Friday, October 26, 2012

FO Friday: Cabled hat with pom pom

I was skimming through the Telegraph's fashion pages as I am wont to do and this cute cabled hat caught my eye:

paul_smith_hat


$140, my friends!


Designed by British designer Paul Smith, this pom-pom hat is knit from "lambswool" and has a fold-up ribbed brim. What I really like, though, is the play between the staid dark gray and the silly neon pink pom-pom.


This week I pedaled over to Wild & Woolly in Lexington and bought two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca -- one in a dark gray, the other in hot pink -- and got to work. Two evenings of labor, using a free pattern I found on Ravelry, I got this:



I took this shot before blocking so the stitches aren't as smoothed out as I would like. (My ribbing always looks wonky before blocking.) I also have a small bowl under the hat to give it shape; when the hat's on my head, it's perfectly rounded instead of pointy. Shot of new hat in action TK as soon as my photographer returns home from school.


I do have to say, I like my version better -- my cables pop more and the hat doesn't look felted like the Paul Smith one does. My hat is light and soft, but thanks to the 50% alpaca blend, unbelievably warm ... warmer than just "lambswool," I'd bet. I will begrudgingly give Paul Smith the better pom-pom -- mine's not as full and puffy as his. I need to go back to pom-pom making school. Best of all, my hat cost far less than $140. Each skein of yarn cost $10.50. I used 64 grams of the gray ($6.72) and 10 grams of the pink ($1.05) for a total material cost of $7.77. Now of course there's labor. But I knit this while watching television at night; I start to fidget when I don't have something to do with my hands, so it's knit or bite my nails.


I'll be wearing my new hat on my daily hike through the woods. Next up: hot pink cabled mittens to match.

4 comments:

  1. There you go - just remember to pay yourself the balance sometime! I've been making much better pompoms since I got myself one of those natty little devices that Clover do - until then I always ran out of steam before I had got enough wool wrapped.

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  2. Jean, thanks for the tip about the Clover pom-pom maker. I used two rounds of cardboard, which worked okay but not great. I'm heading over to a craft store today (last minute Halloween costume sewing!) so I think I'll pick one up.

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  3. I like your hat much better too! Which means it is actually worth more than $140. :-)

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  4. Aw, thanks Kristie! :)

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