Alternative project names:
“Why is it always the hat photograph?” or “Initially, he wanted to be a pirate.”

Cascade 220 Heathers ‘Chocolate Heather’ is 2431 (solid ‘Chocolate’ = 2403). Cascade 220 Heathers ‘River Rock’ is 2441. Substituted these for some cream & brown Berroco, Ultra Alpaca, because I want to start it now.

I really should swatch this and practice my wrapped stranded colourwork technique before I start. see note below, Dec. 28. Let’s consider the first 11 chart rows ‘practice’, shall we?

Dec. 18, ‘12: Swatched this tonight - yikes, my wrapped stranded colour sections are are definitely too tight. I’ve frogged the gauge swatch and I’m going to start this and see how it goes. Might have to frog it a couple times until I find a way to do it that allows my gauge to loosen up. I’ve also cast-on using my current favourite modified half-hitch, but I’m not certain I like it right now. I’m considering this start a test run.

Dec. 20, ‘12: Got an inch in to the ribbing and decided I didn’t like the cast-on, so I started again with a standard knitted cast-on. Just getting in to the colourwork, and beginning to find a method of wrangling the yarn the works for me. We’ll see how it goes for a few rows.

Dec. 21, ‘12: Finished row 4 of chart.

Dec. 23, ‘12: Finished row 7 of chart. Speeding up a little as I get the hang of wrangling the yarnz. I think I might have figured out the wrapping direction thing — I was doing it a little strangely (not everything was wrapped in the same direction), and some of the wraps were poking through the front. I also determined that it’s really, really not necessary to wrap every other stitch. A 2-3 stitch float is fine. With that in mind, I dropped down some stitches and ‘unwrapped’ some of the weird ones that were poking through. I’ll give it a few more rounds and see how the tension is behaving. Looks OK for now.

Dec. 25, ‘12: Finished row 11 of chart.

Dec. 28, ‘12: In a fit of possible craziness, I ripped this out completely this evening, and will restart it on a couple needle sizes smaller. I have a very strong feeling that this yarn is going to grow like a beast when it gets wet, and I have been intentionally knitting this at a very loose gauge. It needs to be tighter. Not the floats — (n.b. I think I now have a handle on the stranded colourwork technique) — but the overall gauge. Also, I need to do a proper blocked swatch. Because, seriously.

Jan. 6, ‘13: Finished a 2-col. swatch on the flight from Philly to Buffalo last night. Unblocked gauge is 5st/in in both stitch and row gauge. That’s tight on the stitch gauge (good) and big on the row gauge (boo). I’ll block it and see what happens. The airline steward and I shared knitting as we were disembarking. He was making a fantastic bright yellow cable scarf.

Jan. 9, ‘13: Blocked gauge without any attempt to stretch is 5sts/in (.5 sts/in tight) and 5.5 rows/in (.5 rows/in loose). At charted gauge, this hat should be 7.5” deep after the ribbing. At my gauge, it will be 8.2” deep. The 2/3 - 3/4” is difference is equivalent to about 3-4 rows. I COULD shorten the pattern by a few rows near the bottom: removing one full round of the MC right after the ribbing (before the chart), and rows 1-2 of the chart. The tighter stitch gauge will be fine, since the yarn can stretch. At charted gauge, the hat is about 21 3/4” circumfr, (or 2-3” of negative ease on my fat head). At my gauge, this will be 19.6” around. Worst case I might have to add in another chart repeat (co 112 sts), which should make it 22.4” around.

OR I could just use US6 needles, which would bring the row gauge down to even closer, and co 112 to do 8 repeats. The circumference would likely then fall between 19.6” & 22.4”, and be just about right! Yep, that’s what I’m doing.

March 7, 2013: Cast on again for probably the 10th time. I keep deciding I don’t like the cast-on edge and ripping it out. I need to stop doing that. Should have the 1.5” of 1-1 ribbing done tonight and I’ll start the colorwork (AGAIN) tomorrow. Top pic (with more knitting done) is a version of the cast-on that I didn’t like that was ripped out.

March 16: Finished row 7.

March 21: Finished row 14.

May 19: Finished row 22.

Sept. 17, 2013: Picked this back up again after a multi-shawl hiatus. Finished row 28.

Sept. 18, 2013: Finished row 38.

Sept. 20, 2013: Finished except for the smiley face. I plan to needlefelt it like this version and this one since it looks more like spray-paint. I have yellow roving, just need a felting needle.

Sept. 27, 2013: Felting needles and foam acquired.

October 12, 2013: Needlefelted on the smiley face tonight. Only managed to stab myself once.