Knits

Hurray! I finished something - ends woven in and everything! I’ve even just tossed it in the wash quickly.

It’s the first of five (I think) hats for my sister. It’s the Lace-edge women’s hat from the Head Huggers web site (a site devoted to hats for chemotherapy patients). I used a finer wool than suggested which meant figuring out the cast-on numbers. I tend to be able to knit stitches to gauge on the ball band if I go down a needles size or two, but can’t ever get both the stitches and rows in line with the ball band or suggested pattern gauge. And I am lazy and almost never swatch. Turns out I didn’t get gauge according to the ball band or pattern (the pattern I knew I wouldn’t obtain gauge since I was knitting with a finer wool) so oops. I got a bit nervous about it, but in the end I think it is fine.

All that said, I ended up casting on 138 stitches. And despite the simple lace pattern for the brim, I kept losing stitches! Not as bad as the first go I had with this pattern, but it was still a bit annoying. Luckily I was able to add the stitches back in relatively easily without it making much difference to the pattern. It’s not as lacy as it looks in the sample, but maybe that’s because it’s not fully stretched out? It looks pretty though. My sister wanted a hat she could wear when they go out for a nice dinner as she doesn’t wear a wig. I’ll be knitting Shedir too (already had an attempt and was getting close to being done, but I didn’t like how it was turning out).

The rest of the hat is stockinette so it went quickly, but still, I am damn slow! I had to figure out when to start the decreases and how to do them which was new for me. I ended up dividing the stitches into six groups of 23 and placing markers. I then did a ssk just before the marker and k2tog just after the marker with a round of straight knitting between each decrease round. From the way the hat turned out, I think I should’ve started my decreases sooner and had them over more rounds as the body of the hat looks very square I think. Perhaps once she puts it on her meaty head it will look better. I tried it on, but it doesn’t fit me because I’ve got a smaller head. Maybe the washing will help it out too.

I’m quite please with how the decreases look though. Very neat and tidy and I don’t think it’s evident where I went onto DPNs which is a first for me (the lack of DPN evidence I mean). Hurrah! The only bit of the decrease that’s a bit funky is at the top. I wanted to decrease until I had as few stitches as possible left and I ended up with five or six (I can’t believe I’ve forgotten and I finished this about a half hour ago! - memory like a sieve I tell ya). I think I should’ve stopped with whatever I had prior to that decrease round as it has ended up being a bit puckered. I hope I can fix this when it gets out of the wash!

Oh and I have to say, I love the Addi turbos and I love the stitch definition in this!

The details:

Pattern: Lace-edged women’s hat from Head Huggers
Needles: Addi Turbo 3mm and Prym Bamboo 3mm DPNs
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in colour 340503
Gauge: 30sts x 38 rows