Top Ten: Reasons that a Hat is the Ultimate in Fall Knitting

Back when I was somewhat of a novice knitter, every fall I'd knit myself a new hat. This was, understand, a massive undertaking. I'd only mastered one hat pattern (the kitty cat hat from Stitch and Bitch) and so for about three years, I knit one every fall. These were the single years, those lonely, yet lovely, years between the time my first very long term relationship broke up and when I met my husband. I can still feel the solitude and hear the silence. It really was more lovely than lonely.

Once I met my husband, my tradition went kaput for a while. I met him mid fall of 2006 and haven't knit a hat in the fall since then. In the fall of 2007 -- I started my first sweater. In the fall of 2008, I finished my first sweater. In the fall of 2009, I was a first year teacher. I started a hat in December and didn't finish it until March, y'all.

But this fall, my hat knitting is back with a vengeance. I've finished two and I'm going to finish a third today, I think. Pictures to come tomorrow. But today I'm going to give you the top ten reasons why hats are the stuff for fall knitting.

10. It's getting cold; you'll need a hat soon, if you don't need one right now.
9. Fall is a time of busy bustling all over the place. Hats tuck into a bag nicely for portability.
8. You can finish a hat quickly -- when I was working, if I knit a bit every night, I'd finish Friday night or Saturday -- and hats are the perfect weekend accessory.
7. Hats are good skill practice for the beginner (cast on, join in the round, knit, maybe purl, decrease, use those double points!). The more advanced can show off with cables, colorwork, intarsia, and all sorts of various other techniques.
6. You can put a hat down and pick it up just as often as you like. Hats are most often knit in the round, so there's none of this "Let me just finish this row" stuff to tire or annoy.
5. Hats look fetching on just about anyone. Even your mom, who says she doesn't look good in a hat. She just hasn't found the right one. (Note to self: handknit mom the right hat).
4. Hats can be made out of many different types of yarn. I've used wool, wool blends, acrylic, and though I haven't done it, I've seen friends successfully use eyelash yarn (usually combined with another kind of yarn for warmth) to make a cute hat.
3. A lot of people (non knitters) think hats are hard to make -- you'll look like a genius.
2. That spiral made up of decreases at the top of a well-made knitted hat (if you don't know what I'm talking about, make a hat! Then look at the top. pretty, eh?).

And finally, the number one reason hats are the ultimate in fall knitting:

1. Wearing a well-made hand knit hat is way more comfortable and looks way more flattering than any creation you pick up at Wal-Mart, Target, or even one of those fancy pants sporting good stores (I'm looking at you, evil fair isle hats lined in fleece from REI (always too tight on my head and with that stupid lump at the top too -- whose head is that big???????).

Knitted Back Together

One of the reasons I love knitting so much is that it can fill many holes in your life. It does this not just in stitches and rows and projects, but in the passion it brings into your life and especially in the people it brings into your life.

Over the past 4 years, I've met my husband, dated him, fought with him, and finally married him, learned to be frugal, quit a job without a definite safety net, went to school to change careers, changed careers, got laid off from my latest job, and decided to switch back. I've gained pets and lost pets. I've moved three times, once from the Northeast, the area I've always lived in and where I grew up, to the South, which is as much of a culture shock as visiting a different country. I've lost weight, I've gained it back. My first car finally gave up the ghost.

Nothing is the same. For a while, after my last job ended, I fell into a pretty serious depression. I've only started to feel better in the past couple of weeks, and today I found myself thinking about why. I thought about the fact that we moved, which usually helps for a while, and the fact that my husband and his family have been very supportive (they are gems, really), while my family (not so supportive) has not been in touch. I thought about the fact that I've been able to sleep properly and get some decent rest and relaxation. But then I thought about knitting. Both the craft, and the group of women I started crafting with when I moved here about a year and a half ago. It is both of those things, I believe, that have led to my recent recovery.

The act of knitting always soothes my senses (at least until my counts are off!) because of the flow and it's repetitive nature, as well as the fact that something GROWS from it. When you progress on a knitting project, you see something tangible from your efforts. It's more than the results of, say, running the dishwasher. You've created something, something that hasn't been created before (even if that pattern's been made a dozen times).

The people brought into my life because of knitting have literally knitted me back together this summer. These long-suffering ladies have encouraged me every week and given me a sense of purpose at a time where I felt purposeless. They've listened, told me repeatedly that this is not my fault when the only person I could blame was myself, made constructive suggestions, didn't take it personally when I didn't act on them but just stared at the wall most of the summer, and lots of other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. They managed to break past the hard piece of stone that serves for my head and penetrate my depression and my fog. I will never forget any one of these people for that.

These two factors -- craft, and the people involved in the craft -- are some of the major reasons why spirituality and craft are so linked.

I just started applying for new jobs. While nothing's really come of the whole process yet, this is such progress for me. I'm knitted back together now. I still need some work -- I'm not nearly finished, and I may have a dropped stitch or two, but I'm getting there -- slowly but surely, and I have knitting to thank.

What's a Knitmeister, anyway?

It's not a question I hear often, and it's not something I ever stopped to ponder before today, but exactly what is a knitmeister?

Knitmeister. It's a label given to me by gmail, really. It's my Ravelry username and Facebook username. I thought it sounded funny, sort of like "Knitmonster" so I chose it. When I looked it up, I found that it meant Knit Master (meister = master). Well, I didn't mean to brag...

I find it amusing that as I have used the name knitmeister more and more, I have become more and more masterful at the art of knitting. I still have a long way to go though -- hopefully someday I'll really live up to this hefty name of mine!