Hello again! In this week’s series, I’ve been given 5 Lion Brand yarns to “test drive,” and I’ve decided to test out a free hat pattern with each yarn! If you missed them, check out my earlier posts on Lion Brand Mandala Baby and Feels Like Butta yarns.
Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn
This post features Wool Ease, one of Lion Brand’s “bread and butter” yarns. Wool Ease has “been around for donkey’s years,” as my dear, departed mother-in-law would say. It is truly a classic yarn. Lion Brand has been around since 1878, and I suspect that Wool Ease was developed soon after acrylic fiber was discovered.
Wool Ease is billed as an Aran weight yarn, with a gauge of 18 sts to 4″ [10cm] on size 8 [5mm] needles. An average knitter might be able to achieve a worsted weight gauge by going down to size 7 [4.5mm] needles.
Being a blend of 80% acrylic and 20% wool, Wool Ease is a good all-round yarn to use for all kinds of projects, from hats to jackets.
The solid colors come in 3oz [85g] balls, each of which contains 197yds [180m] of yarn. The high acrylic content makes it affordable, comfortable, and low maintenance in the care department.
For this post, I’m repeating the Caramoor pattern found in my first post in this series, but today I’m going to do it “tromp as writ,” which is an old weaving term for making it the way the pattern was written.
The Caramoor pattern was written for Wool Ease, so today I won’t need to make any adjustments to the pattern.
You’ll notice I left the pompom off the top of this hat. Not every toque/ beanie has to have a pompom on it! Besides, a lot of men seem to have an aversion to them!
My version of the Caramoor pattern knit up in very practical Wool Ease in Tawny Port and Fisherman colorways
Join me for the rest of this series, I’m going to be playing with some “instant gratification” yarns, Lion Brand Hue + Me and Wool Ease Thick & Quick. So, if you like bulky yarns, be sure to come back!
This is part 3 of 5 in this series
Go back to part 2: Sweet Striped Hat is so perfect knit up in Feels Like Butta yarn
Go to part 4: Hue + Me will always knit up great friendship hats