Talking of blocking yesterday made me think of things that are more difficult to block, hats, for example, need to have a specific shape and not have a line down the length of them. I like to combine steam and wet blocking for things like the Road to Success Chic Hat. This pattern is available for free on the Red Heart website.
The Road to Success Chic Hat is the perfect spring fashion item!
What really drew me to this pattern were the cables on the front and clean lines they create within the hat. It was also designed by Marly Bird, the inspiration for this yarn and National Spokesperson for Red Heart yarns. I would check out her website if you get a chance or even her podcast Yarn Thing. I personally really like Marly Bird and love her podcast. She is a lively lady with a love of yarn.
Here is a snip-it from the Red Heart website about Marly Bird.
Considering the sheer volume of patterns she has written for Ravelry, I was really excited to see her writing style and how Ravelry measured it. Marly Bird didn’t disappoint, the pattern is well written and charted. I love when designers give you the option to go with a chart or written instructions. Not everyone works the same and visual learners, like myself, may have a hard time with purely written instructions.
Guys, I am so happy I got the opportunity to knit this pattern with this yarn! They went together beautifully, like peanut butter and jelly.
My finished product, post-blocking of course, in the color royal.
We all know I have a slight apprehension about cables, but this 6 row repeat is easy peasy. It’s not too bad to memorize and it’s very easy to see if you’ve crossed a cable the wrong way or went astray in another way. The pattern almost knits itself. The little bit of interest the cables add keep you knitting through the stockinette sections and looking forward to the next cable piece.
The color Polo really shows off the cables nicely. The shimmer of the yarn adds depth to the hills and valleys of the cables.
When a pattern is written specifically for a particular yarn you know the two are going to go well together. Especially in this case when one person has designed the yarn and the pattern for each other. The yarn captures Marly Bird’s light-hearted spirit and the hat shows off her clean design aesthetic.
Chic Sheep in the color Sterling
This is part 4 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 3: Steam blocking a shawl knitted with Chic Sheep goes from good to great!
Go to part 5: The anatomy of a pompom
[shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”23784471″]
