Inspiration
The Real 100 Hats of Sara Sprung
When you write or talk about knitting, or even when you make illustrations of knitting, knitters want one more thing: they want to see the knitting. The real knitting. (They also want to touch it and possibly try it on, but these are features that WordPress currently does not support.)
Last week, we learned about my New York pal, Sara Sprung, and her project to knit 100 hats in 2018 for a coat drive at her son’s school, in a beautiful illustrated piece by Michelle Edwards.
Today, we are pleased as can be to share photos of the actual 100 Hats of Sara Sprung. Or, more accurately, since Sara didn’t stop knitting at the 100-hat milestone (hatstone?), the first 100 hats of Sara Sprung.
Note: Sara didn’t use a pattern for any of these hats. When you’ve gotten in the swing of hat-knitting, you don’t need a pattern. You can riff on the details of brim, crown, stitch pattern, and embellishment.
If you have questions about the hats, Sara kindly put clues in her photo file names, so I’m including them. Each name is a little puzzle, or poem, that tells you the yarn(s) and stitch patterns Sara used.
To Sara: a huge thank you, for not only knitting all these hats (and more), but for the time you took to photograph them in natural light and a square format, and then to label them with such precision. They are lovely. You can practically feel the yarn.
Most of all, thank you for sharing this project with us.
There are a lot of hats, so please note that the name/description of the hat is always ABOVE the image.
Hat No. 1: Basic Hand Dyed
Hat No. 2: Cable Sideways Tosh ASAP
Hat No. 3: Cable Sideways Tosh ASAP
Hat No. 4: Cable Sideways Leftovers
Hat No. 5: Cable Sideways Tosh ASAP
Hat No. 6: Stripe Leftover
Hat No. 7: Corrugated Rib Self-Dye Tosh ASAP
Hat No. 8: Corrugated Rib Tosh ASAP
Hat No. 9: Rasta
Hat No. 10: Lang 50 Leftovers
Hat No. 11: Brioche Reversible Lang 50
Hat No. 12: Stripe Leftover
Hat No. 13: Sideways Rasta
Hat No. 14: Sideways Leftover
Hat No. 15: Stripe Leftover
Hat No. 16: Tosh ASAP
Hat No. 17: Sideways ASAP
Hat No. 18: Linen Gift Yarn New Zealand
Hat No. 19: Rasta Leftover
Hat No. 20: Stranded ASAP
Hat No. 21: Michigan Yarn Basic
Hat No. 22: Basic Grignasco
Hat No. 23: Basic Dancing Leaves
Hat No. 24: Stripes Leftover Woolbearers Koigu Chunky
Hat No. 25: Self-Dye Crochet
Hat No. 26: Rasta Crochet Around Knit Brim
Hat No. 27: Leftover Crochet Knit Brim
Hat No. 28: Rios Basic Hat Crochet Brim
Hat No. 29: Crochet Knit Brim Leftovers
Hat No. 30: Rasta Crochet Around Knit Brim
Hat No. 31: Flap Hat Leftover
Hat No. 32: Lang 50 Leftover
Hat No. 33: Corrugated Rib Inca Noro
Hat No. 34: Alpaca Stocking Stitch Pom Pom
Hat No. 35: Two Strands Basic Tosh
Hat No. 36: Sideways Seed Stitch Tosh
Hat No. 37: Basic Leftover
Hat No. 38: Babs Woolbearers Zig Zag
Hat No. 39: Moving Brim Hand-Dyed
Hat No. 40: Brioche Reverse Linen in Alchemy Silk
Hat No. 41: Stranded Dog Cat Leftovers
Hat No. 42: Tosh Home and Leftover Basic
Hat No. 43: Dancing Leaf Babs Linen Reverse Linen
Hat No. 44: Stripes Leftover Basic
Hat No. 45: Two Strand Stockinette Reverse Stockinette Rowan Colorspun Tosh
Hat No. 46: Corrugated Rib Tosh Home Woolbearer
Hat No. 47: Corrugated Rib Sweet Georgia Leftover
Hat No. 48: Stranded Malabrigo Worsted Tosh Leftovers
Hat No. 49: Sheep Shop Leftover Stranded
Hat No. 50: Stranded Tosh Worsted
Hat No. 51: Tosh Tart Zig Zag Brim
Hat No. 52: Jill Draper Basic Hat
Hat No. 53: Corrugated Rib Stranded Tosh
Hat No. 54: Knit Crochet Brim Wollmeise
Hat No. 55: Two Strands Mechita
Hat No. 56: Sweitzer Mill Ends Stockinette Reverse Stockinette
Hat No. 57: Two Strands Leftovers
Hat No. 58: Mill Ends Yowza Two Strands Basic
Hat No. 59: ASAP Rasta Striped
Hat No. 60: Stripe Swedish Ull Schoolhouse Plotulopi
Hat No. 61: Rainbow Rim Ull Plotulopi
Hat No. 62: Rainbow Stripe Ull Plotulopi
Hat No. 63: Rainbow Seed Ull Plotulopi
Hat No. 64: Basic Pom Hand-Dyed
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Hat No. 65: Corrugated Rib Two Stripes Mecha
Hat No. 66: Stranded Jamieson Camp
Hat No. 67: Striped Basic Tosh
Hat No. 68: Tosh Tart Zig Zag Garter Brim
