I Have a New Hat

Miss me? More likely you didn't notice I was gone. sniffle.

I was on vacation! For the past few years my company has closed for the time between Christmas and New Years. It's nice. I unplugged and spent the week on the couch knitting, watching TV, and ignoring the blog and any responsibility. Hubby's school was on break, so we got to be useless together. ahhhh.

Not all that knitting was productive. I did a lot of swatching. And as important as swatching is it doesn't produce finished projects so it doesn't fell productive.

As Seen on TV
I did manage to make this hat.

Twice.

Hubby and I have been watching that show "Lie to Me." In the episode before they went away for the holidays the teen-aged daughter character Emily had on a cute, red, knit hat.

I didn't say anything, but my antenna must have been up because Hubby suddenly hit the pause button and said something along the lines of "I bet you like that hat and want a closer look." Why, yes, I do.

It looked to be ribbing and seed stitch in a DK weight yarn. As Hubby's Sweater neared completion I snagged two balls of cherry red Zara (color 1466) for my hat. This is the yarn Hubby was holding hostage until his sweater was done. Well, he let me have it on the table next to me as I seamed for incentive.

Take One
This is where some of that swatching came into play. My first attempt I held the yarn single. I swatched with a US5 and a US4 and wasn't really happy with either. In the end, I went with the US5 because the yarn felt softer at that gauge.

I knit almost the whole hat in one marathon session on New Year's Eve. We ran some errands in the morning then I spent the rest of the night, right through the ball drop, knitting my fingers off.

Yeah, we lead a wild life, Hubby and I.

I finished the decreases Friday morning and proudly donned my new hat. (second picture above)

Hubby said it looked like a swim cap. He said it didn't look like the one in the show. He said he was just being honest and mentioned bathing caps again.

I had to agree it wasn't what I'd had in mind. After taking a couple pictures I stood in the kitchen, unwove the tail, put the hat back on, and started unraveling it into a ball.

Chaos Ensues
Hubby got a gleam in his eye as he watched this. I handed him the ball of yarn so he could help me.

I might as well have handed it to one of the puppies.

He bolted out of the kitchen into the green room, up through the dining room, and through the living room, arriving back in the kitchen behind me. At which point he promptly returned my yarn ball.

Of course, trying to roll the ball of yarn as I still wore the hat on got me nowhere except a new room of the house.

I gave Hubby back the ball and demanded help.

Only this time I was the one who bolted. I ran up the steps and made it all the way to our bedroom—and still had the hat brim ribbing on my head! Well, the hat did take almost an entire ball of Zara. You can get pretty far on 136 yards.

Take Two
For my next (and final) attempt, I used the yarn doubled to get more bulk. I used US8 dpns because I still don't own US9 dpns.

I'm really not sure how that happened. I don't think they are hiding in a project somewhere. I think when I started knitting, and stocked up on needles before I left Patternworks, I decided that I wouldn't be knitting with bulky yarns so wouldn't need anything above an 8.

I came to this conclusion because I have Clover dpns in 0-8, no 9, then a set of 10 in Crystal Palace, which is the brand we carry at Knitting Central. So obviously I gathered all the lower sizes in one fell swoop, then ended up needing one of the higher sizes.

Oh well, that's what you do, fill in the tools as you need them.

Anyway, I started the second attempt hat Friday morning and finished it Sunday evening. (I was working Saturday, which cut into my knitting time.)

Hubby says it still doesn't look like the hat from the show, and I probably have to agree. But I'm not sure how to get it to where it would need to be, so I'm stopping.

(I think one change would be to make the seed stitch band shorter so there is more ribbing at the top. Hubby still thinks the fit should be looser/floppier. But, on the other hand, I don't like floppy hats.)

Although I have decided that a tassel might be nice. I'll work on that tonight.

Not My Forte
Making this hat, combined with my unsuccessful attempts to design that uncooperative cabled hat back in October, has convinced me that designing hats is just not my thing.

You would think it would be simple. Small and quick. Less shaping than a sock. But they have me flummoxed. I think I'll stick with other people's patterns from now on.

Or at least try to.