May Mulligan

Ok, so I know some of you were beginning to doubt. Were thinking that I had given up and just not told you...but no, I am still working on my March Mulligans.

...and just got one finished, as a matter of fact!! I reknit the Hat Fit for a Boyfriend that I had made for Troy. He uses it as a nightcap and it was too big, too stretched out to stay on his head overnight.

I didn't notice when I knit the pattern but it calls for an aran weight yarn and I was using a worsted. So the needle size was all wrong, for one. The 2x3 rib wasn't right either.

When reknitting the hat, I started at the top so I could just increase until I had enough stitches and knit down from there. I just used the basic formula of increasing on every other row, eight times per round.

Doesn't the centre where I started look good? I cast on 4 stitches with my favourite provisional cast on (over the tail), slid the stitches to the other end of the dpn and knit one row (like you would when making an I-cord), then did my first increases and started knitting in the round. Then when I had a few rows done, I could use the tail to pull the stitches together where I first started. Worked like a charm.

I didn't bother to ravel the old hat before I started knitting. I just unwound as I needed.

So instead of a ball of wool, I had a knitted piece as my source of yarn. Sort of like a sock blank. When I was finished I only had this much left:

(But there was no adrenaline used in the making of this hat. I had half a ball of the same colour ready in case I need it.) And of course, I was trying to make a smaller hat, so I had no reason to think I wouldn't have enough yarn. (Although stranger things have happened!)

I knit the body of the hat in a smooth sturdy stocking stitch. Eliminating the rib and using smaller needles made sure the fabric wouldn't stretch out. I finished the hat with a few rounds of garter for a simple flat finish.

Troy has tried it on and deemed it much improved. Now let's hope we won't need it for a good long while!