At this time of year – when the wind picks up and the first dusting of snow appears on the hills – I’m generally filled with an urge to whip up a hat to keep my heid warm. This November is no different. Over the past few days I’ve found myself musing about potential patterns, have started playing around with my design software, and begun picking out groups of different shades of yarn. I’ve also been thinking about how the style of hat I like to wear has changed since I cut my hair.
I used to wear my hats pulled down like this
(Snawheid, my hat of 2012)
or this
(Sheep heid, my hat of 2011)
Now I wear them like this
Let’s Stripe by Ute Vos
or this
Chezzetcook Inlet by Natasha Daurie
I’m thinking that this year’s hat might have a wide deep stretchy brim, to properly cover my cold ears
Like the Weel Riggit hat, perhaps
But I’m also feeling drawn to designing a fun colourwork crown
Like that which features on the Knitting Season hat
. . . or Epistropheid
What kind of hat do you enjoy wearing? Has the style of hat you like to wear changed with your hairstyle, with time or trends, or for other reasons? And would you like to knit a hat to keep your heid warm this winter along with me and the rest of the KDD team? Today we’re launching the It’s On Your Heid knit-along over in the KDD Ravelry group, just for a bit of hat-related fun. Feel free to join in, knitting any hat that I’ve designed over the years, any of the wonderful designs that feature in our dedicated hat book, Milarrochy Heids, or feel free to design and knit your own original hat using our yarns. Simply post a hat in the It’s on Your Heid thread in our Ravelry group before the end of 2019 to win one of several fabulous hat-related prizes!
Hats featured in this post
Medieval Arches by Justyna Haberkula
Snawheid
Sheep Heid
Let’s Stripe by Ute Vos
Chezzetcook Inlet by Natasha Daurie
Weel Riggit
Knitting Season
Peerie Flooers
Epistropheid
Ester
Milarrochy Heids collection
KDD & Co 
The only hat I will be wearing is a sun hat! Summer here in Australia and hot at that!!!!
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Here in cold windy Dundee I like my NEEPHEID! I also like some of the Shetland Wool Week patterns. Stranded is warm!
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I’m dreaming of a hat in the shape of the 19th century bonnets: a tight band around the face that would snuggly cover the ears, a large expanse of cloth around the head (I wear my head in a bun, I bet people with lots of hair or curly hair would appreciate too!), and, most importantly, short on the neck to fit into high coat collars.
When I wear a hat, the back of my coat collar pushes the hat up and my ears go cold. I usually wear a shawl wrapped around my head, but this tends to create a lot of fabric around the neck and I sometimes have difficulties closing my coat at the neck.
One days I’ll pick up my needles and make myself a bonnet. But it would be so nice if the design and colors would be yours… :-)
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A Baker Boy hat is my favourite, a beret with a peak, basically. It suits me a lot better than most beanie types, and I’ve sewn, knitted and crocheted examples. But I’ve recently moved 500 miles north and now appreciate a beret that can be kept stuffed in a coat pocket. Going out without one at this time of year is positively rash, and a matching scarf that can be wrapped round and round completes my defence against the cold east wind and provides the perfect reason to indulge my love of all things woolly.
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Love this post! It is prompting all sorts of memories, and it is encouraging me to celebrate the end of what has been my own personal “annus mirabilis” by knitting Caller Herrin. I wear all sorts of hats and like most kinds. Kate, I have a feeling you could wear most kinds too. OK — without further ado, I am off to join the KAL!
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This year I am living in an intentional community in the North Cascade mountains (in Washington state in the US) where it is cold and very snowy and we are outdoors a LOT because there are no cars to ride around in and we have to walk all the time—to go to our meals in the dining hall, for instance. I only have one coat, so for variety I want MORE HATS! And I want them to be extra warm on my ears so I can go out snowshoeing. My Snawheid is a bit loose on me—looks great but slides off my slippery hair when I am sledding. I’m thinking something stranded and with a double-length ribbing section so I can have double thickness over my ears.
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(Long time reader, first time poster…)
I don’t wear hats often – I have wild, curly hair, that doesn’t take kindly to being squished and tries to escape a pony tail at the first opportunity. When I’m out running, I wear a neck-gaiter-type thing as a “snood” to keep it under control, but generally it has to be very cold or very hot before I’ll put a hat on. I loved the Otter Ferry pattern in Milarrochy Heids (it reminded me of the red caps the Amazon pirates wore in Arthur Ransome’s book!) and plan to knit it some day, but I worry it won’t get much wear. :S
I know what you mean about hair styles, Kate. I’ve been contemplating taking the plunge to cut mine short like yours for a couple of years now, but I wonder what that will feel like and how it will change my “style” (such as it is!)…
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Sadly too hot here for a hat. I wore one once for two hours one winter night this year 😭
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I much prefer A hat that can be pulled down low the higher or looser ones means my hair falls out from under it . I am attempting my 4th Peerie flowers hat my twin liberated the first one and my nieces have pinched the other 3
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I love my Knitting Season design challenge hat, which I just posted another photo of on my blog today. Maybe it’s time to make a Peerie Flooers!
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Love your hats! And I have made a few of the patterns❣️ I could really use an ultra warm men’s hat. We live in the woods of northern Minnesota—weather can be bitterly cold. Think Arctic! Despite the cold, snow and winds… there is shoveling, gathering and splitting wood. Do you have a heavy duty, durable pattern?
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I’m one of those who knits endless hats, hoping to find one I’m not embarrassed to be seen in! I wear glasses. I have short-ish hair. With bangs. And I have a small face. So… If a hat’s too tight, it looks like I’m all glasses. If it smashes the bangs down on my forehead it just looks daft. I’ve taken to wearing my (large-headed) spouse’s double-thickness stockinette hat, since it’s loose on me and doesn’t look overpowered by the glasses/bangs situation. Or just wrapping a shawl around my head in a ramshackle kind of way. I would love to see a better alternative. Will be watching the KAL to see what comes up!
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As someone with fine and slippery hair that hits my shoulders, I’d love to find a pattern that doesn’t flatten the crown of my hair and also doesn’t pull my long hair up into the bottom. Basically it can’t have any kind of ribbing and can’t fit too snugly, but ideally it would cover or partially cover my ears. I’d love to find a pattern for such a hat in fingering weight.
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Perhaps you need a South American style chullo? Imagine Kate’s peerie flowers – sans the border and with extra flowers in the ear flaps.
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Thanks for that idea Cat, Peerie Floors is gorgeous. For some reason the Chullo style doesn’t look great on me. I’m actually starting to think that a knitted headband that covers my ears might be my best bet.
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For decades now, my favorite hat is the ribbed watch cap with folded cuff, pulled down on the forehead. It’s warm, classic, and looks great on women, men, children, even babies, whatever the wool/gauge.
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I agree with Madeline: my favorite hat is pulled down on the forehead; i.e. the hat sits horizontally on the head, not at an angle. Depending on the head, that might mean it won’t cover the ears. But IMHO there are very few people (and very few hats) who look their very best when wearing hats at an angle.
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