NPS Hats: Mesa Verde Cast on

 

I cast on for the Mesa Verde Beanie of Nancy Bates National Parks hats series. A late start this was one I had to get going quickly to meet my deadline. In my mind these hats would all have been done by the end of July. I didn't account for the time commitment. It's one thing to knit and it's a whole other thing to knit color work patterns while keeping an eye on a busy toddler. I had to rip back many times the previous two hats because of a miscount on stitches. I have to work on these patterns when I have time to be alone. Hilariously said by a women with young children in her home. The time I do get alone is after 8pm most days and usually by then I am THE TIRED. I got a good start on this Mesa Verde hat which is what I hoped to accomplish before heading out on our long trip. I have a good set up on the pattern and will have to set aside some time in the car to get it done. 3 days of driving should be enough. I say this and I know I will be laughing at myself for thinking this very thing. 

I added more length to the brim. This time I made a point to do so and not fret about to or not to do. 

About the yarn. I found and bought the Malabrigo Rios yarn in Plumo (gray black) and Natural (creamy white) online to use for this hat specifically. As with most of these hats I wanted to source yarn in my stash for this hat because simply it is just black and white yarn which is easy to find. Yet after scrutinizing the hat in her book and seeing what she was trying to highlight as a feature of the pattern I decided to go on and get the recommended yarn from her pattern. I think that at minimum using the Plumo color way is absolutely significant in the overall look of the hat. The black has a really good tonality that does make this hat look like a piece of pottery. 

I did notice that many other patterns in her book use these colors too so I ordered an extra natural skein to have on hand. (Mount Rainer uses both of these colors in case anyone was curious.) A note in general I noticed in her book is that she uses a lot of Malabrigo Rios yarn for her patterns. If you have an eye on a few patterns I'd check and see if you might save time and order a few skeins from them online for those patterns.