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September 28, 2014:

TIP TO AVOID HOLES: The trouble with this hat is that all of the purl wraps are picked up on the RIGHT SIDE when you return to knitting in the round, and that never looks good. Usually it only happens for the last wrap of the neck or yoke of an in-the round sweater, and you suck up and deal. But here, every stripe ends up with several holes because of the way it’s constructed, ugh! It doesn’t matter what short-row technique you use -- the only way to invisibly pick up a purl wrap is from the purl side NOT the knit side.

Well, I have a somewhat okay fix for you. It’s not a technique, it’s a dirty hat-saving measure. Knit a while into the next stripe past the short row pick ups so you can see what’s going on before you do this. You will see two large loops surrounding the hole from picking up the wrap. Simply pull the excess from those stitches and distribute it sideways into 5-7 stitches down the row. Deliver the right-most large stitch excess to the right. Deliver the left-most large stitch excess to the left. It does an ok job, but you will never get rid of the wonky bump. In my opinion, it goes from not wearable to wearable. But wonky.

September 18, 2014:

I picked this hat because the short rows provide me some good ole’ knitting interest. I don’t like itchy hats, so I decided to splurge on the super-soft cashmere blend Rowan yarn, Finest. Wow. It’s soft. No, more: it’s killer-warm. My fingers get hot while knitting it, it’s like a little bunsen burner is on right next to me!

I am using it held single, not double.

I totally screwed up the needles. I thought I was using 2.5mm for the brim, but I totally wasn’t. Then I thought I was using 2.75mm for main hat, but I totally wasn’t. I literally knit onto the “bigger needles” only to realize when the old pair fell out that they were both the same freakin’ size: 3.0! Good one, D.