Button-Tab Hat

It’s been a long time since I’ve knit a hat but I wanted to make one for my friend Christina’s birthday this January. I queued this pattern on Ravelry months ago because as soon as I saw it, it reminded me of her. I bought this yarn when I was in SLC for the break. Again, as soon as I saw it, I knew that it was the yarn for this project! I forgot how much fun hats are! Yay! It’s too bad Spring is almost over because I want to go on a hat knitting spree.

The hardest part of this project was choosing what buttons to use! I have a huge collection of vintage buttons that I inherited from my grandmother and it was just so hard to decide whether I wanted to do one button, or two, or three, and whether I wanted color or a neutral, size, shape, etc. Oh my! If I had been making the hat for myself I think I would have gone with buttons that were a contrasting color, but I thought Christina is a little more laid back and would like this wood-looking set.

Here’s a close-up of the buttons:

yarn detailsLion Brand Wool-Ease in Avacado
20% wool, 80% acrylicworsted weight
machine wash cool and tumble dry low (however, buttons are not machine washable!)
85 grams/197 yds @ $2.50 each (on sale)

findings
vintage buttons, o.75” in diameter

project details
pattern: “Button-Tab Hat” by Marcie Nishioka – free at http://i-like-lemons.blogspot.com/2008/01/button-tab-hat-pattern.html
needles: size 8 circulars & dpns
gauge: 19 st and 24 rows in stockinette
yarn used: 112 yards (about 60% of the skein)
finished size: when laid flat – about 8.25” tall and 8.75” wide but 8-8.25” on the ribbed brim
duration: January 6 – January 20, 2009
cost: about $1.50, plus the buttons which are priceless….

notes

• I initially tried doing a chain edge on the flap, but it looked way too loose, so I frogged and just did the regular stockinette edge according to the pattern.
• The buttons are not functional. In fact, I decided to completely sew the flap down because it was looking a little unruly. It made it look a lot better – definitely worth the extra step!
• I had some trouble with the Wool-Ease being splitty. Lame.
• FYI: this project was listed as “Mystery” on my projects status bar on the off-chance that the Christina looks at this blog.