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Second Harper.


After investing a lot both money- and time-wise to the Harper pattern I felt it would have been an enormous waste only to use it once. I do love the design - I wouldn't have purchased it in the first place had I not - despite the shortcomings of the Brooklyn Tweed pattern. And I do love my Harper hat: I think my first Harper was such a success despite all the extra effort that went into knitting it. Knitted with DK weight yarn it makes a perfect springtime hat: it's lightweight and soft but still just warm enough. I've used it a lot ever since I got it off my needles.

I started the second hat last Monday when I had a doctor's appointment and some tests taken (such as glucose tolerance test which alone took over 2 hours) due to the pregnancy. I knew it would mean a lot of sitting in the waiting room and I wanted something simple on my needles to pass the time. Something that I could just drop and put into my bag the second I heard my name called. The tests came all out fine - no gestational diabetes here, yay! - and by the time I was ready to go home I already had half a hat on my needles. 

The hat is such a mindless knit and suitable for TV time - which is perfect since the ice hockey world championship games are on again. Even the p-tbl stitches are starting to feel more routine after two hats. I still wouldn't go as far as to call them a joy, though, but maybe not a "pain in the a**" anymore.

I just love how different feel this high contrast hat has compared to the subtle colors of the first one. They don't even feel like the same design. It's amazing how changing just one yarn (the white yarn is the same for both hats) changes the whole appearance of the whole hat. I'm tempted to knit a few more versions with different colors but maybe I'll leave that for next fall and concentrate on other stuff for a while.



I knitted this hat according to my modifications for the first Harper hat. The only thing I did differently was casting on with 3.0mm needles and using them for the first 3 cm or so, before changing to 3.5 mm needles for the rest of the hat.




Pattern: Harper by Julie Hoover 
Yarns: Lamana Cusco #0 natural and 
Drops Karisma #53 anthracite
Needles: 3.0mm and 3.5mm
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