HandmadeChunkyFunky Hat

See that big red ball of chunkiness over in the right corner of my yarn stash? ^^^
Well, last night, after finishing off some fingerless gloves, I decided to make something out of it.

I did. All in one sitting, I knit another red hat. Lately I have been really inspired by other people's chunky, saggy beanies (Such as the ones on these lovely ladies here and here!) and one of the best things about fall is that I can wear ALL THE HATS I WANT! Which also enables me to MAKE lots of 'em. (After this one I want to get some more chunky yarn, maybe in a dark purple or a gray and crochet one with spaces and holes in it).

 But anyway, yesterday's hat. Unfortunately,  I cannot remember what the brand of yarn was. I bought it at Joann's a couple months back, rolled it into a ball, and through away the paper around it. Learned from that mistake... All I can tell you is that it is RED and super, super chunky. Really sort too. I took some circular needles (I think a size 12? Left over from my sweater.) and went at it.

I cast on 46 stitches. I did 4 rows of Rib Stitching (Knit, Purl, Knit Purl).

 *bad shot of the Rib stitching*

Then I switched to a seed stitch (you do the rib stitch for an entire row, then you reverse it, aka purl on the knits and knit on the purls on the next row. Repeat.), only I did a double rib/seed. I knit2, purled2 for a row, then I would purl2, knit2 on the next row.

 

*double seed stitch*

I did that for... a long time... until it was sorta hat length (I wanted it long, loose and saggy in the back.) Then I just started decreasing (by knitting 2 together) every 5 stitches or so, until it was narrow enough at the top to sew up with a darning needle. (Warning, with my method of decreasing I had to be very careful and pay attention to my seed stitch pattern. It got more complicated as stitches disappeared.)

That was it. Easy peasy. One huge ball of yarn, size 12 circs, a darning needle, and under 2 hours.

I am wearing it today. It is awesome.

It was so awesome I wanted to take pictures and post it for you. Normally I would have had my mom or sister snap some shorts of me in it but I ran into a problem: my family is away at our cabin for the weekend and I am the only one here besides my dog and 3 cats.Seeing as my golden retriever isn't very good with a camera, I tried every possible method of self photography, from arm shots to Web cams, but it was quite the struggle (also, the yarn was so vibrantly red that it was card for the camera to deal with).

So the pictures aren't the best, but you'll get the idea.

 *front view*

 *side views*

 *blurry shot where I, behind the hat, am yelling at my Web Cam*

 

*me giving up on photo-shooting myself.*

When my mom (and her Nikon) get back tomorrow I am going to do a *more proper* photo shoot of another project --a reallllly cool dress remake!-- that I worked on yesterday. Post about it coming soon!


Anybody else out there knitting/crocheting/sewing/making/(or *gasp* buying) any fun fall stuff? I am always looking for new inspiration for projects!