Gabe's Hat

I especially enjoy making warm things for people, not just window sills. Having taught myself to do stranded colorwork in crochet and having played around with the smaller peerie patterns from the Faire Isle tradition, I am thrilled with the outcome of Gabe's hat. I started it without a plan, trying to intuit, first, which color I should use for the "ribbing" and then getting a sense of how each color should flow into the next. The two blues looked exceptional right next to each other, but I needed a way to blend in the cream and brown. I had recently remembered and told Gabe's mom about a sweater a friend once made in white and blue stripes with brown seed stitches between the blue rows. It was an unexpectedly stunning ski sweater. With that in mind and in a dreamy state the "ribbon" pattern came to me: a twilight background, dusk edgings, a creamy center with little brown seed designs for each ribbon. Three of those wrap the crown with the short, stocking cap end blending all four colors in a regular way to create a stronger match with a cream, brown or blue coat. Gabe is a cute boy and he looks loved in his hat with his new teddy bear coat. I'll try to post a photo of him soon.