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Tasha Could Make That

Tasha Could Make That

Vintage knitting, sewing, and a lifetime of craftiness

Lumberjill squirrels hat

June 24, 2013 by Tasha 34 Comments

Friends, it’s been awhile since I’ve completed a knitting project, and I have sewing to blame. While I’ve been busy filling out my wardrobe, my knitting has suffered, which is unusual for me and a side effect of sewing I don’t like! So I may cool down the sewing a slight bit so I can focus on my (new) current knitting project. After I wipe a couple of projects off my plate that involve tutorials, that is… stay tuned!

That aside, I knew I wanted to knit my friend Elisa something for her birthday. She’s an extremely generous person, a talented knitter and masterful quilter. And by masterful, we’re talking she once sewed a quilt of the London Tube system that is accurate. I know!

I knew I wanted it to be a hat, but it couldn’t be any old hat.

(Do I look like a lumberjill in this hat and the plaid shirt or what? Try taking photos for a winter hat when it’s summer and the outdoors are all lush and full. So we’ll pretend it’s actually too cold to take photos outside, deal? This one’s for my Australian readers who are dipping into winter!)

Now, I said this wasn’t any old hat, so here’s the story. Elisa isn’t a huge fan of squirrels. She and her husband live a neighborhood over from us, and their street is much more tree-lined than ours, so they have a lot more squirrels than us. When I saw the new Squirrels hat pattern on Knitty, I knew that’s what I was going to knit… with a twist.

Two out of seven squirrels say, “Ouch! Who dropped that &*^&%#$! acorn on my head?!”

Squirrel #1:

And squirrel #2:

How did I do it? I transferred the chart into Excel, and made a few tweaks. I turned the hands down, the ears down, and lowered the acorn. I wanted the eyes of the ‘bonked’ squirrels to be Xs instead of one knit stitch, so I omitted their eyes and stitched them on later. The hat is knit in the round but because of the two lowered acorns, I did those in intarsia. They’re small, so I just twisted the yarn and carried it back to the beginning of the acorn in each successive row. That just took a little extra flattening when blocking.

When knitting a hat in the round, many people use a 16″ circular needle. I hate small diameter circulars though, they make my hands cramp up. So I opt to split my stitches between two circular needles, as I’ve probably mentioned before. There are lots of tutorials online, but I think this is the one I used back in the day. It’s an easy technique—a bit fiddly for the first couple of rows, so if you find it all flopping around, try putting a pillow on your lap.

This pattern uses fingering weight at 6.25 stitches an inch, well looser than I generally knit fingering weight at, but I kept true to the pattern (fighting the urge to re-work it at a tighter gauge, ha). The result is nice and springy and light. No complaints on the pattern either, it was very straightforward.

Now if you knit with two circulars at a looser gauge and with two colors, you may find the stitches between your two needles get loose and crazy looking. That’s okay, because you don’t want them super tight or you’ll end up with a tight float between the needles and that can’t be fixed. You can totally fix it if they’re too loose, though.

Take a look at the difference blocking made below!

(Note: I realized the before and after were actually the opposite sides of the needles once I examined the photo,
but both sides looked the same, trust me.)

Moral of the story: block your knitting. It really does make a difference.

Anyway, I’m wildly thrilled with this hat. Oh, how I love novelty patterns!

And I also discovered I’ve been missing out on something. I’ve avoided beanie or toque style hats as I almost always have some sort of curl or roll in my bangs. What never occurred to me until this photoshoot was I could wear this style behind my bangs like I sometimes do with berets, especially if the hat isn’t too tight as to crush my hair. This opens up a whole new world of hats for me in winter! There are plenty of cute vintage and modern winter ski cap patterns!

Worthy of an après-ski moment, no?

This hat has now gone on to live with its new owner, Elisa, but you better believe you’ll be seeing more novelty hats from me in the future!

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Filed Under: Knitting Tagged With: finished projects, hats, stranded knitting

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gail says

    June 24, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    So cute! This was one of the two patterns I liked in the new Knitty, and I love your twist on it!

    Reply
  2. gingermakes says

    June 24, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    Cute! I love the little squirrels! I’ve become so obsessed with sewing that I never knit anymore, but I should pick up the needles again. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Molly M. says

    June 24, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    That is so darling! I wish I knew how to knit better than the basic stitch so I could do fun things like you and Solanah.

    Reply
  4. LLADYBIRD says

    June 24, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    GOD BLESS, that hat is cute! I really love the squirrels that are getting hit by nuts, freaking hilarious! I hate squirrels, nasty little rats with tails, ughhh.

    Your hair looks really really good in these pictures! I was just thinking how perfect your bangs look with that style hat.

    Reply
  5. zilredloh says

    June 24, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    Oh dearie this is so cute! The the two dropped acorns are the best.

    I didn’t realize what jerks city squirrels are until I was dog-sitting. The squirrels were really taunting the poor dog and now I have no sympathy for them. heh YAY for city living. 🙂

    Your friend is very lucky…

    Reply
  6. Mariela says

    June 24, 2013 at 10:53 pm

    Super cute hat! I have another pattern saved to my Ravelry account that involves squirrels. I just need to get the right colors of wool. Love the knocked out squirrels.

