The Girl From Versailles Hat

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As I keep digging through my old knitting files (which I retrieved from storage at my mother's house when Blaine and I spent the 4th of July holiday with her), I keep finding various patterns I designed. This particular pattern, another winter hat, is shown in two color schemes. The pattern is so quick and easy that you can knit it in a day. I used to make bunches of these and then sell them in local boutiques.

The girl modeling the hats is one of the girls who lived on the same biker compound that my ex-husband and I lived on. (Not Blaine--- one of my other exes, the biker man.) She was married to the man for whom I designed the Flying Alpine Hat in my previous post.

(All my exes don't live in Texas.....)

Anyhoo, after I made the Flying Alpine Hat for her husband she asked me to design a hat for her. And she had fallen in love with novelty yarns because, having been in my house so many times and seeing all the zillions of types of yarn I had all over the place, she had declared that she loved the "different" types of yarns such as chenille and the "fur" yarns. (Note: although the hat is made from chenille yarn, you may use any yarn which meets gauge.)

So I designed the hat to her specifications. When she first described how she wanted the hat to look, she admitted that she had wanted it designed that particular way because she had once seen a picture in a French magazine of a woman wearing a similar hat. The magazine pictorial had been photographed in Versailles, France. When I finished the hat, my friend had remarked wistfully: "I want to look like that girl from Versailles...."

And so, "The Girl From Versailles Hat" was born.

And as I said before for the Flying Alpine Hat pattern, if I haven't written the the directions clearly, please feel free to email me. (Or heck, just email me to chat about anything you like, heh!)

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The Girl From Versailles Hat

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Note: Directions are given for a solid color hat. But at the end of the directions are suggestions for variations of the pattern, such as a striped hat, a hat with contrasting headband/pom-pon sections, or various multi-colored variations for the hat and/or pom-pon.

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Materials:

1 Spool of elastic thread (of the same or similar color to that of the fur yarn head-band section);

Double knit weight chenille yarn (i.e., Lionbrand Chenille Sensations) approximately 200 yards (or any yarn which will meet gauge);

1 skein "fur" type eyelash yarn (a thick & longish type; i.e., Lionbrand Fun Fur);

16" Circular knitting needle, size 8 US (5.0 mm);

Yarn needle;

Stitch marker;

4" x 4" square piece of cardboard (or a paperback book of similar dimensions);

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Abbreviations:

Dec: decrease a stitch

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Gauge:

Stockinette stitch with chenille yarn: 8 stitches to 2"; 10 1/2 rows to 2";

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Size:

Woman's medium;

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Directions:

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Fur Head-band Section:

Using fur yarn and elastic thread, cast on 50 stitches. Place marker to mark beginning of round.

Next round: Begin knitting every round, being careful not to twist the cast-on stitches as you attach the cast-on stitches into a round. Continue until the fur headband section is 3 inches in length. Cut both yarn and elastic thread, leaving 5-inch long tails on each to be woven in, invisibly, later.

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Head Section:

(Continue knitting every round.) Attach chenille yarn and increase 27 stitches evenly across next round. Then continue knitting every round until length of this section reaches 4 1/4 inches.

Next round: Dec 11 stitches evenly across round.

Next round: Knit plain.

Next round: Dec 9 stitches evenly across round.

Next round: Knit plain.

Next round: Dec 8 stitches evenly across round.

Next two (2) rounds: Knit plain.

Next round: Dec 8 stitches evenly across round.

Next round: Knit plain.

Next two (2) rounds: Dec 12 stitches evenly across.

Next round: Dec 9 stitches evenly across round.

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Finishing:

Cut yarn, leaving about a 12-inch tail. Thread that tail, using the yarn needle, through the remaining stitches on the knitting needle. Slip the stitches off the knitting needle and "gather" them up tightly, closing the tube of the hat. Then thread the yarn in and out of the point, invisibly, then knotting it several times on the inside of the hat to close the tube permanently. Thread the leftover end of yarn into the inside of the hat so as not to show on the outside. Then go back to the fur headband section of the hat and weave in the ends of the cut fur yarn and elastic thread invisibly into the inside of the hat.

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Pom-Pon:

Take a 4-inch x 4-inch piece of cardboard (or a small paperback book of approximately the same size) and thread a 12-inch piece of the chenille yarn across the bottom. Then, being careful to keep that yarn in line on the bottom, wrap the fur yarn around and around the cardboard (or book), top-to-bottomwise, until the yarn is about 3/4-inch thick on each side of the cardboard (or book) for a large, thick pom-pon. Cut the fur yarn at the same length of one side of the wrapped yarn. Take the chenille yarn strand you had placed underneath the wrapped yarn and carefully pull it tight (gathering the fur yarn tightly) and tie it into a knot, yet being careful not to break the chenille yarn strand. Knot it several times to secure. Then, with the wrapped fur yarn still on the cardboard (or book), take scissors and cut the top edge of the wrapped fur yarn (the opposite end from the chenille strand edge). Once free of the cardboard (or book), grasp the chenille strand end of the yarn and gently shake out the yarn to form the pom-pon shape. Trim stray strands of the fur yarn that are too long with scissors so as to make an "even", circular shaped pom-pon. Then, using the chenille tails of yarn of the knotted section, use the yarn needle to thread them into the top of the hat, thus attaching the pom-pon snugly, and then thread the chenille yarn strands through to the inside of the hat. Once on the inside of the hat, tie the chenille yarn strands into a knot several times, securing the pom-pon to the hat. Leave those strand ends on the inside of the hat.

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Optional Variations for the Pattern:

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A) You can use two (or more) colors of yarns to make a striped hat---simply alternate colors ever so many rows, depending on how thick or thin you desire the stripes. You can use as many color combinations as you like for an interesting variation.

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B) Make the fur headband and pom-pon in a different, contrasting color than the head section color.

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C) Use multi-colored, variegated, chenille yarn for another interesting variation.

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D) You can make the pom-pon in 2 or more different colors---simply wrap the fur yarn of one color for so many wraps and then switch to another color (and so forth) to achieve the color mix you desire.

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