27 May 2006

Banya Hats


My fiance requested a banya hat - a traditionally felted article to wear in the Russian sauna, to keep you from getting a headache. This was a revelation to me, since I hadn't known about the hat tradition when I went to the banya before I'd met him, and didn't know there was any way to avoid that awful headache! So naturally I rushed to make us some hats. He told me they’re supposed to be made with natural, undyed wool, so I decided it was time to try Baabajoe's Wool Pak (this is 10-ply). For the second hat, I didn't have quite enough of the original skein left, so I threw in some stripes out of Paton's Classic Wool. This worked fine, though I'm glad I felted it by hand - I had to manhandle it a bit to keep the yarns felting at more or less the same rate. I based the pattern on one of the hats in Knit One, Felt Too.

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