Niamh’s Love

In Irish mythology, Niamh was the daughter of the sea god and one of the queens of Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth. She was the lover of the poet-hero Oisín. He was a mortal from Ireland who came home with Niamh. When Oisín became homesick and returned to Ireland for a visit, he asked where he could find his family, only to find that they had been dead for hundreds of years. Whilst trying to help some Irish men, he fell from the magical horse he was riding and instantly became an old man when he touched the ground. Meanwhile, Niamh had given birth to his daughter, Plor na mBan. Niamh returned to Ireland to search for her love, but he had died.

I used cables because they remind me of ropes and the sea. The 2 cable panels of the hat symbolize Niamh’s Love. The large intricate panel describes how love starts, blossoms, and can create something new. As time passes, it changes and becomes more about the new cable until outer cable eventually passes away, leaving the new cable as its legacy. The narrow undulating cable panel symbolizes time itself. It continues on no matter what happens.

Written and charted instructions are both included in the pattern.
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HAT SIZE
Ladies One Size: Fits size 20” to 23” (50cm to 57.5cm) in head circumference.
Hat measures 18.5 “ (46.25cm) unstretched.

GAUGE
4 inches x 4 inches (10cm x 10cm) = 20 sts over 26 rows in stockinette st on size 5mm (US 8) needles. Swatched in the round.
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ERRATA
June 26, 2017
p.4 of pattern “Cast On Set-Up”

2 . We will p the 2 k sts on the wrong side as regular p sts. {Wyb ktbl, wyf sl p st pwise.} 7 times.

It is now changed to read “8 times.”