Saturday, February 24, 2007

Studies in Odessa no. 6

Six Ways to See Odessa... the hat, not the city.

You all know those patterns a mile away. The ones that are sweeping the knitting world. The difference between a Clapotis and an Odessa is that you can whip out three Odessae in the time it takes you to get to that first dropped stitch. Is it any wonder that these spirally hats are virtually piling up over here??

Gen (aka Azura) started the trend last fall. She had only knit a couple of projects but she courageously dove into this pattern which was more complicated than anything she had done before. We're not really sure what happened but the result was not Odessa. Don't get me wrong, we all think it's beautiful and wish we knew what she did so it could be recreated on purpose. This hat has been christened the "Corinna" for it's recipient. (It's RYC Cashsoft DK in white)



Gen decided to have another go at this pattern for her sister in Cashsoft DK cream (huge difference there). After a few setbacks, she finished a true Odessa!



Needless to say after all this drama Gen needs a break from the pattern but she had already bought the yarn to make herself one. She would love to hear any suggestions for similar but different hat patterns.

Heather was the next to jump on the bandwagon. She made Odessa for her sister's Christmas present in a lovely olive green, here posed with photogenic kitty Molly (she wasn't posed, she actually jumped up there herself).



Despite her issues with hats intended for herself, Heather bowed to peer pressure and was convinced to knit herself an Odessa out of Manos.



After a few length issues, there is a slight problem with the top having a bit of a nipply effect, a common hat related issue attested to by other knitters. As long as Heather doesn't mind walking around looking like a Hershey Kiss, it will work out just fine.

With all this Odessa-making going on Adriana wasn't going to be left out. Since everyone else was making hats for their sisters, she decided to make one for the person most likely to become her sister, her brother's girlfriend Courtney. After deep discussions at Romni with Heather, she caved and used the same olive-y colour of Cashsoft DK but decided to make things a little more complicated for herself and use beads. The amber beads seem to go perfectly with the olive green.



Adriana also decided to make a one for herself, unconsciously copying Grumperina's original by choosing Cashsoft in Belladonna and going with pearly beads. Unfortunately she got a little impatient and decreased too soon so this hat does not properly cover her ears. It will be fixed soon before it gets too warm out to need hats.



Same pattern, six very different finished objects. It is nice to see that even with the pattern du jour, creativity can still be expressed! Now, how about all those calorimetries out there...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to admit it, it's one of the next things on my list.
I'm making it in a pretty buttery orange color, perfect for fall, which just so happens to start on Thursday.

Anonymous said...

What a great group of hats. I was going to write a post about group projects where everyone does their own thing. Kal's, self portraits, colour spectrum and a few others, they all intrigue me.

Azura said...

hee! I'm a tag :)

Heather's hats look so very much smaller than mine and yours... and I made my sister's hat too big, but she loves it anyway!