Introducing Escargot

Escargot
Escargot

It was June 2010 and Kel, Danielle, and I were flying down the highway coming back to Alexandria from TNNA (the yarn industry trade show) in Columbus, Ohio. Danielle may or may not have been pushing the speed limit just a smidgen, and Kel may or may not have been clinging to the Mini's door in abject terror. There was a lot of chatter and planning, interspersed with laughter and highway-induced exasperation. I was taking notes as we planned the next year in yarn for fibre space... and I was doodling.

One of the doodles turned into the Hatskarfenmitten.

The other doodle became Escargot. But it took a while. Things changed and we moved to California, but I couldn't get the idea of a funky, asymmetrical, spiral-enhanced cloche out of my head. This summer, I bumped into Amy Singer, the editor of Knitty, at a couple of yarn festivals, and told her I had a really cool hat idea. She said, "send it in."

Escargot
Pretending we are waiting for the train. With real genuine 1920s women's magazine.
Sure, I had an idea, but the real challenge lay in making it all in one piece and getting the spiral to work the way I wanted. I knit and ripped out the cast-on section of the pattern a half-dozen times before the spiral would lay flat and be the right size. (And be happy, knitters, because the original cast-on was four hundred stitches. Not fun to rip out and re-knit once, let alone a bunch of times.) I threw it across the room in disgust more than once.

Escargot

By the time I finally figured it out, I was sick of it. I called up fibre space and ordered some beautiful BFL yarn from Dragonfly Fibers and got it in the mail. My mom knit the first two hats (one of which was for testing only and doesn't show up in any of the photos). I got more yarn - again, a beautiful BFL - from Miss Babs, and knit two more hats. I cajoled a bunch of friends from my local knitting group into an early morning photo shoot (it's really hard to make California in August feel like winter anywhere), triple-checked everything, and sent it off to Knitty, fingers crossed.

I heard back a while later, and have been waiting to be able to tell you about it ever since.

Now it's here and you can knit one! I couldn't be more excited. The pattern is here, and you can queue it up on Ravelry here. Happy knitting!


Comments

Tim said…
That's a cool hat, congrats!
Kate said…
beautiful hat, Veronica! wow! thanks so much for making my yarn look so amazing:)
chmurka said…
Great patter, I will kint it :)
Trish said…
I loved the hat as soon as I saw it. It's exactly the kind of cloche that DD likes so I will probably cast on today using some leftover Brown Sheep Worsted. I was pleased to see that you are "related" to my Most Favorite LYS ever. Congratulations on the pattern and thanks for sharing it with us all.
reluctantMANGO said…
I was so thrilled to see your beautiful face looking at me from the Knitty Pattern Index this week!!! SQUEEE! And congratulations - it is a gorgous hat, and I will be knitting one up for myself post haste :)
Anonymous said…
Lovely hat, Veronica! It's a very cute and original pattern. We'd love to see it in person over at FS! ;)
Dymphna said…
This hat is awesome. Any idea how I can increase the size to 22" around? I need a larger size for my head.
Anonymous said…
Congrats, and thank you for the pattern.
Rita from Italy
Faydra Jones said…
I love, love, love this hat!! Thank you for persevering & finishing your design! It's beautiful & I plan to knit it for myself ASAP. I have finish gift knitting first! :-)
sandra said…
Quel magnifique modèle. Un brin retro...j'adore!!!!

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