My lovely friend Sarada (pronounced Shar-da, or, according to her mom but no one else, “Shar-a-da, like Florida.”) is busy gathering up hats. She is tagging them and getting them ready to ship to Quito, Ecuador.
These hats will be put in cute little care packages and given to the kids who are being treated for cancer in the Quito hospitals. There’s a local group there who will be receiving, organizing, and handing them out. (They’re on Facebook: Gorritos x Sonrisas.)
And I am finally knitting a hat for her to send! I can’t stand the thought of her mailing all those hats, without a single something from me. Being busy is no excuse. I’d rather be “the woman who knits for kids with cancer” than “that designer who rambles on in her blog.”
Well, maybe I’ll be both.
It’s a soft, floppy, what-I-hope-will-be-slouchy hat of my own impromptu design. Basically, I just cast on 90 sts (forgetting that 90 is not divisible by 4) and started working in 2×2 ribbing.
Then, I increased a bunch of stitches evenly around the whole head and started working in a bit of a modified eyelet pattern, which also didn’t divide evenly into my sts, but was close enough that I could fudge it. What can I say? When I’m not writing a pattern, I take a lot of liberties.
I’m using up some really soft, acrylic/bamboo yarn that I bought on sale last year because the price was so cheap that it was impossible to resist. The lure of bamboo and the lovely spring green colour sucked me right in. I really like the way it feels and drapes. The needle is my size 7 US 16″ circular, so I can just knit around and around in a circle.
This may be a strange confession, but I’ve never made a slouchy hat before. But it just seemed right for the yarn. I have no idea what Ecuadorian teenagers like, so I’m just praying that it’ll be stylish there, too! And hopefully, the loose drape and the eyelets will work with the climate. What do people wear in Ecuador, anyway?
I think it’s time I sent my friend Heather a message with a couple questions to be answered, since she actually lives in Quito. Maybe she will know a teenager or two. I should have thought of this months ago!
Now, I’m off to knit like crazy. I’d like to give her more than just one hat.
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Modified Eyelets:
- Repeat of 4 sts
- Eyelet round: [k2, yo, k2tog]. Repeat.
- Knit 3 rounds plain between each Eyelet round.
- Stagger the Eyelets, if you want, by switching to [yo, k2tog, k2] every other Eyelet round.
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