I made my first Odessa hat out of a merino cashmere blend.
I loved how Grumperina wrote the pattern so the decreases invisibly blended into the swirls. After making up crown decreases for most of the hats I knit, I finally realized how perfectly invisibly the shaping can take place. I just never imagined that a ‘slip one, k2tog, psso’ would look just like a ‘slip, slip, knit’.
pattern: Grumperina’s Odessa
yarn: Lion Brand Cashmere Blend in worsted weight, about 1.5 balls. The ballband recommends size 8 needles, but I went smaller and like the tightness and softness of the fabric – maybe the wind won’t get into my ears next winter.
needles: brand new Addi Turbo 16″ size 6 and bamboo dpn’s for the crown
gauge: 1 pattern repeat (10 stitches) was 2 inches. In plain stockinette, 10 stitches was only ~1.5 inches.
modifications: I cast on a couple times with the ribbing at the bottom but after ripping it all out to get the right number of stitches, I couldn’t face any more ribbing and decided to go with the rolled edge. I like how all the stitches flow into the swirl pattern and how I don’t have ribs that just end.
I’m definitely going to try this with beads next time but I didn’t have any that would have threaded onto the yarn and I couldn’t wait to try the pattern. I’m still learning how to take good pictures of objects I’m wearing – check out the awesome shadow right across the hat – I couldn’t pose this if I tried!
I love it! Now I have to try it.