I've alluded to it for a while now, but at long last, I've finished the Steady Hat.
As with the Ready Mitts, the hat was designed with a particular function in mind. One of the problems I have with winter running is getting cold ears when I start off. Now, I'm not saying my ears are big, but when I met Gary Lineker, he pointed and laughed. I could have gone for a knitted headband, except for the fact that I'm neither Ray Mears, nor Bjorn Borg.
I decided that a folded brim would keep my ears warm without having a really thick hat that would cause me to overheat. It's fairly straighforward to knit, and the photos should help with the folded part. The outer layer of the brim is in the same stitch pattern as the mitts so that there's continuity within the collection.
The Skein Queen yarn really is a great colour and so I will stand out in a crowd. Debbie has dyed this Steady Saffron for Refuge colourway of Desire DK especially for us, and it will go on sale in her shop update on Thursday 28th February 2013. A large proportion of the proceeds from each skein sold will also go to support the work of Refuge. Thank you Debbie for all your help and the wonderful colour!
Next up is the Go! Scarf. Having selected one idea from the list I'd generated and then swatched for, I had to reject the design as it wouldn't have worked out. This weekend, I'll start again with my next idea - the joy of swatching.
All proceeds from the pattern sales will be going to fund the excellent work of Refuge with women and children experiencing domestic violence (following Ravelry and PayPal fees). So please do spread the word!
You can purchase a copy of the Steady Hat pattern for £2.50 here: 
Or you can purchase the whole eBook (which will be 3 patterns in total) for £5.00 here:
Jen and I will be at Unravel in Farnham tomorrow (Saturday 23rd February), and I will be sporting my hat and mitts, so do say hello! Skein Queen and Fyberspates will have Ready, Steady, Go! eBook vouchers available if you would like to purchase on the day.
Many thanks to Nic Blackmore for brilliant layouts and design; Andy Robinson at Bluefaced.com for donating the base yarn to the dyers so that more of the proceeds can go to Refuge; Fyberspates, Skein Queen and BabyLongLegs for yarn support and working on custom colourways for us! And finally to Jen for tech editing the patterns for me... I'm not sure "joiny, join, join" is a standard knitting term, but I think it should be.