About a week ago, I got an email from Clare from Sister Mountain announcing her new workshop: “Design a Hat in 5 Days”. I’ve been curious about knitwear design for a long time and signed up for Clare’s sweater design workshop introduction a few years ago, but decided not to go ahead with the full course, since I didn’t feel like I had enough time to design a whole sweater. But a small project like this one could be the perfect introduction I was looking for, so I signed up!
Because we would only have five days to complete the project, our homework before Day 1 was to draw a quick sketch of the hat we intended to make and to knit, wash, and dry our swatch sample.
My first idea had been to use a sport-weight yarn and to try to incorporate some pretty cables, but when I realized how long it was taking me to knit my small swatch, I changed plans and opted for a bulky yarn instead. I also picked a stitch pattern that I could knit up quickly, even if I wasn’t crazy about it.
The workshop was great. We learned all the steps required to design our hats and even prepare for publishing a pattern. We also learned how to keep track of all our measurements to easily grade our final design into different sizes with the help of a spreadsheet, which was super smart!
Figuring out the decreases to complete the crown of my hat turned out to be the most challenging part of the project. It turns out some stitch patterns are better suited for neat looking decreases than others, and there is no single recipe that applies to all hats! It all depends on the look you are going for.
Unfortunately, the way I was being taught to create the decreases in the class wasn’t making sense to me. Most likely because I’d been learning about a different way to calculate hat decreases from someone else, so I was getting quite confused. By day 5, I was also ready to finish the hat and move on to a different project.
So, instead of trying to figure out the decreases using our spreadsheet, as we had been instructed, I did it differently: I looked up “how to decrease a 2×2 rib hat” on YouTube.
I finished knitting the hat on Saturday night. It looks cute on my daughter — not so cute on me. I think I would prefer a longer brim that could be folded. Right now it feels too much like a shower cap. Ha, ha, ha…
I had more ideas on ways to improve my design, but I honestly don’t feel like knitting the whole thing again. I’ve decided to put it aside and not get hung up on the fact that I don’t love it. I’m sure my next hat will be much better.
So, stay tuned – I might have a hat pattern for you sometime in the near future! I am excited to try different stitches, colors, and yarn weights. It’s really not so difficult. Who knows? I may get good enough at this to teach others how to do it, too! Wouldn’t that be fun?
If you are curious about knitwear design, I recommend that you try out one of Clare’s classes. Not only will you get a taste of what it’s like to create your own patterns, you’ll also have the opportunity to connect with knitters from all over the world that are just as excited as you to acquire some new skills.
Have you knitted or bought a hat that you’ve loved lately?
