oh no, it's just a hat.

Pattern: Vanilla Bean Hat (ie my own top-down pattern)
Yarn: Cascade 220 in grey and Elann Peruvian Higland Wool in Pumpkin
Needles: US 7 and 8 (4.5 and 5mm) 16" Addi Turbos
Date Started: 11.17.05
Date Finished: 11.24.05

It's finally done! And what happens when it's done? The weather warms up again. But that's ok, this will be worn soon, I'll make sure of that. With all my complaining, this hat really only took a few hours, it's just that I never sat down to focus on it except when watching animes with the boy. I think this was a big mistake because I left myself open (or was I stuck?) to get design ideas.

He's a very specific one, this boy. The original specs were tight, long enough to cover the ears, with a one inch wide orange stripe followed by 3/4" of grey. Mistake number one: I let him tell me when he thought it was wide enough. Boyfriend here doesn't understand the nature of knitted fabric or the concept of stretch; he made me increase a little too much since he thought the hat was small. stupid boy. The hat came out a little wide, not by too much, but this carried over to mistake number two: the hat was really long/low. All I needed to do was cut some eyeholes out and he would be the kid from Fat Albert. This wouldn't be too bad since he planned on rolling it, but it was too wide! I was very thankful for a washing machine. I just threw the hat and some Eucalan in hot water and let the machine do the work. Two cycles later, the hat is the perfect width and length. He can't complain about cold air touching his ears, damn hat is so thick. I did make a teensy third mistake, I knitted up a hem to stop the hat from rolling but in my Turkey and wine stupor forgot to whip stitch it before throwing it in the wash. Oops, he gets an extra orange stripe. The hat would be too short (for his tastes) without it, so really it can't count as a mistake, right?

In other news, I finished the first half of Backyard Leaves over the long weekend. This is one of those projects that you can use to impress everyone with your mad skills, if you are into that sorta thing. Anytime I whipped this out to quickly knit up a repeat I heard gasps and I could definitely sense some jealousy. Maybe not, but you weren't there so you don't know. I'm still in love with the pattern, which is a good thing since now I have to do the whole thing over again.

eta: Carrie and I started a kal for Stef's new pattern for HipKnits. Neither of us has the yarn and probably won't start till after the holidays, so feel free to join us anytime to knit this little beauty. We can figure out yarn subs for the next month at least.

Posted by bitter purl at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

I've been getting hints lately from the old bf that he needs a new hat soon and I, like the nice girlfriend I am, have been ignoring them. I smile and nod and figure he can wait till 2006 or '07. The hints have been coming in more frequently and an unfortunate, self-inflicted haircut has made the matter more dire (he has since remedied the hair fiasco by cutting it all off). Apparently boyfriend here doesn't read this blog, is on crack, or a combination of both, how else do you explain him thinking I could add another project to the queue that isn't for me?

After the "haircut", I let him go through my stash and pick out some yarns he would like and was happy when I saw him look at more than one color. I started picturing a fair-isle or intarsia hat, earflaps even!

Nope, he just wants stripes and no earflaps. Ok, so simple ribbed hat? No, no ribbing...anywhere. I see.

So he kept going on with what he wanted. A straight stockinette hat, with two thin stripes knit with a tight gauge AND it has to cover the ears completely. No air should get through. umm ok

I'm thinking boring. I perked up though when I figured out this could be a good chance to try out some new technique. He keeps emphasizing where he wants the hat to hit, so why don't I knit the hat from the top down so he can keep trying it on? Top down? Then, why don't I try a new cast on? A hat is basically a big sock or an upside down bag right? This should be easy.

I know that I basically have to start with a certain number of stiches (8) and start increasing rapidly at first, each subsequent increase needs to get slower and slower till what I have covers the crown. From there I can just knit even till his majesty is happy with the length. The fun part is in picking out how I will cast on.

With my trusty scrap yarn, I first tried out the turkish cast on As you can see, I didn't really get far into it. It got really annoying needing two circs and switching back and forth between them. I also didn't like how the cast on row looked so we moved on.

I then moved on to working with dpn's, with the idea that I would switch to a 16" circ when I had enough stitches. This could work, but I can't stand that hole in the middle. Sure I could just pull the yarn tight and close it or knit something to cover it, but I doubt boring boy wants some sort of pom-pom on top of his hat. Next!

Ah, my old best friends, figure-8 a la magic loop. That's the ticket. I don't know why I was denying myself, I knew this is how I wanted to do it. All I would have to do is pull those first stitches tight, no holes to hide or embellishments to add. hrm, it does look suspiciously like a sock though.

Here's a shout out to my Jewish friends. You can see a spiral pattern from the increases in this yarmulke, hrm, I mean hat. It must be working, I just have to get crack-boy to approve the gauge. I swear that if he was a knitter he would only knit socks. Very tight socks. On 1.5mm's.

Posted by bitter purl at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)