Cat's Rikke Hat

It's hat season for me (remember, you can still win that Wurm hat here).

The Rikke Hat - this time a hat in a colour that I personally like. Until last year I didn't think I was beanie person, but as experience showed me, I wear my New House, New Hat a lot. Funnily, this Rikke Hat continues like the former ended - with purple garter stitch. Garter stitch in the round is a funny thing, too, because the place where the rounds meet looks like this:

Like a seam.

It doesn't matter, because that faux seam stays underneath. One cool thing I learned from this hat is the German twisted cast on (you can find a great video tutorial by verypinkknits here). It is fun to execute (loved the thumb twist) and creates an edge that is both firm and elastic.

And it mimics a garter stitch row (see those little bumps in the bottom?).

Living in Germany I never met anybody casting on that way. It is also called Old Norwegian cast on - I prefer that name. Sounds romantic and cold.

Before I start boring you, I'll show what the hat looks like on my head.

And from behind.

The hat is snuggy around the ears and is slouchy enough if I choose to put my hair under it. I love it! The shape, the colour, the whole hat. Makes winter so much more fun. My Ravelry notes.

With that Rikke hat I owe you one last story - I kind of  promised to tell it two years ago in that post. I once met the original Rikke the hat was named after. The pattern says: "For those of you wondering, Rikke is a wonderful globe-trotting customer of ours who was the first one to test knit the silver sample for Sarah, and the hat is named in her honor."

Globetrotting as she is, I met her at the German Yoga Conference in Cologne in May 2010. There were just the two of us in a room waiting for a yoga class with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa (I did my Kundalini Yoga teacher training with her in India). There we were, in different corners of the room - and both knitting. Rikke was knitting her Multnomah shawl (Ravelry link here) and I was working on a pink Baby Surprise Jacket (here). Of course, we started talking, about yoga, knitting, yarn shops in Cologne. Yoga and knitting - it's a great combination.