    I just finished making the Top Notcher bonnet you posted a while ago. I like never bloc any of the beret patterns I’ve made in the past. I’m glad I did with this project because it made sewing it together a lot easier.

    Reply
  7. Living Vintage says

    June 24, 2013 at 11:59 pm

    So adorable I really love it. I haven’t knit since last summer as both sewing work and family tend to get in the way but you are giving me a bug.

    Reply
  8. Kat says

    June 25, 2013 at 12:02 am

    That is so cool! What a clever idea. I am just about to cast of my very first colour work knitting. I used your tutorial posts so a massive thank you for helping me get through this project. Mine is only 2 colours so nowhere near as amazing as this. But I’m working up to one day doing something awesome like this.

    Reply
  9. Bunny Moreno says

    June 25, 2013 at 12:10 am

    Oh what a sweet gift! You are so talented and sweet! I am sure she adored it!!! xox

    Reply
  10. Jenn says

    June 25, 2013 at 12:19 am

    Super cute! What a fun twist 🙂

    Reply
  11. Lisette says

    June 25, 2013 at 2:28 am

    You’re a lovely gifter! So much thought and fun in it. I still really want to learn colorwork like this, but have no one to coach me through it 🙁

    Reply
  12. Rachel Proffitt says

    June 25, 2013 at 4:26 am

    As far as I am concerned, the squirrels deserve it! Lol great twist to a really cute hat!

    Reply
  13. Rachel Proffitt says

    June 25, 2013 at 4:28 am

    As far as I am concerned, the squirrels deserve it 😉 Great twist to a really cute hat!

    P.S. if this posts three times, I apologize. Trying to comment from an ipad doesn’t always work!

    Reply
  14. Jenny says

    June 25, 2013 at 6:02 am

    Oh my God, it’s times like this I wish I could knit! This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! It must have been so difficult giving this gem away!

    Reply
  15. cathy says

    June 25, 2013 at 8:45 am

    i LOVE the acorn dropping detail!

    Reply
  16. Jennie says

    June 25, 2013 at 10:48 am

    Aww, so sweet. I think I may have to start blocking, your before and after pictures are a lesson to us all 🙂

    Reply
  17. ShanniLoves says

    June 25, 2013 at 1:03 pm

    Cutest hat ever!!!

    Reply
  18. Marie says

    June 25, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    Lady, you are such a genius! The way you did it is totally alien to me as I’m such a novice knitter, but WOW…what a result! So, so clever! I wish we were neighbours so I could pop over and learn some knitting tricks!

    Reply
  19. Eartha Kitsch says

    June 25, 2013 at 1:40 pm

    Loooooove it! Hopefully your friend will learn to love squirrels. They’re good guys.

    Reply
  20. Nina Pitkäranta says

    June 25, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    What a great hat!

    Reply
  21. Anna says

    June 25, 2013 at 5:01 pm

    Love the hat, and love your squirrel-y modifications to it! And pre- and post-blocking pictures never get old…

    Reply
  22. Helen Le Caplain says

    June 25, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    What a gorgeous little number that is!

    http://www.mancunianvintage.com

    Reply
  23. Miss Crayola Creepy says

    June 25, 2013 at 7:58 pm

    Your friend is a very lucky gal!!

    Reply
  24. Jessica Cangiano says

    June 25, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    This is so fabulously fun, sweet and cute! The fact that some of the squirrels are getting bonked on their noggins with acorns is all the more awesome (I love squirrels, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that there’s a certain Super Mario Brothers-esque feel to that which made me smile big time).

    ♥ Jessica

    Reply
  25. Jen says

    June 25, 2013 at 11:31 pm

    Gorgeous gorgeous squirrels! I love this so much! What a fun little project 🙂

    Reply
  26. BaronessVonVintage says

    June 26, 2013 at 12:52 am

    ADORABLE! Love it (and not just because I’m a Jill haha).

    Reply
  27. Rochelle New says

    June 26, 2013 at 1:58 am

    I can’t remember if I commented already, or if I sent you a text instead lol. But OMG YOU ARE AMAZING!!!! SQUIRRELS!!!

    Reply
  28. Elisa says

    June 26, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    I can’t wait for it to be cold again so I can wear it everywhere!

    Reply
  29. LilliansEnsembles says

    June 27, 2013 at 1:21 am

    How very clever transferring to excel and changing the pattern, wonderful job. Looking forward to more.

    Reply
  30. lunefantasy says

    June 27, 2013 at 9:10 am

    Oh my GOddess, you look so pretty with this squirrel’s family !!!!

    Reply
  31. Emily says

    June 28, 2013 at 12:25 am

    so adorable!!

    Reply
  32. Rakel says

    June 28, 2013 at 9:31 am

    Love it, it’s supercute!!! 😀

    Reply
  33. Danielle Hinton says

    July 2, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    AAAHHH!! I’m totally, TOTALLY in love with this hat! So cute <3

    Reply
  34. Adrianne B says

    July 6, 2013 at 6:05 am

    Cute hat. Knitty’s patterns are always fun to work up. Any way to see a picture of this London Tube quilt?

    Reply

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