Vase hats

A hat is shaped quite like a pot, and who wouldn't want to wear an Athenian pot on their head? I have always been an overambitious knitter, so as my first real colorwork project, I designed two knit hats based on Athenian vases. I quickly learned (as any experienced knitter could have warned me) that leaving a lot of blank space is not ideal for a stranded colorwork piece. You can see how I made sure to fill the space much more with my second hat (Pindar) compared to the first (Penelope). Penelope was a gift for my fantastic undergraduate advisor and friend. Pindar remains my winter hat.

The patterns for these are available for purchase on my Ravelry and are posted to my Patreon for paid members.

Penelope

This hat depicts women engaged in various fiber production activities, plus some bonus dancing and lyre playing since I can't resist! It's based primarily off of the famous vase depicting women engaged in various textile production activities, though I used other vases to model the other figures. I named it Penelope after Odysseus's wife Penelope, one of the most famous weavers of all time. Modeled below by myself and my gracious little brother.

Pindar

The Greek poet Pindar is most famous for his victory odes. Since this hat includes victory motifs such as winged Nikes and a championship horse receiving a laurel, I thought Pindar would be a fitting name. In the winter time I always enjoy getting to pick which side I display on the front; it's definitely a successful 360 experience. You can see I had some issues with the bottom ribbing, but I ended up redoing it (a few times) and now it's nice and tight, as in the second image.