NOTES TO SELF:

• When knitting this again, start a second skein of yarn after the two brims are complete. This should hopefully avoid the need to introduce new skein midway through the top of the hat.
• Could probably go down a needle size (I used US6 throughout the entire pattern) - I tend to be a loose purler, and I think that made the top a bit “mushroomy”, as Brett puts it. I think this is the cause of the odd ripples in the back (see mirrored pic where I’m making a funny face)
• As usual, I loooove Berroco Blackstone Tweed (cool texture, so soft), but it is incredibly brittle, and it did break on me twice (once during the tight knitting of the brim, and once while securing the two brims at the edge).
• Another comment about Blackstone Tweed - it’s probably not the best for showing stitch definition. I’m totally ok with this - in fact, I think I like that for something like this pattern. There would be other times where I want to spotlight stitch definition, but after seeing how some caps were knit where you could see the obvious decreases switching from the brim to top of hat, and/or purl vs knit rows (since it’s knit flat) and KNOW that would happen to me, I’m totally cool with a fuzzier yarn that doesn’t spotlight stitches quite so much.

1/20/2014 - The cap is dry, and I am wearing it! Yay! Some minor issues - none of which are the fault of the pattern. It looks like I’ve got some puckering above my left temple - I think I pulled the yarn too tight when weaving in, and/or this is also where I changed from the first to second skein, and I think I overdid it with overlapping the two yarns (see Notes To Self).

It’s also a little big/poofy in the very back (see mirror pic where I’m making a funny face) - probably due to me being a little loose with the purls, especially since I was also worried the yarn might snap. I hit some thin spots on the yarn that looked more fragile, and I already know Blackstone Tweed can stretch and pull apart with too much tension. Perhaps better to use smaller needles and knit a little more loosely?

This was definitely an interesting and complicated pattern - but also very fun to knit. Sometimes it was hard to tell how it was all going to come together in the end, especially with placeholder needles dangling here and there, a paperclip holding stitches in the back, a rim that would get folded back under and stitched up inside, etc. And the two brims! But y’know what - even if you find the pattern itself isn’t written with enough detail (trust me, it is!), there’s a 25+ page photo tutorial as well! STEP BY STEP in most cases! And, unfortunately for me, it’s got a color photo for every step, and she knits the whole cap in different colors so you can see how the different pieces connect. You can’t get instructions much more clear than this! Give it a try!

And as I’ve seen others post about this cap, I’m pretty certain I’ll be knitting a second one in a different color… Maybe I’ll get some better pictures of this one - the dark gray tweed doesn’t show up great in indoors photos on a cloudy afternoon in January. (PS: Wow - serious crows’ feet!)

1/14/2014 - Yes, I’m adding US6 to this project twice. One is a 16”, the other is of some longer length - you actually use two at the same time. Very interesting method of casting on, doubling the CO stitches, and then splitting them in two different directions - kinda fun!

I’m wondering if I did something goofy between CO and increasing/splitting to two needles…there’s a textured edge where the top and bottom of the brim meet - the starting point of knitting. Will need to look at others to see if I can tell if this is intentional, or if it’s like I’ve done with a number of starts for socks and mittens where I goofed and had a row of purl bumps on the outside. Then again, maybe this is what helps create the crease.

1/22/2015 - Well, it was just too darn big in the back, so I tried hand felting it with hot soapy water yesterday. That’s kinda exhausting!! Felting clearly happened, shrinking clearly didn’t. If anything - it seemed to get bigger. Sooooo - I decided to take a risk and go all tough love on it. I threw it in the washing machine. With a pair of jeans. Set on hot. With laundry soap. TWICE!!! It definitely felted up nice, but there wasn’t as much shrinkage as I’d hoped (and definitely not as much as I feared, thankfully!). I played around with the idea of taking in the slack by stitching some pleats (?) into the back, and couldn’t decide which way the folds would go…then Brett said “why don’t you just put it in the dryer.” Doh!

After one long round in the dryer with the jeans it was definitely getting a better size, but it also had dried out. So I soaked it under the faucet real quick and ran it through another load. I think that did it! It’s shaped and drying. If anything, the four layers between the two brims MIGHT have gotten a bit thicker than I would really love, but we’ll see…