Lis Knits: the Link hat in Ranch 02: Forbes

The Link Hat from Emily Greene was released as part of the Holiday 18 Collection last winter. As the Knitwear Coordinator for Brooklyn Tweed it is part of my job to assign sample knitters for all upcoming projects and when going through the sketches and swatches for upcoming designs Emily’s cable pattern called out to me. It had been a while since I had knit any cables so I signed myself up to knit the two sample hats for our photoshoot and trunk shows. It was a really fun knitting project, all cozied up on my couch with my cat, and after trying on the double brimmed version I knew I would want to knit one to keep for myself one day.

The pattern is written for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn and while Forbes is a worsted weight yarn too, I’d say it falls on the heavy worsted side. Also, Ranch 02: Forbes is a very different type of yarn from Shelter, so I knew that the finished hat would have some differences to the Shelter versions I had worked before. Luckily it all turned out to plan (better even I’d say), and I knit my Ranch 02 hat to the pattern, with no modifications due to the yarn substitution. I even kept to the recommended needle sizes knowing that would produce a denser knit, but for this sort of true deep winter hat, to help keep out the bracing wind when out and about, that is just perfect.

This yarn is just the thing for cables and they are so plump and squishy. Anything above a worsted weight usually isn’t my favorite yarn to work with (fingering weight Loft is my favorite yarn ever), but Rambouillet is my favorite fiber and I will definitely come back to this yarn for more projects. The pattern by Emily is very elegantly constructed, with columns of cables that alternate flowing upwards and downwards and then are linked together with branching struts. For all that it is a pretty accessible cable project; its visual complexity belies its straightforward construction.