Yes, I know, there are only like 2 days left of March, so it’s going to have to be a quick challenge, but being sick has thrown everything off schedule, and my February challenge is blocking, so I feel let’s go for it!

The inspiration

This month’s inspiration comes from a series of doorways that according to their captions on pinterest are all Mexican doorways. I just love the combination of oranges, browns and greys. It feels so warm and with the cold wind that’s blowng so strongly outside today, I need a bit of warmth.

The yarn

The yarn I’ll be using is Madelinetosh’s Tiny Twists. They’re DK weight miniskeins in either a set of 6 gradient skeins or set of 5 assorted colours. Each miniskein is approximately 50 yards, so each set of 5 skeins is equivalent to 1 skein of DK yarn. I’ve been wanting to create something with these yummy sets of colour for a while now.

I’ll be using the Paper Leaf set in colorways: Canvas Tent (light grey), Morel (darker grey), Warm Mushroom (light brown/caramel), Bay Horse (darker brown/copper) and Hearth (rich orange).

The design

As we’ve said this needs to be a quick challenge, something that can be finished in a couple of days – and with only 1 skein of DK weight yarn – so I’ve decided on a hat.

I’m a abig fan of slouchy beanie style hats that don’t squash your hair. So for the sizing, I’m going to measure on of my favourite hats and base the size off that.

Now for the acutal design on the hat: I want the colourwork to be more interesting than stripes, but with large enough sections of colours that you can easily distinguish the colours so that the hat could also be knit with a set of gradient colours. And as you’ve probably guessed from the little swatch above, I’m thinking of triangles or chevrons…

So now that we have all that decided, let’s see if I can actually design and knit this hat in 2 days…