Monday 20 October 2014

Weekend WIP

I know it looks finished, but don't be fooled - it's still a WIP.


This is Kayley's hat. I knitted the start of the Foliage pattern and then added a lace pattern from the Stitchionary. This took several goes, because I was very tired on Saturday morning which got rid of all my sense.

First I thought I had 96 stitches: I had 64. (In my defence, the worsted weight version of this hat is 96 stitches round so, yeah).

Then, I decided that, since my lace pattern was over 14 stitches, I would INCREASE to 70 stitches. At no point did it occur to me that 6 extra stitches in bulky might make for a much larger hat.

Then, there seemed to be an issue with the chart. It doesn't match the written instructions. The numbers didn't add up. I think I ripped back twice before I got it to work.

So, then, all was going well. I toddled off to Malmesbury for the History festival and knitted through the first lecture I attended at the Abbey; not a whit did I care what people thought. I know I can knit and listen. The only reason it wasn't finished at the Abbey is because I left my 5.5mm tips in the car so I couldn't do the ribbing. I did that last night before bed.

Then I tried it on. Big was not the word. It would have worked well if I had massive dreadlocks that needed to be swept up into it. I spent some time pulling it around and tried it on MrZ, but there was no getting away from the fact that it was just too roomy. It occurred to me that if I had decreased an extra 8 stitches I could have done the pattern for 4 repeats instead of 5 which would have matched the crown shaping better.

So, yesterday, I, who never rip anything back, have taken it back to the crown and knitted the whole thing again. I am down to the ribbing. I like the chevron pattern and I think on a smaller hat it will show up even better; but I am annoyed with myself for not being a bit more thoughtful. I could have knitted a whole other hat by now!

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