Lee hat

I just finished knitting a wonderful new hat called Lee.   It's designed by Ysolda Teague and is a free pattern.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to try it.  It is a cloche style hat with a lot of style. 

The construction is very unusual starting with a little I-cord in the back and spiralling out from there.  It's one of those patterns that keeps you going, to see what comes next.  I decided to add a picot edge to the hem of the brim by knitting (yo, k2tog, k1) around on the first row of the contrast color.  I also decided to tack the hem down without having the contrast color show through as suggested in the pattern. 

Also, the picture on the pattern makes the two contrast stripes look like they were done with a tuck stitch to make them pucker and fold along the front.  But there is no unusual treatment of these two row stripes in the pattern.  So, after finishing and before tacking down the hem, I decided to sew the stripe on the wrong side of the fabric to make it pucker.  This was easy enough to do by picking up the contrast color purl bumps and sewing them together.  I blocked the hat and am very pleased with how it came out.  My lovely daughter modeled the hat for me.

We have been watching the first season of The Waltons and this hat reminds me of something that Olivia Walton would have worn in the 1930's.