Meret

Every once on a while there is a trend on Ravelry that makes the rounds and leaves little impression on me during the first contagion, but after it's hung around a while, suddenly it hits me like a speeding train and it's all I can do to not work on it 24 hours a day. Meret is this pattern for me--I saw many versions on other people and thought 'Huh, sure looks nice on them' and then kept on about my business, which probably involved obsessively checking my Amazon wish list while eating candy canes, because I'm 13 and I love Christmas.

Normally I shy away from slouchy hat patterns, as they seem to not be warm, can sometimes look like a giant sun dial on a person's head, seem at times too close too that scarf thing that Rhoda used to wear and can even be bigger & flatter than these pancakes that my brother recently ate in Hawaii. But not Meret! There are many options with this pattern--as written it's not terribly slouchy, can be made into a beanie but can go slouchier by adding repeats.

The Specs:
Pattern: Meret by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted, .75 of skein in 'Frank Ochre'
Needles: size 7, 16 inch
Mods: Cast on for the medium size but did the large repeats. As you can see the hat is not gigantic. If I had made this for myself I would have done two extra repeats and maybe gone up a needle size.

Knitting Meret also allowed me to get in touch with part of me that loves to crank out small accessories. I just love making small projects, it's where my knitting interests are most satisfied. Sure, sweaters are super-impressive, but more and more I realize that the short attention span theater in which I have taken up permanent residence dictates that small projects are my thing.


Now that my own kids have dumped me and moved on to other gigs, I had to rekindle my relationship with my friend Sandrine in order to snap some pics, because Lord knows this hat was never fitting on my head [see pancake pictures above for genetic explanation]. I was able to ply her with end-of-the-semester Thai food, and since I knit the hat for her anyway, I figured this was as good a time as any to give it to her. Plus now I can claim to have a real bona fide Parisian modeling a beret on my blog! What's next--a Japanese exchange student donning a knitted kimono? Hey, it's a small world after all...

I must say I enjoyed every one of your comments re: Malabrigo so much. Many of your fave colors were not a surprise to me at all [Impressionist Sky and Tuareg REPRESENT]. But others were totally unknown to me: Pearl Ten, where have you been all my life? I thank you for that. Luckily I actually have two skeins of Bobby Blue to send off [heh heh I am too sekritive]. And as soon as I get the addresses of Jodi and Elizabeth, they will be on their merry way to new homes. Enjoy!