First place for “Class 306 — Cap or hat, color pattern or intarsia” and Best Overall Hat awarded by the MN Knitters Guild at the 2018 Minnesota State Fair! I’m so excited- I got exactly what I was hoping for!! I’ve never won a rosette before.

I modified the original chart to make the colorwork more intricate. My chart is pictured in the photos. I also worked with finer yarn (lace weight) and a smaller gauge and therefore repeated the chart more times around and up.

06.20.2018

Did a gauge swatch and cast on. Gauge is smaller than the pattern at about 13-14 sts per inch. I am going to do the chart repeat 6 times for a total of 264 stitches in the round instead of only 5 times.

07.08.2018

Decided to add in an additional 65 row chart to the lining and the shell due to smaller gauge (for a total of 130 additional rows). I am also glad that this solves the issue of the cuff covering up a large chunk of the nice color work!

At this rate I may also need to order more of the white… we’ll see.

07.15.2018

Ordered one more white skein.

08.11.2018

Finished the hat, except then decided the lining was a little too short. I am picking up and knitting in 15 more rows of white and grafting it back together. Hopefully I can block tonight and add the tassel tomorrow.

08.12.2018

Finished!!!! Soaked it in Eucalan and blocked it flat/not tucked up into itself with towels and books to weigh it down. Added the tassel with a 4 ply 1” braid through both layers. Unfortunately had to do this while it was still wet since I need to turn this in tomorrow to the State Fair. I will probably need to use a hair dryer on this later tonight!!

Overall I am pleased with how this turned out. There are a couple little things I would have done differently in hindsight such as adding about 3 more white rows in to the bottom (beginning) of the cuff and removing maybe 2 from the top to help center it better when it is folded. The chart should account for the fabric wrapping around 2 layers at the bottom versus the top only wrapping over 1 layer. It looks like the other projects’ cuffs are also slightly off center when cuffed due to this.