Love it or Leaf it

A finished project...and pictures to boot!

Pulling myself together is a little tough these days, but it should get easier now that I have a matching set to wear. Ok, I do have to wait for some cooler weather, but I am ready!

With all the knitting I got done at the game last week, the hat was ready to be Kitchenered together. I sat down to do that on Monday and then got the hat blocking on a large dinner plate.

It struck me that it sat a little looser than I imagined it would on the plate. Although I measured (roughly) and thought I was (pretty) close to what the pattern called for, I think my hat came out a little long. Not so long that I'm going to undo it though!

I think the "cap" that I knit top down came out nicely:

As I said, I like a little Icord tab on a beret/tam. (Btw, you can still have an Icord if you're knitting up from the brim but I just think they're such an elegant way to start--perfect for knitting top down.)

I've experimented in front of a mirror with several ways of wearing such a slouchy hat--to the side, to the back, pulled down low--and I'm not sure it's the best suited hat for me, but I'm not worried about it.

I still like it and I really like that it makes a set with my gloves.

One more detail...I started the brim with a tubular (or Turkish) cast on around a scrap piece of yarn. When I was ready to pull it out, I tied a stretchy cord that I have for beading to the end and pulled it though. As the scrap yarn came out, the elastic cord was pulled through.

If you look closely, you can see the "clear" stretchy band showing.

Project Stats
Started: 25 Aug '11
Finished: 5 Sep '11
Pattern: (Love It,) Leaf It Beret by Melissa LaBarre ($2.99)
Materials: James C Brett Pure Merino in PM16 Green, 1.5 skeins (gift)
When the hat was finished and I had a good sense of the size it needed to be, I tied the two ends together and now have a nice firm but stretchy edge to my ribbing. The tubular cast on makes the perfect casing. The elastic really makes a difference with how well the hat stays on.

Love it or leaf it? I'll take both, please.

And that's the end of a very long saga. I started a hat to match these gloves last January, got stuck when I ran out of yarn, considered redoing the pattern until I saw this new one. Had another adventure with this pattern as I ended up ripping out the first go and casting on 20 fewer stitches. But then smooth sailing. Phew! