Red Ripley...or 32 days till christmas!

So, we're back to monday again - did you have a nice weekend? The weather here has been pretty awful - lashing rain and gales howling outside with very dark days:-) - so just perfect for snuggling inside with your knitting!

I had a bit of a mini crisis when I read a blog this weekend that blatantly stated 34 days to christmas -34??? Well, today's count will be 32 if you include christmas day. And then I started thinking about all the things I am intending to make as presents and then I started thinking how long each of these would realistically take to make and then I had a mini panic!!!

So, the result of this was, my new red ripley hat - tada!

Quick, easy and looks good when finished = christmas solution:-) This is knitted in chunky/bulky yarn - Paton's solo mohair mix, which I think I can safely say is discontinued as this came from my stash and I remember having a very warm batwing top knitted out of this in the late 80's:-))

Anyway! Moving swiftly on:-) The pattern is another lovely one by Ysolda called 'Ripley' which is part of her new 'Whimsical Little Knits 2' collection. (Both the green veyla mitts and the snapdragon beret patterns that I've knitted are from that collection too). Its meant to be knitted in heavy worsted or aran weight but I had this chunky yarn to hand and loved the colour so I just made a size bigger than stated. In hindsight I maybe should have knitted the large instead of the medium as it is a bit neat on me but it will fit someone else with a smaller head  I'm sure;-)

The pattern itself is very cleverly constructed but simple to make. The initial band can be plain or lace. I chose the lace which is knitted sideways with the slipped stitches picked up along one side to knit the rest of the hat in the round. This construction idea is the same as in the velya mitts so I found it familiar and easy.

The next lovely detail is the extra pleats. In the picture above, I have just finished one pleat just above the lace border - a large tuck created by picking up some stitches from further down and I still had two pleats to go at that stage. This really helps shape the slouchiness of the hat so it doesn't pool messily at the back of your head! A clever way to gather the extra fabric and make it a design feature.

I knitted the less slouchy version and I think it still gives a nicely fitted hat without having that stretched-over-the-head look:-) But the extra slouchy version looks good too and some people have added a pompom!! So, all in all it's a very festive hat indeed;-))

So, 32 days to go and one present down..........