Well, I’m probably not the only one finding 2021 not quite as hoped… I saw someone saying we should be referring to the current day as December 60^th 2020. I can get behind that. Hopefully not so many more days of 2020 left so I actually have time to do anything other than work… One good extra finish of 2020 though was my silly Slouchy Sockhead Hat.

It’s been a bit of a journey with a lot of frogging, tinking and shredding (is that the right word for savaging your knitting in a fury?) but it is now officially a Finished Object. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, I love the wool, I love the colour and I enjoyed making it but it feels more garden gnome in style than casual chic and there are a few bits in the decreases that look a little lumpy. There’s another few places where I haven’t done a great job repairing some dropped stitches and I think you can see where perhaps I lost a little concentration towards the end but the tension has come out well and the fabric has a good handle to it.

The wool is fabulous. If you want some of your own, head over to Kieler Wolle and get some of their yak blends. I’m truly impressed with quite how bulletproof the yarn turned out to be but the finished hat is very snuggly and incredibly stretchy and forgiving on the sizing. No swatch gauges knitted and very little attention paid to the pattern sizing and it still worked out okay!

I was worried that I would run out of wool for this one but there’s still a decent amount left over that will no doubt hang around until I figure out some scrappy pattern to use it up with. I’m somewhat mesmerised by the colours of it which is a disappointing feature of a hat that you can’t see often and you end up looking rather strange if you do start petting it.  

I found the endless amount of stockinette quite soothing and I think I will be looking for a simple sock pattern to combine mindless with something new to try. Maybe I can use the garish Hedgehog Fibre atrocity I have lurking in the cupboard though I’m not sure it’ll be nearly as nice to knit with.

In the meantime, if anyone wants me, I’ll be sat in the corner with my new hat pulled over my face waiting for 2020 to end.  

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