Knitting a Minted Hat

I've wanted to try knitting with Suri alpaca yarn for a while. I have very sensitive skin so tend to avoid knitting patterns which involve mohair as I know it tends to be itchy, but I'd heard Suri alpaca was a good alternative. During Yarndale at Home 2020 I saw that Beehive Yarns was selling kits for the Minted hat, which uses a strand of sport weight yarn held together with a strand of lace or light fingering weight Suri alpaca. I'd never knitted a hat before and I really liked the look of the Minted hat, so thought it would be a good way to try knitting with Suri alpaca on a smaller project. I purchased a kit in the Jaded Rose colourway.

I knitted a gauge swatch for this project as I wanted to ensure it would fit and got the correct gauge with the recommended needle size, so I quickly got on with knitting the hat.

As I'd never knitted a hat before I didn't really know what to expect, but I found it to be an easy and enjoyable knit. The rounds never got larger than 105 stitches so it grew quite quickly. I managed to get the hat done over the course of a week, working on it for a small amount of time every evening.

The finished hat fit me well and I was really happy with it. Thankfully I haven't found the Suri alpaca yarn to be itchy at all, it's lovely and soft and I'm considering using it for a sweater project in future. I would suggest giving Suri alpaca yarn a try if you find mohair irritates your skin.

I can definitely recommend the Minted hat pattern, I thought it was an enjoyable project and an easy pattern to follow. I'd suggest checking out the kits Beehive Yarns has available as well. I don't wear hats too often so I can't see myself becoming a frequent hat knitter, but I'll certainly be getting lots of wear out of this one.