Mitigated Disaster

I don't think I've mentioned here that I am working on a hat. I want something to match my Green Thumb gloves.

Obviously it has to have a leaf motif. And I thought I had enough wool for a tam (or beret). All my hats are fitted, and I wanted something slouchier. (I'm already optimistically thinking of something I can wear into spring.)

I looked and looked for a pattern, but finally accepted that I would have to make something up.

I started with this pattern, Falling Leaves Hat by Shannon Russo:

(Picture from Shannon's blog.)

You can see that the leaves are there, but the pattern definitely needed some tweaking for what I wanted. I got some help from another blogger. Kirsten Kapur (through the loops) has posted a recipe for a "one day beret." The one day part might be a little optimistic, but it was a great guide for my tam shaping.

I started at the top with a short I-cord:

Then continued with Shannon's pattern, more or less.

I spaced the leaves out to give some room between them. And of course, I made sure to keep increasing the number of stitches so the shaping would follow a tam shape. I had to really fudge on Kirsten's "recipe," but it was working out.

I made it a couple inches shorter than Kirsten recommended before starting the decreases (it's a "knitter's choice" phase of the recipe) but I still ran out of wool way before it was done.

I was working furiously on this last week because I thought I might just get it done in time to wear on the weekend when I went skating with my sister and niece. But at some point I realized I was definitely going to run out of wool and then decided the easiest way to find out just how much I was short was to knit to the end of the ball. Which is what I did.

And then I put it down.

At some point when I feel like concentrating, I'll look at how much knitting I got out of the ball, how much I need to make this a wearable hat and try to concoct something that will make #2 possible from #1.

The big question will be: how far back do I rip out? I think I only have to go about half way back to correct the shaping, but I don't really like the wide stems at the top. I may insist that I rip out almost to the beginning so I can correct that too.

Because what would be the point of correcting the hat shaping only to not like the design every time you put it on your head? But until I have the energy for that, the hat can stay on the plate.