Three Buggiflooer Beanies

I have knitted furiously over the last three days to use up the remaining Jamieson and Smith wool I bought to make their Buggiflooer design for this year's Shetland Wool Week Hat. This morning I finished. All three hats are in this photo, along with the leftover wool, and the pouch I embroidered from the same design.

I am, of course, sorely tempted to knit another pouch from the remaining wool, but I do need to get on with some Christmas projects!

I wasn't at all sure the third hat was going to work. I had bought a second ball of the navy to finish the first, and official, beanie, so had quite a bit of that left. The mauve colour was nearly a full ball, and there was enough of the yellow to use again for the flowers.

As no remaining colour would be enough as background for the whole hat, settled on two main colours, the navy and mauve. As in the orange hat, I used one background in the band and the crown, another in the main section. I wasn't sure the orange contrast was going to work. around halfway it seemed doubtful.

However, once I got the middle section bordered with orange and navy my fears were allayed. It is amazing how the impact changes as the pattern progresses.

I had a similar concern about the crown, but it was again, unfounded.

Keeping the flower in a single colour, without the shaded band of Beanie 1 helped, I think. 

As always, the final rows of the crown were awkward. I used the ChiaoGoo Twist Shorties this time- only 2" needles on a 6" cable. It's still awkward, and slow, but a bit better than other methods. At this point the stitch minders are more trouble than they are worth, and I removed them.

To my surprise, I really like the result - it's almost my favourite of the three!

I am, however, unlikely to wear any of them. I already have several woollen hats I rarely wear. Most were knitted when travelling, or planning to travel, in colder climes than we see in Australia. 

They will, however, illustrate our upcoming WES group session on knitting - and someone will one day get use out of them. They have fun to knit.