5 Nov 2016: FINALLY got this thing off the needles! It had been languishing because I was stalled out on the grafting step (time and quiet have been in short supply). Just need to block it and get it on its way to my aunt. It’s been such a warm autumn that she hasn’t really needed something like this just yet, so hopefully it will still end up being well-timed.

12 Aug 2016: With the move, have had no time for knitting this last week. Found out yesterday that Aunt Deb’s hair is starting to fall out. :( Trying to get work done on this whenever I can.

3 Aug 2016: HUZZAH. I have just cabled without a cable needle! I have needed to learn this technique for SO long, but I’ve been so intimidated. I tried it once upon a time and did not grok the idea that I didn’t actually knit any stitches until they were all back on the needles (i.e., I was trying to knit two while two were “free,” which pulled on that yarn and caused dropped stitches). NOW it all makes sense thanks to Ysolda’s tutorial with the lovely close up photos!

2 Aug 2016: Hahaha. Got to the third cable round in the honeycomb section and then realized that I messed up the direction of one of the cables on the very first cable round… go me! I probably shouldn’t be trying to knit while (a) super tired and (b) in the middle of trying to pack the house for the move. Ripped out and reloaded needles. Sigh. Maybe this will be done by her third round of chemo.

31 July 2016: Okay then. After finishing the short rows and starting to work actual pattern rows, I decided that the ribbing was just way too wide. I followed the instructions, which tells you to knit 1” of ribbing and THEN do the short rows, but if you do that, you end up with quite a bit more than 1” of ribbing. Moreover, if you look at the photo in the pattern, it looks like she’s only got 10 rows total, so if that particular knitted hat actually included the short rows, she had to have started them before she’d knitted 1” of ribbing. Anyway, like a number of others, I didn’t see that the short rows were really adding much, and I didn’t want to rip back to a point where I did the short rows AND came out with 1” total ribbing, so here we are.

30 July 2016: Finished short rows using German short row method instead of W&T (when subbing, knit one stitch beyond what pattern calls for; in this case, that meant to 9/19 before marker instead of 10/20).

Placed all markers. Not yet sure about purpose of “side marker” as it’s never mentioned again in pattern… I think it helps with grafting at the end, maybe?

28 July 2016: Third time is a charm! After I got to the end of the first foundation row of the cast on, I discovered that I’d cast on two more stitches than intended, so I ripped out. I didn’t get a chance to start over again until today, when I didn’t leave enough yarn and ended up missing the cast on by eight stitches. Now it’s FINALLY cast on with the correct number of stitches, hooray!

26 July 2016: Cast on using Long Tail Tubular Cast On (note that this link is NOT the video linked in the pattern… I found the Purl Soho photos/written explanation easier to understand).

Using the same lovely Tosh Merino DK in Baltic that I used for Csilla’s hat—Aunt Deb loves blue, too, and it’s soooo rich.

About the project name: This is a chemo hat for my Aunt Deb. The name is a play on the pattern name (“Knotted Pine”) and the source of one of her chemo drugs (Taxol comes from the yew, another conifer).

New Stuff
On this project, I learned…

1. How to do a Long Tail Tubular Cast On.
2. How to cable without a cable needle (FINALLY).