New Cabled Haka Hat + Cowl!

You may or may not remember my old hat pattern called Haka, one of the first patterns I ever wrote waay back in 2008.  Well, it was super simple, it was cheap, and no one really seemed to care about it, but I liked the idea of it and decided it was worth a major makeover!

So I turned it into a cabled hat, to go along with the basic version, and then I recycled the cable chart to make a matching cowl as well!

So it’s all updated on my site and ravelry now as kind of a mini-ebook, with the basic hat, cabled hat, and cabled cowl, altogether in the pdf for $6.  All items use super bulky weight yarn, or 3 strands of worsted weight held together, which is what I used on these cabled samples.

Just like the original Haka, the hat can be worn with the strap four different ways… loose and hanging earflaps:

…fastened around your chin (Haka is Icelandic for chin, by the way):

… fastened up behind your head (this is my favorite way to wear it most of the time, still plenty warm but a bit out of the way):

Side note: one of my testers had the smart idea of putting a second button on the other side of the strap, so when it’s fastened this way the button can show on the outside instead of hidden underneath like you see here.

…and lastly, fastened behind the neck, so the strap is out of the way but the ears are still super cozy:

The cabled hat is the same pattern as the original hat, but with the cable chart for the body (the cables are only charted, not written); the cowl is just a simple tube cowl using the same cable chart:

This sample is the large size, which is huge and flops/folds over.  The small size is more fitted and will stay up around the neck more (see some testers’ versions here!).

The pattern pdf includes a tutorial for cabling without a cable needle (same as this one on my website)… here’s a better view of the cable pattern on the hat:

And then of course there’s the basic Haka as well, which is suuuper quick, easy, great for beginners or for last-minute winter gift knitting:

It will work in any super bulky yarn, finer weights held multi-stranded, or it looks fabulous in handspun!

And the pattern also includes full instructions for jog-less stripes, like in this sample (2×1 stripes like this one, or any other width stripes you want to make):

Many many thanks to my awesome test knitters for your quick knitting and thoughtful feedback!!  Happy knitting, all!