I’m so excited to share with you the perfect winter hat and cowl! Nothing makes my heart happier than a new, cozy, handmade hat and cowl! The weather has started to get chilly here, especially in the mornings, and I can’t deny that winter is coming!
This post contains affiliate links that support the content on sekhandmade.com. All opinions are my own. Find my policies here.
The Inspiration
I had a vision for the Tamzin Hat all the way back in April. I knew I wanted to create a beginner friendly hat that was a modern twist on a classic design element. I’ve always loved sweaters with textured panels and cables. They never go out of style! I knew that I could create a hat with the same classic look, with simple stitches. Unfortunately, designing this hat gave me lots of trouble! First, it was too tall, next it was too tight, and the stitches would not stop leaning to the left! I can’t even tell you the number of times I frogged the whole hat. Thankfully I persevered because I am totally in love with this hat!
After I finished the Tamzin Hat, I knew I wanted a cowl to match. I considered creating a cowl that matched the hat exactly, but decided coordinating would be more fun than an exact match. I’m so glad I went with coordinating because I’m absolutely in love with the repeating diamond popcorn stitches on this cowl! I also love that I can pair it with my Ellery Hat too! Extra exciting!
Customize Your Hat
One of the unusual things I’ve learned while designing is that head size can vary a lot. Especially for kids! The Tamzin Hat pattern includes adult and child sizes. The pattern also includes tips for adjusting the pattern for the perfect custom fit!
Stay Cozy
Living up North, I appreciate all the cozy accessories! There’s nothing that makes me happier on a chilly day than bundling up in coordinating handmade accessories! I know that one of my go-to sets this fall and winter will be the Tamzin Hat and Cowl. They are such a fun pair and will keep me so warm!
The Yarn
I used Brava Worsted yarn for the Tamzin Hat and Cowl (and several other patterns) and it’s quickly becoming my favorite acrylic yarn. There are lots of affordable acrylic yarns on the market right now and I’ve tried a lot of them. One of my biggest frustrations with worsted weight acrylic yarn is the vast variety of sizes. While all labeled worsted, they can vary from pretty thin to fairly thick. I really like that Brava Worsted is a very middle of the road, what I would consider, standard worsted weight yarn.
Brava Worsted is 100% premium acrylic yarn and each skein has 218 yds/100g. The label says that it is machine washable and tumble dry. This is so important for hats because you know they can get dirty when you wear them for shoveling and snowball fights! I machine washed and dried some of my patterns made with Brava and they came out looking fabulous! At $2.99 per skein, it’s a good price for the yardage. You can make the Tamzin Hat and Cowl with two skeins of Brava Worsted!
Other Supplies
The rest of the supply list is pretty small. For both patterns, the only other things you really need are a US I (5.5mm) hook, a tapestry needle (these are my favorites) and scissors (aren’t these beautiful?).
I fell in love with and always recommend Furls crochet hooks. Their Alpha Series is my absolute favorite hook line. It’s absolutely stunning and fits so well in my smaller hands. It is one of their pricier hooks, but well worth the splurge. If you’re looking to dip your toes into Furls hooks, I love their wooden Streamline hooks too. Because of their more affordable price, I have a lot of these hooks and use them regularly. They fit nicely in my hands too, are so comfortable to work with, and glide nicely through yarn!
Pin the Tamzin Cowl for later
The Pattern
The Tamzin Hat and Cowl patterns are available on both Ravelry and Etsy for you to purchase! If you’re reading this between October 29th, 2021 and November 4th, 2021 you can use the code 20TAMZIN to save 20%. If you’d like to get the best discounts on all my new patterns, join my email list here!
The Tamzin Cowl is a tier 2 pattern. Tier 2 patterns are designed to apply a new technique. These patterns include medium size projects that will add basic stitches and design elements to the new stitches or skills learned in a Tier 1 pattern, in this case the Popcorn Stitch Cozy. These patterns will grow your skills by using them in new ways.
The Tamzin Hat is a tier 3 pattern. Tier 3 patterns are designed to let your skill shine. They are larger, more complex projects that will mix several intermediate stitches or skills to create a gorgeous final project. These patterns will be made to impress and you’ll be ready because of the skills you’ve built!
Read more about my tiered pattern system here!
A HUGE ***thank you*** to my amazing testers! They all did such beautiful work! This pattern was tested and tech edited to be as clear as possible. Pattern testers are an important part of the publishing process. I appreciate the time and attention they give! Thank you to my wonderful tech editor Michelle Muskett of Tales of Knots whose attention to detail makes every pattern better!
Pin the Tamzin Hat for later
Other Popcorn Stitch Patterns
Popcorn Stitch Cozy – Tier 1
If you’re looking for a quick project to learn and practice the popcorn stitch, the Popcorn Stitch Cozy is the perfect pattern. This pattern also uses working in the back bump and surface slip stitch join to create a decorative seam adding the perfect detail to this totally textured cozy! Lots of photo and video tutorials included!
Ellery Hat – Tier 3
The Ellery Hat was designed for donating to Hat Not Hate and also includes adult & child sizes and lots of customization options! This fun, highly textured hat mixes popcorn stitches with other intermediate stitches for a beautiful texture!
All of these links connect to my Ravelry shop, but if you prefer Etsy, you can find a link to my Etsy shop here!
Read more about my tiered pattern system here!
