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Hats are brilliant gifts. They are quick, they are easy, and you can do all kinds of things with them to suit the intended recipients. First up is the Blue Green Chunky Hat which was a gift for my cousin’s wife Stephanie for her birthday.

I knit this one up back in November in two hours when I couldn’t sleep one night. It’s knit with leftovers from my Malabrigo Chunky Blanket.

The stripes were totally random and this is about half of the leftovers (the blue, green, yellow ish colors). I’ll probably use the others (red, orange, brownish) to make another hat. The yarn is Malabrigo Gruesa in Green Spark and Malabrigo Aquarella in Aigua, Maldonado, Palmar, and Solis.

Next begins the parade of Manly Hats for the Holidays as I chose to call them. I know it would be far easier to say Manly Christmas Hats but Stephen is Jewish as is much of his family so these are also Manly Hanukkah Hats and thus the politically correct phrasing! These are basic hat patterns, my favorites are Ann Budd’s “Basic Hat Pattern” from her book The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns and the “Kim’s Hats” pattern by Kim Hamlin,which can be found in the book Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson and Anna Williams. Some have random stripes, some are plain solid. Manly Hat for the Holidays #1 was for my Dad for Christmas:

The yarn is Knit Picks Swish Superwash in Fired Brick, which was left over from his sweater, plus some Black and Coast Grey to make it a bit more interesting.

Manly Hat for the Holidays #2 was for Stephen’s father, David:

Nice and simple hat in Cascade 220 Heathers, colorway Yakima Heather 9459.

Manly Hat for the Holidays #3 was for Stephen’s step-father, Tim:

I absolutely loved this yarn. It is Cleckheaton Country Silk 8 Ply in Gray. The little silky nubs are so soft and the texture is just great.

Manly Hat for the Holidays #4 was for Stephen’s son, Jeffrey:

This is Knit Picks Swish Superwash again, this time in the colors Copper, Truffle, and Black. Jeff actually really liked it which was a nice surprise!

And finally, Manly Hat for the Holidays #5 for my Uncle Frank, who is my godfather:

More Knit Picks Swish Superwash in Copper, Truffle, and Dark Navy. It could be worn with the cuff down or folded up:

And so ends the Manly Hats for the Holidays. One more hat remains, which is the Bobbley Hat I made for Julia (my sister) for Christmas:

Isn’t it fantastic?! I’m quite proud of it since Julia had seen a hat she liked in a catalog and I analyzed it and graphed it out the best I could and came up with something pretty darn close! I’m working on a scarf to match. It won’t have the big cables, just the diamond bobble motif and the twisted stitches with some seed stitch on either side. I’ll have a picture soon. Here’s a closer look at the hat:

And of course, with all these hats, the best thing of all is that the recipients seem to truly like them and appreciate what I put into making them. So, that’s it for the hats. Next post will be on the other great gift to knit: scarves (and a shawl snuck in)!