I’m not sure when I first noticed the trend for hand-knitted bobble hats with a fur pom pom, last Winter I think, but I know I was grateful for its return.
As any child of the Seventies will attest, the bobble hat was a staple of our Winter wardrobe and was invariably knitted by Grandma whilst we made the pom pom ourselves the traditional way – with two polo-shaped cardboard circles.
Looking back at this vintage 70s pattern (above), why do I think the models look embarrassingly outmoded compared to the same style today (below)? I mean, the yellow cable hat is virtually identical in both photos and yet, somehow, the models look ‘cool’ in the modern photograph.
No doubt we’ll look back in another forty years and laugh but, for now, I embrace the return of the bobble hat.
The hat I had in mind had to be cable, which meant it had to be a knitting pattern rather than crochet, and it had to be written for Aran weight yarn because I had a huge ball left over from a jumper project.
So, having Googled and Pinterest-ed my way through hundreds of bobble hat patterns, I decided on the one above which is a free pattern on the Debbie Bliss website.
Sometimes I work straight from the digital pattern on my iPad but, in this case, I printed it out as it was only one A4 page long.
The tweedy yarn was Stylecraft Special Aran With 20% Wool in ‘Oatmeal’ which is a neutral, goes-with-anything shade of beige.
I chose an Alpaca fur pom pom from Toft in ‘Stone’ to match, rather than contrast with, the hat. It’s the lightest, softest pom pom you could ever imagine!
I gave you a sneak preview in my #sundaysevens post, but here it is again under construction.
The pattern called for straight 5mm needles which meant a seam would be necessary – I remembered to reverse the seam for the part of the ribbing that would fold back and be on show!
Can you knit cable in the round on a pair of circulars? I don’t know.
Anyway, before seaming I would normally block my knitting but this time I hesitated as I like the raised texture of the cables and thought blocking might flatten them to a degree.
I asked No.2 Son to model it for me so I could see what it looked like on the head without having been blocked.
I like it – so it’s staying unblocked:)
Ready for some photos?
Just look at the size of that pom pom!
I love the band of wide 2×2 ribbing.
The cables are suitably reminiscent of the 70s when they were the height of fashion and the fur pom pom brings it bang up to date.
A quick ruffle through with the fingers and all signs of hat-hair are banished!
Yup, this is a new favourite and I can see myself making several more in different colours to go with different outfits.
Has anyone else succumbed to the lure of the pom pom bobble hat recently?
Sewchet 