slouch potato

as promised, here’s a little hat to pair with the roger that blanket we released the other day. i had hoped to have a sample knit in the matching colorway, but the yarn never arrived and we didn’t want to delay it another moment.

plus, we’ve got it knit up in so many great shades of natural, i think it’s a terrific opportunity to celebrate what we do have all around us.

natural beauty always shines the brightest, right?

we’re lucky that so many people shared the love of the natural with us, like niya (above) and her mom, mandy (below, whose name i got wrong in the polartorte post—SO embarrassing!)

this hat kind of goes back a ways—i designed and knit it last summer in soft organic ecobutterfly qoperfina sport to gift to a friend who was just about to begin chemo treatments.

i thought it would be soft, yet cool enough to wear until fall. the color grown cotton—unmercerized and free of dyes—seemed to be the perfect choice. it created a softly slouching hat that was both fashionable and comfortable for the season.

i kept meaning to release it, but also pushing it back in the queue as other, more wintery items pushed their way to the front. i also had the idea that we should knit a sample in one of our own yarns to show off the flexibility of the design.

and then fate showed me why all that happened just the way it ought to; one day at the end of january, my friend anne merrow from interweave emailed to ask if i could prepare a segment about natural yarn to present on knitting daily TV—to include some sort of project and pattern.

she suggested the fallberry mitts, but i thought this hat was just the thing—something fresh and new, yet super quick and easy to knit. and SO very attractive in all of our natural shades; the design, with its contrast of fabric types, really shows off the versatility and quality of our artisan yarns.

well, once i started knitting the pattern, i just couldn’t stop—i thought up all manner of reasons to keep knitting one after the other (and still i want to make more!). when i brought them out in the TV studio, everyone wanted to pet them (BTW, this episode will air sometime during the season that begins in late july; we’ll update you when it’s time to look for it on your local PBS station).

here are my samples in several of our yarns; from left to right stone soup DK (slate), kent DK (l. to r.: driftwood, beach glass, and white sand), and ghillie sport (cream). and just as with the matching roger that blanket and roger sock, there is a size for every member of the family, from wee babes to the big guys.

emily and erica really liked wearing this hat—its deep, textured brim provides a snug fit around the ears to keep it inlace while the volume up top allows it to slouch, rather than squash our hair. so far, i think it looks cute on everyone

shown above, size small (left) and size medium (right) in kent DK, colors white sand and beach glass

and below, sarah and niya (foreground) model it in size small in stone soup DK (left, slate) and ghillie sport (right, cream), while mandy (background) models it in size medium in kent DK  beach glass.

to purchase patterns or view complete pattern information, please click here to visit the slouch potato page in the knitspot pattern shop or visit the slouch potato page in our ravelry pattern shop.

sarah and david have also put together a slouch potato kit  as shown here in kent DK, stone soup DK, or ghillie sport, that includes the pattern in all sizes and your choice of yarn color. you can even knit a couple of the smaller sizes from one skein, making this a great deal for future gift giving. (david will be adding options to purchase the kit with stone soup DK and ghillie sport on friday afternoon)

and with the versatility to knit in cotton, this design can take you all the way into summer if you so choose. hmm, maybe we need a kit for the cotton version, huh?

sarah say YES!  i’ll have to get right on that . . .

thank you to anne merrow for inspiring me to finally bring this design to the front of my queue and for all of our lovely models—mandy, niya, sarah, erica, and emily; they bring it to life, don’t they?

now, you go off and have a really fun weekend. you’ve got a new project and hopefully some nice weather to enjoy, what more can we ask for?