the holloway hat

I haven't blogged for a while now, but I swear I have a good excuse.
​The dog ate my computer. 

Obviously that's a lie; I don't have a dog. Truth is, it's my fault. A little bit Apple's fault. But mostly mine. ​

A couple of months ago, my beloved MacBook gave up the ghost. In an effort to save a bit of yarn money (all money saved is yarn money), I decided to replace it with an iPad. I figured a tablet would be lighter, brighter, and better suited to my nomadic, coffee-house lifestyle.

Wrong.

The tablet was indeed lighter and brighter, but pattern-writing and blogging became incredibly frustrating and circuitous. Many features I use here on the web-based blog platform were absent via the app. Not having a normal keyboard felt like having my fingers removed and sewn on backwards. And, strangely, I just really missed my old friend, Mac.

​I gave it two months--and three patterns!--but, finally, I had to surrender. I'm not calling it a mistake, but a "learning experience". A learning experience that robbed me of a tragic amount of yarn money (loud sobbing here).

Silver lining? I can now write patterns and blog posts with ease. So...without further ado...I give you my latest pattern, The Holloway Hat. And this blog post. BAM. 

The Holloway Hat is named after two of my favourite far-away Insta-friends. Julie and Jamie are a spirited sister-brother pair who I just know I would pee my pants laughing with if we ever met IRL.

The Holloway Hat is a super-soft, super-light, super-fluffy wonder hat. Two balls of Garnstudio DROPS Air (retails for about $10 CAD) is enough for two hats. Choose a main colour and a contrast colour for the first hat, then reverse them for the second--fraternal hat twins! For the math-challenged among us, that's two hats for $20. You're welcome :)

DROPS Air is what they call a "blow yarn". Instead of spinning the fibres the usual way, baby alpaca and Merino wool are blown in a tube, which makes the yarn itself lighter and airier, and the finished objects made with this type of yarn 30-35% lighter than those made with conventionally spun yarns of the same thickness. BTW, Garnstudio has no clue who I am--I'm not a spokesperson, just a yarn nerd.

CHART OPTION A

CHART OPTION B

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The Holloway Hat comes in three sizes, with a modified chart option for a less delicate / more solid motif. Plus, when you knit The Holloway Hat, the only thing blown is the yarn--not your budget! #sorrynotsorry

The Holloway Hat  is now available in my Ravelry shop. Enjoy 25% off the regular price until Sunday, November 10th (no promo code needed). Offer expires at 10:00 pm EST. Happy Knitting!

GET PATTERN ON RAVELRY

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Once again, I owe a debt of knitty gratitude to my friend Christina of @oneloopcrochet, who is, in my books at least, the second coming of Claudia Schiffer. Thanks for standing in Starbucks and letting me take your picture. Thanks for  ignoring the staring strangers. You da best! ​