As many knitters around the world (at least evidenced by instagram) I decided to cast on a new project on New Year’s Day. I’d picked out yarn with my daughter for her Vermonter Hat before Christmas, so I was good to go! She’d selected Berocco Ultra Alpaca Bulky. The pattern called for super bulky, but the shop thought this would work.
Of course I looked at the instructions, and said the needle size was too big, so I went down one. Well, that went as well as you’d expect. I figured it out pretty quickly, so I ripped out the first 20 rows, and went up a needle size.
I still wasn’t sure about the size it was knitting to, but kept knitting because, maybe it would get better! Well, when Eliza tried it on, it looked more like a yarmulke than a beanie, so rip I did. Then I thought, well, let’s double the yarn! that will make it bulkier.
One thing that I should mention is, this hat called for 45 stitches for the cast-on. Every time I cast on, I thought “that seems very low. BUT I love a low cast on count, because then I get to the knitting part faster!”
Well, held double still wasn’t looking good. Apparently I knew how wrong my choices were, because I don’t have any photos till the third try:
I had a work trip to NYC last week – a great knitting opportunity. I basically knit the hat twice on that trip.
By the end of the third hat, I realized that holding the yarn double wasnt’ going to work and it wast time for a new tactic. I went to my local yarn store and found a bulkier yarn: Mirasol’s Ushya, a lovely bulky merino nylon blend.
I actually created a new Ravelry project for this hat, since it was new yarn. Cast on one more time and got to the last decrease and realize it still wasn’t going to work. So finally I thought, maybe 45 stitches isn’t reasonable. Yeah, I can be a slow learner at times.
At this point the hat had become a running joke since I kept ripping it out. Seriously in 6 day’s I’d ripped out 4 hats. It was funny.
So, finally I said, let’s think about this. So I held up the tiny hat next to another that fit well, and figured out how much wider the hat needed to be, then I looked at the row gauge and decided to knit it longer before decreasing.
And thus, 5 times was the charm. I’m still hoping for a face photo with the hat, but respect my daughter’s desire not to be seen when she isn’t comfortable with how she looks. She and I were very happy with the hat:
However, we have a dog, Ace who also loves hand knits. He’s a cutie. Which I’ve said on numerous occasions is his sole survival skill:
He’s eaten his share, but apparently his true love is Pompons. So, I came home the other night to this:
So, this weekend we’ll be going back to the yarn store to get some more yarn to make a new pompon. I’m hoping i don’t have to make that 5 times.
I knit alone 