Sometimes the spark of an idea can quickly get out of hand resulting in a project of extreme detail and time consumption, the Latah Trail Beanie being a perfect case in point. I wanted to do another stranded knitting project but this time without the intarsia+stranded+double-sided insanity of the Latah Trail Beanie. 😉 Still, I wanted to make it extra special since it would be for my father-in-law’s milestone birthday (September 2014).
My FIL has two big hobbies: model railroading and eastern bluebird conservation (see “Bird Man at Doon Valley” p.5). At first I was going to go with the railroad theme but the design ended up looking too childish to suit him. The arrival of a rainbow array of Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Fingering at The Yarn Underground and a workshop with Mary Jane Mucklestone at the 2014 Palouse Fiber Arts Festival prompted me to explore a bluebird-themed beanie. The natural look of the Shetland wool and the available colors were perfect for the natural look I wanted for this hat.
I chose Wildflower Blue and Burnt Cinnamon as the dominant colors to represent the male bluebird’s plumage. Light Denim was used as a nod to the more subdued coloring of the female as well as for the “eggs” inside the nests (represent by the Fawn-colored circles). Lichen seemed to complement the other colors nicely and Mioget for the background added to the natural look I was going for.
The final touch was a pompom made at the 11th hour by my mom which gave me time to tuck all the ends in before catching the plane to Ontario for this very special birthday celebration.
Link to the Blue Bird beanie on Ravelry
P.S. My FIL loved the hat and my MIL dropped some heavy hints that she would not be adverse to a hand-knit hat of her own. Guess Santa’s elves had better get busy!
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