A Yarn Story – The Steiger Hat

For lots of joyful reasons we like to go away for the February half-term break. There are lots of birthday celebrations and it feels like a perfect time to visit our beloved Lake District in the north of England. We had a fabulous time this week visiting our old Lake District haunts; cycling, climbing, walking and laughing. Waking up to the stunning views of the mountains and the tranquil water is such a luxury and it feels well with my soul.

During a family holiday I either madly work on a huge knitting/crochet commission or better still find a pattern designed by someone else so that my brain can relax and my fingers do all the work. Last year I chose Kate Davis’s Betty Mouat Cowl – I wore the cowl lots in the last week.

This year I downloaded the Steiger Hat pattern designed by Juliet Bernard from Yarn Stories. Yarn Stories is a new yarn company whose product is spun in Yorkshire. I chose the French Navy and Cream in Merino DK – it is such a soft yarn, gorgeous to touch, fabulous to knit with. I was so eager to start, I began casting on in the car and started to rib as we made our way up north. Two days later my hat was complete.

If you have never tried the fair-isle technique, this would be a good place to start. I almost love the reverse side patterning as much as the pattern proper. The stranding across the back makes the hat incredibly warm.

If you have read this blog before you will know that I am a huge fan of blocking your work. There are previous posts here and here. Being on holiday doesn’t preclude you from blocking. I found a pudding bowl of the correct size and used the holiday cottage iron to dampen the hat. I always like to leave blocking for about 48 hours to dry properly.

Funnily enough the master bedroom of the holiday house we were staying in had this beautiful china egg on the window sill. It really reminded me of the hat pattern.

So knitted, completed and blocked the hat was ready to wear, my ‘Yarn Story’ was inspired and created in the Lake District and I was ready to take to the hills, cosy and warm.

Do visit the Yarn Stories website, there are some wonderful new patterns available and my yarn arrived in the most beautiful packaging.