When I pulled my first skein of completed, non-practice/learning yarn off the niddy-noddy I thought two contradictory things at once: this yarn is the single greatest yarn to have ever been made, this yarn doth teach the torches to burn bright, this yarn can simply walk into Mordor; AND objectively, this is the ugliest damn yarn I have ever seen in my life. It was slubby, thick-thin, possessing pretty random color changes… It was a yarn only a mother could love, and I was it’s mother. So, it was going to be knit into something lovely if it was the last thing I did, and it wasn’t going to be some “rustic” looking plain stockinette or ribbed something or other, as seems the standard for beginner’s handspun patterns (beginning spinners are, after all, rarely beginning knitters).

I got to swatching. I knew I wanted something with a diamond pattern because, nerd that I am, the navy-bronze color of my yarn reminded me of Ravenclaw from Harry Potter. I also knew I wanted a hat (Hats are the prefect item for irregular yarns because a little bit of textural funkiness, which might be unflattering on a sweater, but just adds a bit of, shall we say, whimsy to a funky topper.), so it was going to be a hat based around Ravenclaw’s Diadem.

Soon it became clear that twisted stitches put irregular yarns to their best advantage. They create such definition and texture that the pattern stands out even against the odd slub here and there, or some unexpected color patterning. Regular cables, on the other hand, looked, you know… fine, but got a little lost when the yarn’s texture changed. Lace or openwork was the worst, as slubs would clog the yarn-overs and just look ratty.

So, I used twisted stitches to create a band of interlocking-diamond shapes. The band is knit flat, using a modified Bavarian twisted stitch pattern (a more traditional pattern would have some movement on every row, but I find cabling on the wrong side to be tedious). Then the flat band is joined into a circlet and stitches are picked up and knit from the top to create the body of the hat. There are a few more diamond bands along the body of the hat, and those are knit in the round with movement on every row.

I have a preference for fairly giant hats. I have a lot of hair and like to be able to put it up, or just protect it from dry, cold winter air by stuffing it in my hats. The repeats of the main motif can be decreased to make something that is more perky beret, than expansive slouch.

I have included parameters of the handspun used as well as suggesting a commercial alternative to the handspun yarn