Hat Update Numba Three

Yes!

I am finally not a lazy blogger and have pictures!

So, without further ado, lets see some FOs (huzzah!)

We Call Them Pirates!!

I liked this pattern so much I had to make a second one directly after the first one.



I adore this pattern.  Nicely written, fun to knit.  My only problem is that I have never ever seen the suggested yarn anywhere (I'm sure it's online, but I really dislike buying yarn online.  I like going to LYSes.)  That's ok.  I have found my own way.

The hat on the Left is made from Reynold's Whiskey and Frog Tree Alpaca.  I knit it up on Addi Turbo 3's; though if I am to knit it again I think I'll use 4's.  It made a size appropriate for the head of a small woman or a teen.  Now I have a small head so I'm quite pleased with it, but most people who I knit hats for have a larger head.  So this hat is mine.

The right one is truely yunny to have on one's head.  It is knit out of Plymouth Suri Merino, mmm, soft wool and softer alpaca on size 5's.  Suri merino doesn't have the best stitch definition for cables (As we shall see in the next hat) but it make a beautiful yarn for Fair Isle.  This hat is larger and stretchy.  I should give it to someone for Christmas, but it desperatly wants to stay on my head forever.  I am wearing it right now.  Yarr!

Koolhaas Hat
(or the hat in which the Deep Space Knitter learned to make cables without a cable needle)



This is also knit in Suri Merino.  It is lovely, soft and stretchy, but I don;t really think the cables pop as well as they could have.  The yarn isn't spun tightly enough to do so.  That being said, I'm still quite happy with the results.

The pattern is from IK's holiday gift issue, and I have to say I'm impressed that IK found hats that aren't ugly or over simplistic to have in that issue.  Good on them!  That being said, if you decide to make this hat: read the pattern the entire way through before you pick up the yarn.  Put the book down, have a drink, read it again.  And then read it a third time.

Why?  

The pattern is correct, but it isn't written very intuitivly.  It is very easy to miss directions or screw up on the repeats simply because they are written strangely (a small example would be the repeat is listed as *K1, P2, K1*  instead of the far more intuitive K1; *P2, K2* until end, K1)  

The trick to make it all work out?  (which I learned after the first 1/4 of the hat was done...)  Except for the very top decreases, you always knit into the knit stitches and purl into the purls.  So if you get lost, think of that.

Also... I do not suggest knitting this pattern without knowing how to cable sans cable needle.  There are 54 (count em!)  teeny little cable crossings in some rows.  That'll drive you nuts of you're using a cable needle.

Forever Plaid

so... what do you do when you're on an enforced yarn diet and want to knit hats from you stash?

You design your own hat, duh.



I had this idea for a straight sided brimless toque with a plaid fair isle pattern.  This one was made with worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles.  (Yarns used: Plymouth Tweed and  Galway; Paton's Classic Wool) I calcualted the gauge... and I thought that casting on 100 stitches seemed like an awful lot.  It wasn't.  It fits nicely, but with the straight sides, 110 might have been better.  I have some front views that show my ugly mug, I might post them later.  For now I have nightmares of this damn hat showing up on something like You Knit What 2 with a tag saying that somebody loathes plaid.

I like it, though.  Still working on the pattern.

And check out the top... it may just be the best part!



Yee!  Fair isle decreases!  They look stunning IRL.