I made a very silly hat! Also, a very warm hat.

Want to make one just like it? I have plenty of yarn leftover — if you promise to make a hedgehog hat, I’ll send you my leftover Mushishi.

Project: Purple Hedgehog Hat

Pattern: Hedgehog

Designer: Mercè Janer

Available: FREE from Knitty.com

Yarn: Plymouth Yarns Mushishi #12

I picked up some Mushishi as a “courtesy purchase” while checking out a LYS.  The long color changes seemed just right for the short-row hedgehog hat.  I love how yarn and hat came together for this project.  I know it’s not to everyone’s taste … but I love a silly hat sometimes!

The hat is worked flat, with each bump worked as a set of short rows.  For the hat you work a row of bumps, work a couple stockinette rows (decreasing the overall number of stitches), and then work a row of bumps back the other way.  I definitely put my new(ish) skill of “knitting both directions without turning” to good use with all those short rows!

In addition to a delightfully silly look, the bumps also trap air — this is a one WARM hat. I look forward to wearing it for more than a few minutes at a go, come this winter.