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Armchair Knitting: Route 99

April 28, 2015

If you’re planning to hit the road this summer, a lightweight hat is a must for windy days and chilly nights. Lee Meredith's new turban-style hat in Spud & Chloë Fine, Route 99, is a colorful way to accessorize your journey!

Lee was kind enough to share some insight on her design inspiration for this pattern:

I came up with the Route 99 design concept when browsing Art Deco patterns and vintage styles, combining an idea for a slip-stitch colorwork stitch pattern with the turban style shape. I had previously designed a hat with a panel which squished the body fabric in a little bit (called Unbroken), so my shaping idea was to use that same modular construction, but to pull in the body stitches much more dramatically. In order to make this all work out how I envisioned it, I designed it for fingering weight yarn, in two highly contrasting true solid colors. I knit up a prototype in 100% wool yarn, which worked out alright, but I knew it would work even better in a yarn with some kind of drape factor; a silk blend would be perfect. The design is published in Stranded Magazine, so they were in charge of yarn - they chose the Spud & Chloë Fine yarn (80% Wool, 20% Silk) which was an absolutely perfect fit! The colors were based on their cheery road trip theme, and I was so happy because orange is always a favorite color of mine. The bright orange & white makes for a totally different feeling hat from my black & off-white prototype version, but it works so well!

Click here to view the entire Fine palette.
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