Hat No. 69: Basic Woolbearer Leftover
Hat No. 70: Sweitzer Mill Ends Basic
Hat No. 71: Basic Hat Point Reyes Yarn
Hat No. 72: Basic Stripes Malabrigo Chunky
Hat No. 73: Basic Malabrigo
Hat No. 74: Basic Leftovers
Hat No. 75: Corrugated Rib Stranded Tosh Chunky
Hat No. 76: Stranded Yowza Tosh
Hat No. 77: Seed Brim Reverse Stockinette Stockinette Tosh
Hat No. 78: Stranded Leftover Star Top
Hat No. 79: Stranded Leftover Rainbow
Hat No. 80: Checkerboard Stranded Kaffe Rowan
Hat No. 81: Koigu Rios Leftover Stranded 1 x 1
Hat No. 82: Linen Burly Leftovers
Hat No. 83: Stranded Garter Stonehedge Michigan
Hat No. 84: Drop Stitch Crochet Ridge Pom Leftover
Hat No. 85: Stranded Handmaiden Creatively Dyed
Hat No. 86: Corrugated Rib Zauber Schop
Hat No. 87: Corrugated Rib Kaffe Noro
Hat No. 88: Corrugated Rib Zauber Schop Rainbow
Hat No. 89: Corrugated Rib Freia Knitted Wit
Hat No. 90: Corrugated Rib Noro Noro
Hat No. 91: Striped Hand Dyed Two Strands
Hat No. 92: Corrugated Rib Freia Hydreaux
Hat No. 93: Striped Misti Alpaca Hand Dyed 50 Colors
Hat No. 94: Stripe Hjertegarn
Hat No. 95: Corrugated Garter Hand Dyed Tosh
Hat No. 96: Corrugated Garter Hand Dyed
Hat No. 97: Linen Reverse Linen Hand Dyed
Hat No. 98: Linen Reverse Linen Hand Dyed
Hat No. 99: Corrugated Garter Hand Dyed Knitted Wit
Hat No. 100: Corrugated Garter Hand Dyed Stripe
This is just gorgeous! I would call that ‚hat art in progress‘. Couldn‘t decide which I loved the most. As I don‘t like wearing hats, I never knitted one. But it would be worth the try just for the fun of it.
Beautiful hats knit in beautiful colors. A wonderful thing to do. Thank you for sharing this.
Wow! A picture of each hat! Looking at each one is inspirational. Thank you so much!
So much love!!
Wow. Just wow.
So beautiful and soulful on so many levels.
Tag yourself. I’m No. 14: Sideways Leftover.
I like seeing all the different variations on the rainbow leftovers.
Love this comment!
What a fantastic knitting project! The 100 recipients of her hats will be so warm and stylish. I need to learn the corrugated ribbing.
I just watched an art exhibit right here on my laptop. I’m overwhelmed with Sara’s creativity and generosity. Corrugated rib forever.
Absolutely gorgeous!!! Thank you for sharing!
Michigan Yarn – Basic. That is a title for a poem right there. I can hear it humming in the back of my right ear, the cold one. Excuse me, I need to go write a poem.
Thank you Sara for sharing your inspiring and generous collection of hats! I am in awe of your stash!!
I agree!!
AMAZING! Sara is my favorite knitting superhero.
(I think I need to go through them again. Once was not enough.)
Holly, Thank you for your kind words… I wish I were a superhero, could help more people… have a great day….
Sara
I love the Corrugated Rib riffs, but I’m probably a “Stranded Dog Cat Leftover”. (I so love this.)
Ok. Done commenting! I’ll go back to ogling the hats.
Each hat is a work of art and a joy to behold. This personifies the craft of hand made and takes it to another level of imagination and creativity. Thanks for sharing.
They would make a fantastic poster!
Mariah ,
That is a fun idea. I printed out a small sheet of them.. but…. Poster! that sounds great…
Thanks for the suggestion!
Sara
Absolutely!! Would be great on a huge printed canvas – Ravelry should offer this option from your project notebook. The world needs so much more knitted art!
it would also make a fantastic t-shirt!
Best post ever. How about a March Madness/brackets contest to pick the favorite hat? Could require a small donation to vote, with the proceeds going to buy Sarah more yarn.
Sarah or Sara, what a fun idea! love it Virginia….
Sorry, I mean Sara. She certainly deserves to have her name spelled right.
What a wonderful project! So much talent and time in those pictures – thank you for sharing.
WOW! So inspiring. Thanks so much for posting this.
Wow! Simply wow!
WOW and double WOW, obviously a labour of love.
Wow! Sometimes life really IS like a box of chocolates!
What an astonishing project, and a wonderfully generous knitter. Wow
Beautiful! Many people are graced with warm, unique hats!!
