#9 Giftie Slouchy Beanie

The number 9 slot on my list goes to Tanis Gray's Giftie Slouchy Beanie.

Let me preface by saying I ADORE this pattern... It's so classy looking, and uses simple lace design along with a bulky yarn to make a sweet slouchy hat.

This pattern is great for seasoned knitters and adventurous newbies alike. The hat took me all of about two days working a few hours after work each night. But don't take too much stock in my speed since I'm a slightly OCD knitter (it has to get done perfectly - and fast!).

I ran across this pattern because a friend fell in love with this hat on ModCloth, but lamented her lack of funds to buy it. I volunteered to make my own version of it, and found the giftie hat to be the closest thing I could find. Actually, I think Giftie is prettier. :)

I used knitpicks new line of acrylic yarn: Brava in the bulky weight.

I chose White and Red:

I also added a large white pompom to the back, which i thought was adorably whimsical.

Here's a couple pics of my incarnation, one before the pompom:

And one on Nikki's head when she got it in the mail!

And here's a better shot of the pompom:

About the Designer
Tanis Gray is such an amazing designer... her experience includes Yarn Editor for Vogue Knitting, Knit Simple, Knit.1, Yarn Market News and Debbie Bliss. She's also the author of Knit Local, which has been in my Amazon wishlist so long, I need to hurry up and order it!

Love this pattern?
*Queue it on Ravelry here.
*Check out the designer's page here and website here.

#10 Seed Stitch Hat

Lion Brand yarn's Seed Stitch Hat is a great way to kick off our countdown!

This is a simple yet beautiful beanie that is great for larger heads. One great aspect about it is it's one of the few truly unisex patterns I've found. I made one for my husband for Christmas (he has a very large noggin) and it looked just as good on him as it did when my MIL tried it on!

Construction is super easy and quick, since it's worked flat and then seamed up the back. With the seed stitch in the pattern, you can't even see the seaming on the back. It gives a very professional, finished look.

I made mine with Caron Simply soft Paints in sticks and stones:

which made it sufficiently manly, I think.

I don't have any good pics of my incarnation of this pattern, but check out the stock photo supplied on Ravelry:

Love this pattern?

*Check it out on ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seed-stitch-hat-60813ad
*Check out lion brand's website: http://www.lionbrand.com
*And here's a link to the yarn I used: http://www.caron.com/color_cards/cc_sspaints.html