Jane Austen Knits hat pattern

Once upon a time I bought every new knitting magazine I could find. Knitting became more popular again (yes!!) and new magazines appeared. I became selective in magazine purchases when the number of magazines outgrew their designated space in my craft room. I'm better about tearing out patterns that I might use one day and putting them into binders, but they still accumulate and guilt nags me when I look at new issues in the store.

Jane Austen Knits magazine debuted in 2011. The patterns that I have glanced at in various issues have been pretty, but not my personal style. Sometimes a photograph doesn't do justice to a project though, and a hat called a Modified Mobcap from the Summer 2012 issue was an example of a photo I saw and dismissed.

Enter the knitting group at my local yarn store. One woman made the cap. Ooooh, that was nice. Then another woman made it. And made it again and again. I was hooked. I needed to make one too. I had Misti Alpaca Tonos Worsted yarn, color TW11 (Shanghai Wedding) that wanted to become a hat so I obliged. A mere two night's of TV watching while knitting produced this:

(Don't you love my patient model?)

The color is actually redder than it appears in these photos. I'm having trouble photographing red indoors lately, probably due to gloomy days. With a flash, the red shows up orange. Oh well.

This isn't the most flattering style for me to wear, but if it is cold enough for me to wear a hat, I'm most likely not in the mood to care about appearances. I'd rather be warm than utterly adorable. I'm ok with merely adorable.

I know that I will use this pattern again. The pattern in the band is a variation on the linen stitch. After that comes an increase row, a few rows of plain knitting, and then the decreases begin and the cap speeds toward finishing. This pattern is going to make great gifts!