Creatures from the Deep

Meet Urchin, the latest additional to my knitted arsenal.

But is it a frying pan cosy? Or perhaps a woolly paperweight? No, it’s a

HAT!

This is such a clever pattern by Ysolda Teague (and available for free from her website). This spiny crustaceanous hat is knitted flat on two needles using short row shaping. Eight connected wedges are then grafted between the first and last wedge into a finished hat.

The wool has me in raptures. It comes from Gherkin’s Bucket, an Etsy store, and is a gorgeous bulky handspun handdyed punta wool. I’m mesmerised by the colours- stormy greys, blues, and chocolate brown. The colourway is called Footloose, and here’s what it looks like in the skein:

You know you have items of clothing that are so colourful/unusual you love them but you know that really they’re just that bit too colourful/unusual? Well, I love this hat but I’m aware it does make me look a tad eccentric:

But it’s so warm and colourful. I’m even wearing it as I sit here typing. (Rising fuel bills? Knit and wear more hats!)

I had to share this photograph of me trying to photograph the back of my head with my entire face scewed up in concentration for comedy value. I’m not proud.