Knitting: Black Peasant Cap for me ... I think!

I recently tried to make myself a warm winter hat. I had made this pattern for my mother-in-law last year and loved how it looked on me then. But now that I've made it for myself, I'm not so sure about it. I look ridiculous in beanies, and I'm not so sure I like how I look in this hat, either.

Please excuse the splotches on the mirror. This is the kids' bathroom, and they have a nasty habit of flinging their hands dry before they reach for a towel. I usually see it before taking pictures, but I didn't this time.

It's a very nice hat and wonderfully designed. In theory, I love it. In practice, I think it's my face that I don't love. Unfortunately, there's no knitting trick to cure that. :)

I made my mother-in-law's in white, so I did think about going with white for this hat. But I wanted a natural fiber for warmth, and truly white wool is hard to come by. I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Wool for this hat, and I loved working with it. It's nice and soft, although it's not machine-washable. It's not like you wash winter hats every week anyway, so that won't be a hardship.

Did I ever mention that I have naturally curly hair that I've decided to quit fighting? All my life I've been combing the curls out of my hair and then wondering why my hair was so frizzy. I didn't realize I had naturally curly hair because I thought "natural" curls wouldn't do that. Fortunately, a friend recently directed me to the book The Curly Girl Handbook where I learned what I've been doing wrong and how to correct it. As a result, my hairstyle and haircare routine has changed.

Why did I mention all of that? Well, I finally decided that I'm tired of freezing all winter without a hat, but I don't want my hair rubbing against wool (or even acrylic) and frizzing when I wear one. So I got the idea to wear my satin sleep cap (to keep my hair from frizzing while I sleep) underneath a wool winter hat. I have it on in the photos, and you can't tell. Yay!!

If you're interested in the pattern I used, it's a free Ravelry download: DIY Peasant Cap by Melody Parker.

If you have any other non-beanie hat suggestions for me (especially handknits that I can make), I'd love to hear them!