Hats - lost, knitted, crocheted and queued

I made this hat for my brother for Christmas (he lost the hat I gave him last year the first time he wore it, on Boxing day last year...).

I'm planning a tunic for myself using Latvian stars, and I used this hat to try out the motifs. I also decided to give the Latvian braid another try (The first and the last time I did, I found it very tricky, and that's probably the reason why this sock is still single. Well, the braid doesn't show in the photo, but there is one on the cuff.) I found this tutorial, because I had forgotten how to do it. And you should purl, with to colours, and hold the yarn in front of your work, which is an awkward thing to do. So I thought, instead of purling with the yarn in front of the work, why not knit with the yarn behind the work? So I tried that, and it worked perfectly. Just turned the worked with a wrap and turn. I think I'll make more braids like that. I also want to try this Latvian twist one day.

The stars I found in this book, on Flickr and on this site.

This FCBarcelona hat I made last winter has also disappeared. We all suspect it will reappear at some point, behind a shelf or in a bag, but winter is now (- 25 today) and another hat was requested, a hat like the new Barcelona ball. I first consiedered knitting, but decided that would involve to much calculation and swatching, so crocheting was a better option. And the receiver was happy.

Lost, knitted, crocheted and queued -A couple of my Ravelry friends, have recently released new patterns: Asplund's Sigge hat is a very nice hat in stranded colourwork with two colours - his first published pattern. Hopefully not his last. In my queue. And Woolly Wormhead, definitely not her first hat pattern, she has lots of nice patterns - but I especially liked this one: The hat with no name (as yet). She has got lots of name suggestions on her blog, mine was Galaxis. Have a look here to see why.

That was today's hat update, now back to mitten knitting.