In our ongoing Variations on a Theme Challenge, we’ve talked about striping, other colorwork variations, plus changes in structure and weight of the 1898 Hat pattern (Ravelry pattern page) that MKG knitters have made.
For the second round of the Variations on a Theme Challenge, MKG knitters used the Fancy Ribby hat pattern by Elena Nodel (fancy-ribby-hat on Ravelry). Although this pattern has a range of sizes, it is mainly intended for children, which led to lots of colorful knitting.
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Barbara Rice (babsknits126 on Ravelry) played with both color and texture in her variation by adding a checkerboard inset to the front of the cap. The whole inset is 7 x 7 squares, and each square is 3 stitches by 4 rows. She knit with gold and purple Marks and Kattens Superwash Safir, purchased in 1987; way to use up stash!
She also made a variation with washable wool yarn left over from knitting a baby blanket. Her hats use the knitted edge called for in the original pattern but replace the pompoms with I-cord ties.
My own (artistnumber91 on Ravelry) version is inspired by watching way too many Cruella previews. I knit it flat with a seam in the middle of the back instead of in the round as the original pattern calls for. Of course I had to add red crocheted squiggles, crocheted edging and ties. I had to make two of these since the first went off to a friend who exclaimed that her granddaughter would love it.
Heather (whacks on Ravelry) made her hat in “U of M-adjacent” colors with lots of stripes of varying widths, including on the I-cord ties.
Umo Udo really got into I-cord, using it for edging, ties and a cluster decoration in bright red at the top of the hat.
Inspired by Umo’s variation, I knit one more variation with a similar decoration although mine is crocheted instead of I-cord. Mine is made from unidentified acrylic worsted with all the bright colors I had nearby.
Thanks to all the knitters for creating inspiration and lots of service knitting hats!