Intricate Stag… Hat!
Pattern: The charts are a modified version of the Intricate Stag Bag, the general size is sort of based on the We Call Them Pirates hat.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Tangerine, Dale of Norway Baby Ull in a charcoal grey
Every Thanksgiving, we visit Rob’s parents in a rural area of Pennsylvania. That’s right before hunting season begins, so we usually don hunter’s orange if we walk around outdoors. I’ve been wanting to make Rob’s dad a stranded hat with a deer motif for years, and when I saw the Intricate Stag Hat pattern, I was sold!
Rob’s parents were in town a couple of weeks ago, so the hat was quickly finished and gifted. It’s a bit large on Rob’s head, but it fits his dad’s 24" melon perfectly.
I modified the chart a bit by moving the trees away from the deer by a few stitches, creating some treetops, and adding a third tree. The pattern repeats on the back of the hat.
I used fingering weight yarns so that I could cram the whole scene onto the hat. I’ve used Dale of Norway Baby Ull before, and I’d use it again in a heartbeat, it’s soft like buttah. This was my first time using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn – it’s quite tightly plied, but it blocked into a beautifully cohesive fabric.
The biggest challenge with this hat was tensioning the very long floats in the chart. The floats were extremely long at the very top of the hat, so I stopped the stranded knitting and duplicate stitched the top of the trees. I’ve never been much of a duplicate stitch fan, but it’s fairly invisible. It’s difficult for me to tell visually where the stranded knitting ends and the duplicate stitch begins, although the texture of the fabric changes at the duplicate stitch area.
A lining knit with the Baby Ull finished off the hat. Knitting the lining was the same amount of knitting as a sock, what a slog. I’ve offered Rob’s dad a liner replacement if the hat isn’t warm enough – it seemed fine when I was knitting it, but the hat is pretty thin. Overall, I’m happy with the hat, but I’m not yearning to struggle with any super long floats in the near future!
RSS
Beautiful job! It certainly doesn’t look like you had problems with super long floats– I don’t see any puckering. The lining was also a clever addition since it protects those long floats from getting snagged.
What a great idea, great re-use of chart, and great knitting, too!
Very cool hat! Love all the details. :)
Wow, wow, wow!
Wow, what a work of love! Ingenious modification to an already cool – but now even cooler – pattern!
that is completely totally awesome.
Incredible! This is a truly beautiful piece of crafting – I love the idea of the duplicate stitch at the top, that is indeed the way to go! And what lovely colours. Rob’s dad is lucky to have the warm hat!
Very impressive! So many thoughtful details–and good lookin’ to boot.
Oh my god. Oh my god. You’ve turned a neat motif into the BEST HUNTING HAT EVER. EVER. WOW. I just can’t get over it.
Wow! Very impressive. It looks really good.
That is SO COOL! I’ve always thought that bag was neat but would never in a million years want to do that much intarsia. What a great re-interpretation of the pattern!
Has anyone told you that you are awesome lately? That is genius. Genius, pure and simple.
That looks so great! Fabulous use of that chart!
Wow, it’s fabulous!
Ooooh what an awesome hat! Very cool!
Ooooh – I’ve been waiting for you to finish this hat as I totally want to make one for my brother-in-law. Looks really great – if I ever get to it I hope mine will look as good as yours!
Brilliant!! I like it.
SO completely fabulous!! I loved the stag bag look but didn’t really like the bag part :) but this! is! rad!
Totally amazing, fabulous and awesome! I love it!
Woah, that’s nuts. Great reworking of the patterns! And while I usually would never don anything so orange, this looks fabulous in these colorways!!
that is awesome!
That hat is FANTASTIC!!!
it is seriously amazing! great adaptation from the bag chart!
Great hat! That’s the classiest hunting hat I’ve ever seen.
I love your solution! The difference between stranding and duplicate stitch does not show in the photo and I bet when people look at the cap what they notice is the design.
What a wonderful gift – I hope he appreciated the beautiful handiwork.
That is a really wonderful hat!
it really looks great! congrats, i hope he likes it.
you did a beautiful job! those floats did seem pretty long – no puckering or anything though – wonderful job!!!! i envy your duplicate stitch skill. I can never get it to look good!
Very nice! I LOVE the hunter orange.
That’s a fantastic hat!!
What a cool hat! I agree with everything everybody else said.
That’s absolutely amazing — a fantastic idea, wonderfully executed — well done!!
Super awesome hat! I love the way the chart fits onto the hat with your mods.
I love it! What a great job you did!
WOW! That is incredible. My husband would love it. You must be very proud. Thanks for photo.
Wow, I’m super-impressed you whipped that out from several different patterns. And knit in sock yarn! Super-cool.
Wow! That is really, really cool. My dad’s a hunter and I could totally see this on him. I love it!
Very impressive! You handled the super-long floats perfectly. Great idea on the full liner; I bet it will be warm enough since a layer of air will be trapped between the hat and the liner.
I love this pattern applied to a hat, you did a great job modifying it, and your tension looks great, despite the evil long floats!! What a great gift!
OMG this is the most fabulous hat EVER!!! I love the colors and how you created such a wonderful meshing of yarn patterns.
Great job!
It looks amazing! Great idea to use that chart in hat form.
Very cool and very beautiful!
That is beautiful! The duplicate stitching turned out nicely, and in the close-up I can see the texture change you mentioned. I think it makes the tips of the trees look more nubbly and tree-like! Well done!