FO: Mattock Hat by Home Row Fiber Co

I knitted another hat - and this time it's for ME! lol

This is the just released Mattock Hat by Rochelle of Home Row Fiber Co. (the sewing community also knows her as Lucky Lucille). Rochelle released the Mattock Cowl back in March and she designed this hat to match. When she put an open call for testers on her Instagram, I decided to throw my name in the ring and she picked me :) I was pretty stoked, lol.

The Mattock Hat is a slouchy style beanie with a simple repeating texture pattern all the way around. The pattern only has 2 lines that repeat over and over, making this a really simple project that is easy to memorize. I knitted a gauge swatch before starting, but once that dried and showed it was spot on I got right to work!

The pattern lines up beautifully at the top, making for a neat and orderly center. I just love hats that do this, lol, it's the simple things, folks. I knitted my hat using a 24" circular needle, but you could easily use DPNs or a shorter circular needle (Rochelle recommends a 16"). I knitted my hat with the recommended size 7 needle and I love the gauge. It's tight enough to notice the textures, but it's loose enough to give a drapey fit and still breathe a bit. Normally my head overheats quickly with hats, but this one can stay on my head for quite a while with no built up heat.

I knitted my Mattock hat in Harvest by Feza Yarns, a worsted weight 100% merino wool that is dyed organically. I used the Citrus colorway and it's a bright lemon yellow that has just the slightest variation in the color (which I love). I won this yarn in  Facebook giveaway from Stitch Diva Studios last February, so I'm glad I have such a fun project from it. The yarn is wonderfully soft and was a pleasure to knit with. One little snag was at the very beginning of this project - when I went to wind this hank of yarn into a skein, I couldn't find the end of the yarn! I twisted, I separated, I did everything I could think of, but I was finally so frustrated with searching that I just cut a spot and started to pull from there. This was a nightmare that lead to me having to wind a ball by hand for about an hour because the hank kept knotting as I pulled, so I would have to untangle it on the swift. When I finished, I discovered why I found no end - there wasn't one! It's still the craziest thing, but when I cut my own place to start winding I fully expected to come across the actual factory ends of the yarn and need to join it back, but nope! No end. At All. So crazy. I'm glad the yarn was fun to work with because I was really not happy with it at first, lol.

Since this was a pattern test, I made sure to make it up just as written. I'll confess I was slightly skeptical about it being only one size since I have a "larger than average" head. Generally I can't buy hats in a store, and I have to make the largest size of knitted hats. This had a standard finished size of 19" around and my head is 23" around, so I was worried it wouldn't give the slouchy effect. I am very pleased I was wrong! The hat has just the right amount of casual slouch and it's super comfortable. I didn't even stretch it out in blocking - I did my usual blocking on a balloon to keep the round shape and I made sure the balloon was 19" around - but Rochelle includes great blocking instructions in the pattern so even a beginner could easily get a lovely result. The garter stitch brim is naturally quite stretchy, plus the body of the hat itself is basically a fancy ribbing, so all those knits and purls make this hat have a lot of "give", making even my large noggin fit it comfortably :)

All in all I'm thrilled with my new hat :) It's a fun design that is quick to make up and is comfy to wear - it's a triple threat! I love my new yellow hat, and I'm glad I get to share it now that the pattern is released. If you'd like to make your own Mattock Hat, head over to Ravelry and snap up the pattern for yourself! This would be a great pattern for making gifts, and I can personally vouch that it is a very detailed and well written pattern :) Thanks so much, Rochelle, for letting me test your pattern! Now I just need to make myself a Mattock Cowl to match, lol.

*I was given the Mattock Hat pattern for free to test the pattern with no obligation to blog about it. All opinions are 100% my own. I just really like this pattern :)