Gradient experiment!

For the Luxury Yarns Lovers group Musselburgh KAL
. This is a small informal group.

IDEA
. The yarn is a gradient sock set from SBY, so it is the same gradient across each half of the skein (50g each)
. Instead of my usual helical striping, I’d like to try to use the gradient only for the crowns and for as much stockinette as I can.
. Then I’ll go solid for the brim with the OF Umbra
. My thought is to start with the gradient on each crown and do some kind of decorative join in the middle, for where you fold one half into the other.

CAST-ON
. Tried Stephanie’s (sjn821) kfb CO but mine looked a mess, so I went back to my well-practiced one.
. 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
. Using US 1.5’s for this thinner yarn. My last UW-Madison hat was on the smaller needles with fewer stitches. I’ll do the same this time.
… Will do 34 sts on this one.

. Will see if I can get up to 40 rounds after crown. Will weigh and try to land about 25g (halfway through the sock half-skein)
… Decided to leave myself some breathing room and stopped at 38 rounds after the first crown.
… 51.4gt - 27.0gr = 24.4g used

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
… did 58 rounds with one contrast round, each side

JOIN - Modified 3-needle BO
. Woolly Wormhead photo tutorial
. Purl Soho video tutorials

JOIN TRICKERY
. Contemplating why I often get an unattractive blurp at the end of joining two tubes,
… we knit in a spiral
… when you reverse one side, those spirals are now facing each other. The ‘rises’ match up, both one stitch above.
… will attempt to doodle what that might look like

. First brim, did the contrast round right after ending the main blue brim color.
. After the brim rounds on the second side, I moved half the stitches over onto the right needle.
… my thinking is that it might help reduce the blurp?

. Then I pulled the circ needle towards the end of the first brim, before snugging firmly and starting immediately on the second brim.
… this joins the two sides at the transition

. Hard to take a photo without pinning everything down, and I’m eager to try it, so I’m going for it.

. Verdict: I’m not in love with it
… I tend to flare a little with the open end before BO
… Might be better for a sharper contrast
… Was reassuring about not running out of my gradient

DIMENSIONS
. 18.25” circumference by 23-24” long
. Grew on length only with blocking.

WEIGHTS
SBY Gradient
. Total: 51.4g
. Crown 1 + 38 st st: 27.0gr = 24.4gu
. Crown 2 + 38 st st: 3.2gr = 23.8gu
. single round each side: 1.1gu
. Bind-off: 1.2gr = .9u
. Total used: 50.2g

OF Iolite
. Total: 103.7g
. Crown 1 - 58 brim rows: 78gr = 25.7u
. Crown 2 - 58 brim rows: 53.8gr = 24.2u
. Total used: 49.9g

YARN
. Pretty certain this Shirley Brian seconds is her Hindsight is 2020 colorway.
. OF Umbra can feel thin, but when I lay it next to the SBY, they look about the same.
. I like the darker contrast of the trnchd Cocktail Midnight Rain, but decided to go with the more faded blue of the OF because of the ashiness of the gradient.
… might still pair the second sock half with the Cocktail for either a Mbgh or a Newsprint cowl.

NEEDLES
. Going with US 1.5 since the yarns are lighter fingering