Pompom Hat!

Pompom hats are everywhere, and I finally decided, “enough drooling,” and made myself one. It’s absolutely as fun to wear as it looks!

The pattern is Howard’s Tam. This is my fourth one, and it’s a great go-to cable hat pattern. The directions call for the brim to be knit closed, but I like the flexibility of an adjustable brim, so I left mine open. I also added one cable repeat for an extra snuggly, ear-covering version.

The yarn is Malabrigo Rios in “English Rose.” Mmmmm!

There are two notable things about this knit. First, I’d just seen this post on the SpinFoolish blog (hey, Dorothea!!!) about the cable cast on. I am terrible about always defaulting to the long tail cast on, but Dorothea’s post inspired me to shake things up. I’m so glad I did! The cable cast on is perfect for a hat–just the right amount of stretch and not an inch of wasted yarn.

The other notable thing was how I attached the pompom. Someone (if you’re reading this and know who it was, please remind me) posted about  this VeryPink Knits video tip for using a button as a stabilizer and making the pompom removable. This is the first time I’ve tried this, and I’m hooked. It’s amazing the difference that bit of stability provided by the button makes in how the pompom sits and feels.

Now, I must finish my lesson prep for next week’s classes as fast as humanly possible so that I can cast on this! The pattern came out today and instantly blew every other knitting thing off my radar. The nerdiness kills me.

Hope you’re having a great weekend and getting lots of knitting done wherever you are! Be well, my friends.

22 Comments

  1. Hooray!! I always tie pompoms so they can be removed, but I love the button idea!! Cast ons are so SPECIFIC to usage, I never appreciated that before I got the book, now I really think about which cast on fits the best!! Love you!!! XXX

  2. Lovely yarn and nice hat. Great idea for the button pompom fixing – my beautiful pompom’d hat from 2 winters ago found it’s way into a wash with the pompom attached – it was a real alpaca pom – it now looks like a 1000 year old pile of fluff, all knotted and very very worn – and I need to remove it and replace it!

    • melinda

      Thank you, Paula! I’m psyched that you’re putting Caffeinated on your list as well. Let me know if you start working on it. I’d love to have a partner in crime. I spent some time today learning about the basic brioche stitch, and I really like it. It’s kind of hypnotic to do. I was resisting brioche, and now I’m wondering why.

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