Botanical Beach Alternate Yarns
If you’re planning to knit up a Botanical Beach Hat, you’ll want to have a light worsted weight yarn that has a pretty good drape at the pattern gauge of 19 sts = 4”/10 cm. Both super smooth, soft yarns, and toothier, loftier, woolly yarns should work as long as the fabric you get at gauge isn’t too dense and stiff. The drape helps with that slouchy shape.
Here are some yarns you might consider trying.
Botanical Beach Hat in mYak Baby Yak Medium
I knit my first Botanical Beach hat in mYak Baby Yak Medium. It’s a yarn that’s super luxurious - it’s incredibly soft and lofty with a wonderful drape that’s still durable. If a couple skeins of this precious stuff is in your budget, I highly recommend giving it a try! ($25USD for a 125 yd skein)
Botanical Beach Hat in Daughter of a Shepherd Ram Jam Worsted
I know we love stash-diving too, though, and there’s something so satisfying about using up leftovers. I knit my second sample in extra yarn I had after finishing my Dissent pullover. If you love woolly, crunchy yarns as much as I do, you should definitely try out Daughter of a Shepherd Ram Jam Worsted. It’s so lofty and airy and warm and comes in the most spectacular natural shades. Plus, it’s quite affordable. You could get two skeins of Ram Jam to make this hat for £18.00 (about $22USD or $29CAD.)
I also loved how it came out in North Light Fibers Atlantic. One of my testers, Miriam, knit this gorgeous hat. (and then knit another one in reverse colours!) ($30 for a 170 yd skein)
Some other yarns I’d swatch with to try for this project are:
A Verb for Keeping Warm Pioneer ($32USD for a 160 yd skein)
Abundant Earth Aviary ($30USD for a 200 yd skein)
Biches & Buches Le Gross Lambswool (€22.00 for a 208 yd skein)
Harrisville Watershed ($9USD for a 110 yd skein)
Kelbourne Woolens Scout ($16.50USD for a 274 yd skein)
Quince & Co. Lark ($8.50USD for a 134 yd skein)
Quince & Co. Owl ($11USD for a 120 yd skein)
Retrosaria Brusca (€5.30 for a 136 yd skein)
Spincycle Yarns Dream State (One of my testers did a low-contrast sea-blue version.) ($32USD for a 150 yd skein)
The Farmer’s Daughter Pishkun ($28USD for a 255 yd skein)
Note that all of the yarns above have enough yardage in one skein that you’d need two skeins - one of each colour - to complete Botanical Beach. I can’t guarantee these yarns would work, but given their characteristics like fibre content and weight, I think they could work and I’d definitely swatch with them to find out.
Oh, and none of these are affiliate links. And one more thing - all these prices are just what was listed on the linked websites at the time I was writing this blog post. No guarantees those will be the prices when you’re reading this.
Check out the Ravelry projects for this pattern for more ideas.
Want to try knitting colourwork with two hands? Check out this video.
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