This, and the previous article, are so inspirational. I’ve been pondering how to rein in my stash. I feel like some hats are in order. Our church runs a clothing closet open to all as a way to both recycle and help those who are in need. I’m starting to picture some kids hats available to go with their coats next fall. It’s not a fast KonMari clean up, but I think it might bring me more joy than just destashing or donating some of that extra yarn.
Robby, I have to say the joy I have received from this project has just blown me away. Of course as a knitter the making is great, then I named them and took their picture and I imagine them out on their own in the world…. like the Red Balloon movie… floating along…
One hat more beautiful than the next! I do love a good serial knitter.
Amazing!! So colorful and all different—-I absolutely love this!!!
This is such an amazing act of love and kindness. I am so impressed. Thank you so much for sharing all of the photos and names. I’m going to share this post with my knitting group. We need to be doing more knitting for others.
Wow, such a work of kindness. Love to see a grou photo of kids wearing them.
Yes! Now I want to see happy kids with warm heads too!
Sara Sprung is my new hero! she is a gift to the world
Inspiring. Perhaps a great project for your Knitters Retreat this summer. 100 people. 100 hats. Beautiful project and love the show and tell. Thank you Sara.
Amazing! They are all beautiful.
What a wonderful gift of love and kindness.
The hats are all just beautiful.
I now have to go look up the courragated ribbing.
Holy wow!! This woman had a. an AMAZING stash to work from, and b. an ASTONISHING amount of creativity! Just…yow!!
Absolutely stunning in variety and personality.
How many stitches does she cast on?
Sara, are you or another family member a Michigan grad? Love the TWO Michigan hats! GO BLUE!!!
Dear Kim,
The Michigan Story- my son wants to go to engineering school in the footsteps of my Dad and Grandfather. We have a family friend who studied Architecture at Michigan back in the last millennium who wanted to show off his school. So a visit and school tour was arranged, we found an adorable AirBNB for “football” weekend and off we went to investigate Ann Arbor. The boys went to see some buildings and I found the local yarn shop, SPUN, where I was welcomed with open arms to sit and knit. I bought Shepard’s Wool Yarn, sourced from the local Stonehenge fiber mill in Maize and Blue. I made three hats with the yarn, one for our friend the Alum and two for this project.
Michigan Won the football game, sounds perfect? Not exactly, as Michigan beat our daughters team the Wisconsin Badgers. She texted us to demand that we storm the field to defend Badger honor.
You cant please everyone- but we do agree that the B1G 10 rules!
Sara
A revelation, really. It would make a great coffee table book. Or a real knitting book, with the knitter’s reflections on what she learned about the yarn and stitch patterns as she went along. I especially love the sequences where she combines two yarns in a variety of different patterns (like the black/rainbow combos). I learned so much just looking at these in sequence!
This post is instant inspiration for when I am in a knitting slump. Thank you, Sara!
Ilove seeing all these hats together! What a great project. Certainly inspirational! I love the two Michigan hats. I just finished two for my grandchildren.
Dear Grace,
I shared our Michigan story above with Kim.. you might enjoy it too!
thanks
Sara
Wow, what a labor of love! And gorgeous colors and textures. Our knitting guild is about to begin a charity knitalong – this is great inspiration.
Well Done
They’re all beautiful, but the Michigan ones are my favorites. Nice job!
Glorious. I am particularly smitten with knitted with a crochet brim.
Stunning and inspirational. Thankyou for sharing.
Impressive
W. O. W. !!!!!!!!!
Wow – what a great way to challenge your creativity muscle! I don’t think I could think of so many different combinations of stitches and yarn. All very beautiful, and I’m sure the recipients will be very happy to have them. There are several that I want to riff on – and those yarns are yummy!
I so enjoyed watching themes and variations emerge as I paged down through the hats! Brava! And thank you for sharing the REAL pictures – the illustrated stories are fun, but knitters love to see knitting.
Wow!
I liked hats 13, 16, 34, 35, 70, 75, and 93 best. See? I spent time and thought with each and every one. Bring on the next 100:-). Chloe
Wow Chloe,
My favorites change, Linen stitch is my obsession right now! and I AM working on some new hats… trying to decide what I want as a goal for 2019….
thanks
Sara
Wow- so much generosity, joy and creativity here! I’m blown away.
WOW!!!! What a labor of love. I’m really moved … thanks for letting us see all these beautiful hats!
Looks like Sara Sprung is a fellow Wolverine. Go Blue! You’ve done us proud.
What a wonderful project! Sara has inspired me to challenge myself to knit 100 hats for a shelter in the South Bronx for a nun who works with the street homeless. I have sewn over 100 pairs of fleece mittens for her, and I have a simple hat pattern, already organized my two closets of yarn, so ready, set, go!!!
Awesome !!❤️
I’d love the pattern for #13!
I’m so curious to see how her stash looks like now. That would be so satisfying to stash down for such a generous, wonderful, big project.
I’m fascinated by the fact that not only did Sara complete her 100 hats, but they were all made without a pattern. Inventive, creative, generous….well done Sara!