Ida's Kitchen

I was a child of the 1970's. My friends' homes usually had wood paneling, shag carpeting & naugahyde recliners in shades called avocado, rust or harvest gold. My best friend's mom, Ida, embraced this aesthetic with enthusiasm. We sat on harvest gold upholstered kitchen chairs as we sipped our Tab and ate cold lasagna out of pyrex casserole dishes that we'd found in the avocado fridge. The linoleum floor coordinated with the wall paper which had a stripe in the same shade as the trim-line phone.

Inspired by Ida's color palette I went in search of the yarns for this hat. Luckily Blue Sky Alpacas offers a good range in their Melange and Sport Weight lines (both are the same weight and put up so they mix together nicely). I spent a few very happy hours at Angelfire Studios pulling skeins of each color off the shelf, discussing options with visitors to the shop.

I had so much fun making the first hat that I had to make a second. I think my love of color is well documented and I do have two daughters to keep happy after all. I'd love to show you the second, made with 7 lovely shades of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, but unfortunately the hat is sitting in lost luggage which is probably somewhere between New York and Rome. I meant to get a photo of it on our Christmas trip to Florence but was too distracted by that beautiful city to think about photo shoots. Luckily IJK wore the Blue Sky version often so it appears frequently in the photos from our trip.

I promise photos of the Berroco hat if our bags ever find their way home.

Ida's Kitchen

Sizes: One Size

Measurements: 20”circumference at brim,will fit up to 24” head, 10” deep

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Melange & Sport Weight; 100% Baby Alpaca; 110 yrds/100m per 50 g skein *since each color requires significantly less than one skein I have given yardage and weight rather than number of skeins for the colors below.

Color A: Melange #800 “Cornflower”, 44 yds - 20g, Color B: Melange #806 “Salsa”, 40 yds - 18g,   Color C: Melange #802 “Pesto”, 40 yds - 18g, Color D: Sport Weight #514 “Pale Aqua”, 35 yds - 16g, Color E: Sport Weight #536 “Citron”, 35 yds - 16g, Color F: Melange #813 “Pomegranate”, 22 yds - 10g, Color G: Melange #807 “Dijon”, 22 yds - 10g

Gauge: 21 sts & 28 rows = 4”/10cm on larger needles. in Chevron Pattern, blocked

Needles: 1 set of 5 US 6/4mm DPN’s 1 set of 5 US 8/5mm DPN’s or size to obtain gauge

Other Materials: 8 place markers, tapestry needle

Price: $6.00 US

Comments

[Kelly]

My husband thinks I'm nuts when I talk about Tab...he'd never heard of it. Glad someone else knows what i'm on about!
Another great slouch! The back reminds me of Sikkim my favourite and most worn FO to date :)

[romi]

Love it! I grew up i a house with gold shag carpet (avocado in my room with a giant flower painted on the wall), an avocado stove and amber colored beads in the front windows instead of curtains. Hee. :)

[gudrun]

Love this hat and your photos! Hope you get your bags back.....

[Knitterella]

Ugh! Love! I think I must have this!

[Maria Henderson]

Must make this hat for so many reasons. My first phone was a sky blue trim line phone. I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. My older sisters decorated our bathroom with pink and orange flowers! Love this and I hope your bags are recovered. Mine have been lost many times.. but seem to find their way home.

[Rockymoreno]

I absolutely love the color scheme & the style.

[Heather]

It's like culturally we grew up on the same block:) Needless to say i *will* be making this one!

[Allison]

Oh, you've done it again...another beautiful design. :) Love it. And my house that I rent is still stuck in the 70s, so I identify with you with my bright orange laminate countertops and mustardy yellow trim. I think it has subliminally influenced my love of vintage pyrex. ;)

[thegreenhornknitter]

I truly love this hat! The colors you chose are quite perfect. Thank you for the lovely pattern!

[Stacey]

Ah, the 70's! My husband's parent's had red shag carpet halfway up the wall with paneling the other half. It was still in the house when they sold it five years ago...ha! That hat is fabulous but the backdrop is fantastico!

[Lisa]

Having been in Ida's kitchen, I have to say that the hat does her justice. Great colour combination! And I love the pattern.

[Joanna]

As a fellow child of the 70s I am amazed by what you have done with that hat - one glimpse of it and I was right back there! Perfect colour scheme and perfect shape to those stripes.

[Carole]

That's an awesome hat! I hope your luggage shows up soon but I'm sure the trip was worth the aggravation.

[olivia john]

so beautiful hat
How to end your knitting

[Heather]

So this is what all of my alpaca has been waiting for! Thanks for sharing your creativity!

[Beverly]

I think you've struck a real chord for a lot of us 70s-80s kiddoes! This is fantastic!

[Wendy]

FABULOUS hat. Love it.

[Kym]

Love it! You've perfectly captured the colors of my childhood! :-) Happy New Year!

[handmaid]

What a gorgeous hat! I love it. The pattern, the colours. Beautiful.
Kirsten, I just wanted to wish you all the best for 2011! Make it a great, creative year!

[Debbie]

I know just what you're talking about with all of the colors of that generation. I love the hat! I am envious of your trip to Florence! I'm taking a class in Italian, now, in anticipation of a long-awaited trip to Italy.

I would love to know about your daughter's boots in the photo with the umbrella. Do you know the band and name of them? They're great, and they're just what I've been looking for. Ciao!

[mai]

i love the new hat! great and fun colors. very 70s, so your inspiration makes so much sense to me! I didn't realize that some of your bags got lost :( I hope they are found soon.

[Meghan]

love it! queued!

[marissa]

Another winner, Kirsten. I grew up with those colors as well, and am now awash in nostalgia (though I don't see me pining away for that orange shag carpet in our living room...).

[Chloe]

Such a cool hat. That street scene with the umbrella looks like it was photographed by The Sartorialist? Were you going for that?

[Cathy B]

Ah yes, who could forget Harvest Gold? That brings back WAY too many memories. Love the hat.