This One....

...is definitely my number three favourite. 

I've made a lot of hats over the years.  Simple ones, cute ones, adorable ones, every style and colour.  I've made a lot that I liked for different reasons...the construction, the colour, the compliments, the big eyes peaking out from under the brim.  After making my first Epic Hat (it's new name!) in the fall, I was asked to make two more.  One in sage greens, and one in dusty pinks. 

I was surprised when I went through my stash and didn't find a whole lot of textured green or pink yarns (in the right tones).  I ordered some special yarns from

 Bessie's Treasures and started on the green hat first....just after Christmas while recovering from the flu.  The first step is fun--pulling out all the possible yarns.

I wasn't too excited by my yarns.  Too many smooth, solid coloured yarns.  After I got going on the hat, I decided, late one evening, to dye up some yarns.  I happened to have a package of sage green Tintex dye, which was good for the variety of different fibers, including acrylic.  However..if you're a long time reader, you might remember what happened when I tried using a dark brown Tintex dye and ended up with green.....I was worried that this time I'd end up with brown by using green, LOL.  No worry though, it turned out to be the perfect sage green.

 I added a sprinkle of black dye to some, to get it really deep.

 This hat is different from the original in that it has a ribbed band.  I felt that the green was a little more boy-ish, and a ribbed band suited that, as well as being stretchy.

 Look at all those colours!  And textures!

 My only wish is that I had continued the light colours for a bit longer, though some of them were a bit minty.

 As always, I am over the moon with the tassel.  I've contemplated giving up knitting and just making tassels.  So much quicker (and less yarn) than pompoms.

There's the little "worm loops" on the left, bobbles in the middle, and "pompom" yarn on the right.  I have another idea to make a fringed yarn first, and then use it to knit a row.

As much as I love this hat, and the brown one, the one I truly adore above all others is the pink one.  Which you'll see in the next post.  I already included this hat in my totals last year, it was only 91gr though it was apparently shorter than the beige one.