Santosha is the Sanskrit word for contentment, and knitting this hat has brought me so much contentment. A mildly challenging brim followed by quick and easy rows of knitting in the round. It’s fast to knit up, and the brim, made with checkmark cables, is a big beautiful YES.
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Hooray! I made a thing! I’ve been wanting to design (and publish) a pattern for a knit garment for the longest time, and it looks like that day has finally come. My first ever design was the shrug I wore for my wedding back in 2013 (well, truth be told it was such a hot October day that I never ended up wearing it except for the one photo I insisted on…), but time has taught me that even with copious notes, if you aren’t pattern drafting while you knit it’s really tough to go back and remember what you did…so no wedding shrug pattern (for now!).
At any rate, back to the hat. I found this great skein of Sugarbush Motley, a self-striping, super soft yarn produced in Listowel, Ontario, Canada, which is really close to where my Dad and stepmom live. (I always feel like if something is made within 100 km of where your parents live, then that should count as “buying local” too…amiright?!? Who cares about the 3000 kms between us!) I wanted to design a hat that had some intricacy to it, but was simple and plain enough to really feature the stripes.
I also knew I wanted a simple, no-fold detailed cable or lace brim basic beanie hat. After much hunting through hundreds of cable patterns, I found this checkmark cable pattern (original version found here). The look of it really called out to me, but the “rather non-stretchy” description nearly had me pass on by. Thankfully, it appealed to me enough that I decided to persevere, and after I added a purl stitch in-between the cables, I was off to the races with a comfortable stretchy band.
I love the concept of Santosha, the second of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga. As someone who frequently suffers from what I call the “vaguely dissatisfieds”, the irony of the spiritual name given to me by my yoga teachers – Santoshananda, or “bliss through contentment”, was not lost on me. I knew that this name was going to be a life long pursuit, and if I could achieve a mindful presence, or state of flow more often, I would get a sweet sweet taste of bliss.
From contentment and benevolence of consciousness comes supreme happiness.
Sutra II.42 Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar
I called this hat the santosha hat, because it’s just one of those patterns that quickly reveals itself to you – after only a handful of rounds, the cables become clear and you have that knitting moment where you just sigh and say “well, isn’t that pretty”. And while cables are a pain in the you-know-what, it’s only for a couple of inches and then there’s nothing left but knitting in the round and a speedy every-row decrease for the crown. This kind of knitting is my favourite – something to keep my hands busy while my mind can rest easy and I can just breathe (or maybe watch a movie 😉
Hey, wow, you’re still here? Oh yeah right…you’re waiting for the pattern. Well, thanks for sticking it out. Pop on a pop pom and hey, remember to post some pictures to social media, and please tag @creatingmindfully because I would love see your take on this pattern.
This FREE hat pattern can be downloaded here
Enjoy, happy knitting, and may you experience bliss through contentment.
