a simple pleasures hat

Last fall I found myself in Purl Soho lost in the yarn for about an hour (maybe more, I'm not saying if it was any more than that). I'm pretty sure that one of the staff members was mocking my indecision but let me tell you - it was hard to choose yarn for the Simple Pleasures hat (and the spiral seat cushions and the endless loop scarves that I was making up in my head for Christmas presents with my imaginary endless time to knit).

I settled on two absolutely wonderful colors, Mulberry, which is made by Jade Sapphire and is a 2 ply Silk/Cashmere blend and First Crush (the secondary yarn, thinner) by Alchemy Haiku. I find the color variation absolutely stunning. You can see how much blue is present in the Mulberry yarn...

Anyway, the hat is a free pattern on Purl's site, and it charmed me with it's simplicity. But don't let that charm fool you - it takes forever to knit even though it's easy ribbing followed by plain old stitching (*note the hat only took 6 days, once I started it last week). The simple pleasures hat is at least 13 inches long, probably closer to 14. It's a slouchy hat. Mine came out slouchier than I intended and I confess that I have wet it and stuck it in the dryer twice on low. It's still a little loose and I think I'll do it once more increasing the heat. I wish I had used #7 needles on the ribbing instead of 8's, I think my inexperience with cashmere led to me not knitting as tightly as I probably should have. Perhaps I thought the silk would lessen the elasticity? It didn't. Well it's still lovely and I think it's going to be wonderful to wear this fall with my cranberry colored coat.

You can view my project file on Ravelry.