I wanted to make my dad a really special hat for his birthday, so last fall I started in on a pattern I’d had my eye on for years: the Bray cap from Brooklyn tweed.
It is a cable and lace pattern, perfectly doable if you’ve tried either at least once before. I knit it while still working night shift and while it wasn’t the greatest 2am pattern, I was trying to work in my love for my dad, so tackling cables and lace at 2am all seemed very appropriate.
My colleagues were really impressed with it as it took shape, which I took heart at…right up until I told them it was for my dad. “Too girly?” I asked. As the cables and lace had started taking shape I had started wondering that myself. “You don’t think he’ll like it?”
“No! He’ll love it!” one of the other nurses said. “I mean, he’ll wonder why you made him a woman’s hat. But he will LOVE. IT.”
I worked with assholes. I miss them so hard. (Spoiler alert: I work a Monday-Friday sweet office case management gig now but I miss my old teammates so hard it hurts. And also being a real nurse. But I get to sleep at night and spend weekends with my family so it all works out in the end.)
Anyway, I decided it was too girly and I would make my dad a different project (see upcoming post). Spoiler alert: it also turned out SUPER girly. I can’t stop making my dad girly stuff apparently.
Then, after putting the hat on my own head, I decided it didn’t look so girly after all. I made Nic model it. And Will. They both argued that it was just a hat. Not a boy hat and not a girl hat, just a hat that anybody could rock. So it ended up going to my dad after all!
I used Swans Island worsted weight yarn in oatmeal. I love Swans Island for its depth and old fashioned look but still soft feel!
