Toft Beehive Hat Quick Knit

I'm still putting off picking up my needles to carry on knitting Kate Davies' Catkin jumper despite the fact that I love wearing the matching hat. I'm coming up to a difficult part in the pattern, and I want to make sure that I'm in the mood for some serious concentration when I attempt it, as I'd hate to have to frog what I've done already!

In the meantime my latest 'quick knit in front of the telly' distraction was Toft Alpaca's beehive hat using their new Ulysses aran yarn in silver. The yarn is incredibly soft and although I really like the company's stock trade alpaca yarn the aran certainly trumps it for me.

I received the pattern as a postcard tucked in with my first year of yarn package in January. Toft was kind enough to send me a review ball of Ulysses and seeing as the hat is only a one ball knit it was a no brainer. As the yarn is so smooth and snug it's a delight to knit with and there were not problems with yarn splitting that has occasionally occurred when I've knitted with their alpaca.

The hat is knitted on a circular needle and took me less than four hours to complete. I topped it off with a Toft furry pom pom that adds that certain quirky vibe.

Unlike most knitted hats there is no ribbing at the bottom. I wondered if this may mean that the hat wouldn't be very secure on my head, but on a trip to the shops yesterday in the wind and rain it stayed put admirably.

For people who don't live near Dunchurch in Warwickshire, where Toft is based, or want to have a squishy feel of the yarn before you buy, baa ram ewe now stocks some of the range.  Baa ram ewe has shops in Leeds and Harrogate. Now, I really have no excuse not to get back to Catkin ...