"Not too itchy"

That's what my sister asked for. While it's less important in the mittens, I know from bitter personal experience that it really does matter in the hat. (Don't get me started about the time my dermatologist told me I should steer clear of wool because of my persnickety skin.) So I knew I had to find a hat pattern that, if it didn't already have one, could be modified to incorporate a liner and would be a kind of "one size fits all". Ribbing was obviously out and I had to choose wisely to find a hat that wasn't too boring nor would make her look like a pinhead. That's right, my sister is a tiny-handed pinhead.

This is what I came up with.


Pattern: Coronet by Alexandra Vergiel, Knitty Winter '03.
Yarn and Needles: Cascade 220 in 8886 (purple) about half a skein, and Debbie Bliss Cathay in 11 (red-purple) about a third or less of a skein.
Modifications: Just about everything, I used the pattern more a jumping off point and as a reference for how many stitches to pick up but then figured out the rest for myself. Please note the rather spectacular graft on the cable band, sometimes I amaze even myself ;) Here is my recipe for a lined Coronet:

Knit the cabled head band as instructed (I did 17 repeats) and graft together. With RS facing, pick up 90 stitches using the liner yarn and knit ~3", place on scrap yarn. Again with RS facing, pick up 90s in the wool yarn and knit until the same length as the folded under liner. Next round pick up one stitch at a time from the liner and K2tog with the wool. Knit some more then do decreases. Mine are different from the pattern (because I didn't even look at it by this point) but what I did isn't really important :)

If I'd have thought about it a it more or been so inclined I would have knit a complete liner, or at least taken the liner up to the height of the decreases just to make the join a little less apparent. I did want it to be longer than just the cable's width thought to make sure it completely covered the forehead.


I'm coming to realise that a lot of my FO pictures are taken in the morning. In my pyjamas. With no makeup on. I think I should really make an effort to change that!