Mille Colori Beanie

Hello! Today, I would like to share with you a little bit of a surprise project that literally fell off my hook a couple of days ago. It started life as a bag-to-be, after I purchased a stash of gorgeous Mille Colori yarn by Lang.

What I first made were these two simple treble (US dc) circles:

In my mind, I had a very clear vision of what I wanted them to become. A circular bag, either like this one or this one. But months went by and the two circles lay forgotten in my WIP basket until I unearthed them recently. 

Lately, I have been working on bags quite a bit, such as this one, and a couple of others, which haven't yet made it to my blog in their finished forms. And as I looked at the two circles, I thought I had had enough of bags for now. I suddenly remembered that one day, when I was still making the circles, someone had asked me if I was making a hat. And then, it became crystal clear to me: this yarn wanted to become a hat.

So I frogged the circle on the right hand side in the above pic, after much deliberation over which circle would be the continuation of the other, and with the fresh ball of yarn thus obtained, I carried on working from the first circle.

About two hours later, after quite a few try-ons over yours truly's head, I had a fully finished hat. Would you like to have a look? I hope you do, because I have pics of it under about every possible angle ;) Ready?

I love how the variegated yarn created this neat contrasting border effect. If that isn't serendipity, I don't know what is.

Aaah, and just look at these amazing colours creating random stripes. That's what I love about variegated yarn. You never quite know where it's taking your project. I find it quite liberating that I don't have to think abour what colour could be next. I suppose it is a little lazy, but let's say it's lazy in a good way :D

To join the rounds, I didn't count the first 3 chains as one treble as one usually does when working in rounds. That way, I avoided the telltale spiralling seam that is so characteristic of crochet worked in the round and which I am really not a big fan of. 

Go on, have another angle.

And the last one, I promise!

So, as you probably can tell, I am very pleased with this little unexpected project. It really feels as if it was waiting to jump off my hook at the best opportunity, and whether I wanted it or not! I love this. It's one of the joys of the creative process. So what do you think?

The hat is extremely simple to make, so if you want to have a go, I'll write a pattern as soon as I have some time.

Till then, ta-ra!