Even though my brothers and I live hundreds of miles apart from each other, I consider us to be a closely knit family. This winter I did a little hat knitting for my brothers so I thought I’d share that, and them with you!
I used a pattern from Ravelry called Turn a Square. I was able to get 2 hats out of a ball of Noro Silk Garden used with a ball of Cascade 220.
My brother, Scott, lives in Minneapolis. He and his wife, Kris, recently got chickens! He built a backyard coop and pen that coordinate with their house and garage. Mmm, fresh eggs.
My other brother, Roger, lives in Jersey City. He and his wife, Christy, and little O recently got bees! Here’s Rog in his Turn a Square Hat with his backyard hive. We were lucky enough to get some honey from them at Christmas.
I recommend this hat pattern. It was very easy and is a great *guy* hat, don’t you think? Of course it helps to have some great guys to make them for.
I’m looking forward to spring and doing something with my own backyard. Hopefully some kind of veggie garden. I love the idea of making something from what you’ve already got. Bet you do, too.
That’s a great hat. It’s so hard to find a good hat pattern for guys. Thanks for the link.
Hi Betz;
Love the hats, and they do look great on your brothers, thanks for sharing
Isn’t that a great hat. I knit it out of the Noro and some scrap alpaca. I loved the results.Your’s looks great as well.
Oh, I’m so envious of Roger…I’d love to have the time and discipline (and room) to raise bees. My family in Utah owns Miller Honey…if you ever see it in the grocery store, they make Cinnamon Whipped Honey. It’s the best!!
And yes, those are good men hats. Any ideas for crochet?
It’s difficult when our siblings live so far away…and so important to keep the ties in tangible ways. Thanks for the reminder!
Stay Cozy,
Carrie
Hi Betz. I read your blog regularly and I am so very impressed with your unending creativity. A true inspiration! I just had to comment that your brother Roger is a spitting image of Clark Griswold (the character from the Lampoons Vacation movies)!
Amy,
Ah! Too funny! It must be the chin dimple.
Thanks for your sweet comment. 🙂
Betz
Betz, I love that you make things for your brothers but even more than that, I love that they actually wear what you make and seem to like them also. But then it does appear that you are all earthy people … in a good way!!! My Dad used to keep bees and I used to help him extract the honey in a centrifuge machine that was hand (mine) cranked. Thanks for the photo that brought back those fond memories.
Betz’ brother Roger here.
For the record, I love my hat! I wear it every day. I wore it when I I followed my wife into Webbs giant yarn store in MA and a lady there said, “nice hat, Noro Silk Garden!” Yarn Freak! I snoozed in a chair while my wife shopped.
FYI, raising bees is easy. It takes very little time (one of the reasons we decided to go for it was that we found a chart of how many hours it took per month and the busiest month was FOUR!) Also it takes very little space. People in NYC do it on their roofs. I would wager that we have less outdoor space than most folk. We have a postage stamp yard in an ultra-urban gritty city in the most densely populated state in the union. The bees keep to themselves. They leave the hive and fly straight up about 30 feet, and away. We don’t even see them in our yard. And no stings so far, even with most of our handling done with bare hands (the books said to try it.) Plus you get to play with the way cool smoker thing! If you have the inclination, I say, go for it! Oh yeah, and there’s that yummy raw very local honey, mmmmmm.
Those are really nice knit hats, Betz! What a great sister, and what lucky brothers!
I get it, close KNIT family! Good pun, whether intended or not. I’m jealous of the coordinated chicken coop.
Oh wow – they raise their own bees?! That is so cool! I would love to do that (but sadly, I have a phobia of bees. I have never been stung, and I have built bee stings up to be some sort of life-threatening ordeal!).
Those hats are lovely. I am sure they love them!
Aww, the hats suit your brothers so well.
I love that you’re a family of earthy people as mentioned by Karen. Chickens, Bees and Veg? wow!
That’s so great that both your brothers are doing more to be organic and sustaining our bee populations. I just saw something about bees on the Martha Stewarts show & it intrigued me at the time because so many things are involved in bee-keeping. I love your blog and wished that I knew how to knit. The cupcakes are so adorable! Angela – Omaha, NE
The hats are great! It’s a perfect way to use Noro for a guy.