Revisiting Rivendell

A few years ago, I designed a hat I called "Rivendell." It was a cloche of sorts, tightly knit in DK weight wool, with a flared seed-stitch brim and lush staghorn cables that cleverly came together at the top. It was my first design, and it came out in Magknits in May 2007.

the original Rivendell hat, 2007

When Magknits was abruptly taken down in 2008, I thought it was a good chance to revisit and re-release the pattern. Since it was my first pattern, there were definitely some improvements needed! I really hopped on that (ha!) and a year later, in late 2009, I finished a softer, larger gauge, ribbed-brim version in white alpaca.



Then I started re-working the wool, seed-stitch brim version. I got stuck. I knit a few versions of the brim -- trying to perfect the size and the shape of the flare -- until I got frustrated and just gave up. A year and a half later, I tried again, in yet another green wool. Stuck again.



And finally, I admitted that the ribbed brim made for a more wearable hat anyways. So I cast on and have been happily knitting onwards. With any luck, I'll actually finish the new pattern this winter!


This time around, I'll probably release it as a for-sale pattern on Ravelry, rather than having it be a free pattern, as it originally was on Magknits. I remember Marnie Maclean talking about this when she re-released her Crime of Fashion pattern post-Magknits. I'm only making modest changes in the end, but there's a lot of my time that goes into re-knitting, re-photographing, re-charting, re-writing, and re-formatting the pattern. Can't wait to have this hat out of my system!