Grant wearing the hat I knit

The Story of Knitting a Hat

One really lovely thing about instagram is how the pictures tell a story. This is the story of knitting a hat for my friend Grant.

I looked at a lot of patterns, and finally settled on Father Cables by Yarn on the House. I I cast on on Saturday, feeling very tense. There was a series of earthquakes in New Zealand, where I’m from, and I felt very far away. The quakes didn’t affect my family, and caused minimal loss of life, but it was midnight New Zealand when they struck, and 2 and 3 and 4 in the morning when I was worrying, so of course I didn’t know that.

 

A photo posted by Rachel (@amiguru.me) on

 

Knitting and hot chocolate helped a lot though. I’ve written before about how knitting is so helpful for my mental health. 

I knit the pattern mostly as written. The only mods I made were casting on fewer stitches, and working four repeats of the pattern instead of five. I had a busy week, but found chunks of time to knit, staying up late after French class. In two days, I was halfway done.

 

A photo posted by Rachel (@amiguru.me) on

 

I was not overjoyed with the progress! I felt the cables looked muddled, and maybe the yarn was wrong? But it was too late to rip back so I pressed on.

 

 

Suddenly, the cables came together, and the pattern started making sense! I finished the hat and steam blocked it by about 10pm Friday. Grant’s birthday wasn’t until Monday, but as I said to my fiance, Jesse, who was also visiting, “Grant doesn’t have a hat, does he?”

“I’m sure he has a hat. He lives in Glasgow, that’s even colder than London.”

I frowned. “I just have a feeling. I’ll steam block it anyway, so it’s done. If I wet block it it won’t be dry until Monday.”

 

A photo posted by Rachel (@amiguru.me) on

 

Grant was due to show at midnight, but didn’t come until 1am. Despite the chill, he was wearing a baseball cap, not a beanie. We said “hello” and “goodnight.”

I gave him his hat the next day: he’d forgotten to pack his beanie! Call it intuition, or call it “knowing Grant quite well.” He put it on at once. I was pleased with the fit, even though he pushed it back off his forehead, instead of snugging it down over his ears as I’d intended.

 

Grant wearing the hat I knit

 

We went to Winter Wonderland, to ice skate and drink mulled wine, and we each wore hats I knitted. That’s why I’m smiling so much, even in the rain. Look at how wet our jackets are!

 

knitting a hat for everyone

That’s the real story of knitting a hat. It’s not cables and yarn, it’s how it keeps a friend warm, even in the rain, even far from home.

Grant’s Beanie

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