Knitting 25 Hats in 2015

She Makes Hats Simple Slouch with matching Motley Mitts.
You can't get any simpler than knitting stockinette in
the round with self-striping yarn! (ILTY Kaleidoscope)

Are you making any goals for 2015? I am way over the lose weight, exercise more, return  texts type of goals I usually set. Way too much pressure for me. Instead, I am setting a much more fun goal of knitting hats this coming year. I am going to list 25 hat patterns that I like and see if I can't meet that goal! Hopefully I won't end up with too many roll-over aspirations in 2016. I feel I can manage this, though. I can do it sitting down with a cup of tea and 14 seasons of some foreign crime drama playing, so I can't see how this could be anything less than blissful.

I am not very good at setting goals because I THINK I can do everything when in reality I am quite easily distracted. Thinking about it right now I look at a hat and I think I could make some Motley Mitts to match and maybe I should do a hat and mitts for each one.... See? Getting way ahead of myself. I have to leave time for crocheting, too. And eating and sleeping. If I am lucky. So, I will leave it simple and reachable. I will just say hats. 25 different hats that the patterns are new to me.

My knitting abilities are not fully developed. I can do some fair isle and simple cables, but I can't handle small needles and I have never invested in circulars in anything over a size 11, so I depend almost entirely on Worsted/Medium weight patterns. I have trouble with some decreases, so sometimes those get substituted with decreases my hands can manage (and I always have to look it up to be sure it slants the right way- and which way we need that to be- that knowledge refuses to stick in my head!). I know like 2 cast-ons and 2 bind-offs, so hopefully I will be learning some new skills on the way. And get faster. I really wish to knit faster!

Update 3/10 - I have invested in a full new set of modulars, a matching set of DPNs, and also a set of cable needles. I also made a point of stockpiling some #3 and #5 weight yarns. We are now cooking with gas.

When I finish a hat, I will check it off the list and share a picture, tell you what yarn I used, tell you how I liked it, what I learned, if anything. That seems like a good idea. And, in the event I change my mind and don't want feel comfortable with the pattern, I will add that to a 'better luck next time' list and replace the one on the list with another.

2/27 Update: I decided I wanted more room to talk about some of these projects, so I move them from my neat little table here to their own blog postings. Once they are checked off, I switched the link to the blog post link. You can find the link to the pattern there, but this way I force you to at least look at my pictures. I have since added many more free pattern links (and continue to do so) and will probably work from those rather than some of the more simple ones. This is for 2 reasons: The more I learn the more I get bored with repeated Stst or ribbing. AND The more I work the more I think of more things I need to learn or get more practice with. So... Here is a long list. Maybe there are some things there that you will want to try!

✔1. Sandoval Hat She Makes Hats Hat #1 
✔2. Helping Haiti Hat  She Makes Hats  Hat #3 
3. L.A. Winters Hat She Makes Hats
4. Travel Hat She Makes Hats
5. Tyson Hat She Makes Hats
6. Parker Hat She Makes Hats
7. Molly's Hats She Makes Hats
8. Purke Hat She Makes Hats
✔✔9. Coronet Knitty     Hat #2 & 2.5
10. From Norway With Love Pickles
11. Vortex Knitty
12. Warm Winter Pom Pom Hat Pickles
13. Natural Winter Kit Pickles
14. Melker's Kindergarten Kit Pickles
15. Walk in the Park Pickles
16. Close Cable Hat Pickles
17. Waffle Hat Pickles
18. Wavy Moss Hat Cedarbox Knits
19. Travelling Cable Hat Purl Bee
20. A Lonely Little Cable Hat Joji
21. Jesse's Christmas Hat Wrypunster Designs
22. Slouchy Bliss Marly Bird (this one is not free but I got it free as a giveaway)
23. Neon Ski Bonnet Volkstriken Industries
24. Turn a Square Jared Flood
25. Fishtail Hat Knitamaniacs

✔26. Destashification Slouch Hat  The Destashification Project Hat #4 
✔27. Cheree's Chapeau Casey Robinson  Hat #5 
✔28. Ripple Cable Hat Amy Grace Hat #7
29. Favorki  Agata Smektala
30. Pome  Agata Smektala
31. Agathis Agata Smektala
32. Whirlpool Hat Lynette Connors  BULKY
33. Dwarf'sWife Hat Asja Janeczek DK
✔34. XOXO Hat Katherine Remski Hat #6
35. Tears of Joy Hat Jennifer DiMaria
36. Mossing Around Drops
37. Iris Bloom Bonnet Gretchen Tracy
38. Snow Day Hat Emily Devlin

This list is To Be Continued!

This is where I usually say 'Happy Crocheting', but this time I will say 'Happy Trying Something New!' -Jenna

2016 Update: Well, I didn't get 25 hats made. I did knit more than is recorded here, but other patterns. Maybe I will get around to adding those eventually. Sadly, I have learned that I don't have as much time to knit as I thought I did. I still keep a project on the needles at all times, though, just for when I need a break from crocheting, I still want to try all of these patterns, though, and many more!