about the creative influence that both my father and mother had on me while growing up.

Aside from some great handknitting patterns, the reading material is fantastic. (Side Bonus: baby photos of some of your favorite designers!)

The Tilden hat has a simple 2×2 ribbed brim and is constructed with 6 wedge-shapes that are staggered as they are shaped for the crown. It’s a non-traditional type of shaping that creates the subtlest bit of pointiness at the top of the crown (easily steamed flat, if desired). It’s a bit of geometric whimsy, playing with vertical lines and 45-degree angles throughout.

I hope you’ll enjoy either design, if you do choose to add either of these books to your libraries. For more info about either title, click the cover images below.

_______________________

Resources: The Wanderer Cap pattern can be found on Ravelry here; Tilden’s Ravelry page can be found here. Yarn for Wanderer is available here. Yarn for Tilden is available here. For links to either book mentioned in this post, please click the cover images above. The first four images in this post are original photographs and not featured in either publication.