Second 3-color UW-Madison hat.

Red and black crowns with the Reality Stone blend in the center helical striping. This one will have only the crown in red and all of the striping with the black.

NEEDLES:
. US 1.5
. Pretty convinced that Malabrigo Sock is now thinner than it used to be.

CAST-ON
. KnitPink’s slow-mo Pinhole cast-on
… Quite fiddly on the dpn’s
… I have a hard time with using two fingers the way Staci does, so I just use my pointer finger
… Split onto dpns the way she does. 2:2:4 (with the 4 being the start of the round). More manageable than 4 dpns.
… Knit a round/row after. I tighten with the tail, then slide the stitches to the right and knit straight across before moving them to the other dpn’s.
… … Doing the kfb’s right away - harder to get that b stitch.

Increases
. I get a little bit of a pull on mine. Wet blocking helps smooth it. When I show it to other people, they don’t really notice it.

SIZING for 22” circ head
. With US 2’s I go to 36 sts * 4 = 144 sts
. tried switching from dpns to circular at 30 (120) sts and it is tight - next time transition at 36.
. At 38 sts, checked sts/inch = 8.5-9 sts
. 38 might have worked, but went up to 40 on first Mbgh
… Feedback was that it was a smidge too loose
… staying to 38 sts on this one.

On first Madison Reality:
. After crown increases, measured at 40 rounds = 7” total.
. I had about 38 rounds in the increases, so 78 rounds at 11 rounds per inch.
. I went 4 more rounds in the increases, so is that enough to compensate for the smaller needles? Curious!
. Have used about 30g so far
For second:
. Staying with my 40 rounds after crown even if it is a little shorter. Because I will do 120 helical stripes, it will be long enough.

BRIM
. Midsection - folded
… The hat is folded in half, so 12” = 6” which is folded again for the brim, so 3” brim which is a little more than the height of my ear.
… I usually do 120 rounds

Helical
. stop 3 sts before next color
. a little looseness is fine with transition

Decreases
! Remember - the decrease crown is SSK-knit-K2tog for nicer looking lines.

Weaving in ends
. I sometimes get a pinched look from weaving my ends
. Weave them in about 10 rounds after dropping a color. I find if I wait too long, it’s a bit fiddly getting down inside the hat without losing the needle tips off stitches.

Still a Question?
. Decreases are SSK to K2tog
. But the very last set is K2tog, SSK. I’m not sure how/why this might matter? I make them SSK, k2tog to match.

Wet-block on head form.

HAT 1
Unblocked Dimensions
. Circumference: 19”
. Length: 26”

HAT 2
Unblocked Dimensions
. Circumference: 19”
. Length: 25”

Blocked Dimensions
. Circumference: 20”
. Length: 25”

YARNS
Ravelry Red
. Total g: 60.2
. Crown + 40r: 34.0r
. Total used: 26.2g

Reality Stone
. Total g: 77.1r
. 60r helical: 44.3
. Total used: 32.8g

Black
. Total g: 101.3
. 120r helical: 71.1r = 30.2u
. Crown + 40r: 42.9r = 28.2u
. Total used: 58.4g