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.
Great cables on the hat! And it’s a beautiful colour and choice of pom pom. I will have to remember the button trick on my next pom pom hat – that’s a brilliant idea. Bravo, Melinda!
You’re the best, Shirley! Thank YOU!! ❤️
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
You know you’ve made me want that book now, right?! And I’m on a book diet, kind of. Will you just keep posting about the great cast ons I need to know??? 😉 XOOO
LOL! Yeah, I got a lot of feedback on that post, so I might need to do the Chinese waitress cast on or the Old Norwegian cast on, my two favorites!!
That would be great! Bring ’em on!!
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!
I’m a sucker for Malabrigo. 😉 That’s really too bad about your pompom. At least the hat was okay!
Love love love the colours in lots of the malabrigo!
Oh, my goodness! Me TOO!!
What a great color! Love it!
Thank you so much, Robin! I love this color too. 🙂
That color is gorgeous on you! And I love the pom pom too. Thanks for the heads up on that pattern! That’s going in my “To Do” list as I really want to learn brioche and knitting with two colors 🙂
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.
Ooh! You’re making me want to cast on 😜 I will definitely let you know if I decide to do it. Maybe I’ll check out some YouTube videos later today.
I always do the button on the inside trick. It makes it so easy for cleaning or if you change your mind on the pom later on!
I will definitely be doing it from now on!
Love your pom pom hat and it’s inspired me to try the button next time!!
Thank you, Katherine! The button is huge. Makes all the difference in the world. How did I not know about this before???
Ooh I like the button idea, I’ll have to give that a go
I can’t tell you what a difference it makes in how comfortable the pom pom is on the hat. I definitely plan to keep doing it. 🙂
Melinda, this is one of the cutest pom pom hats I have ever seen!!!! Love the color of the poof!