I’m an ‘extra’ kind of person. I like extra flavor. Bonus material. Double strength. So when I was thinking about my next hat, it needed to be double awesome. I wanted double luxury, double thickness, and double warmth. And it all came together!
I had three colorways of Cashmere 4 Ply, by Handmaiden – Black, Silver, and Topaz. Seriously, if you haven’t touched this yarn, please put it on your wish list! It’s 100% cashmere, and it’s simply divine. I wanted to use all three colorways, so I devised a color pattern that satisfied my need for symmetry, and wasn’t just stark stripes.
I started at one end by casting on eight stitches, and increasing until it was the right diameter. Then I knit straight for about twice the normal length of a hat. Finally, I decreased to mirror the increases at the other end, pulling the yarn tail through the final eight stitches.
I tucked one end into the other and voila! It’s essentially two hats – one knit from the top down, the other knit from the bottom up – both as soft and warm as can be. It’s everything I wanted in a hat, and I don’t plan to take it off until Oregon starts warming up next Spring!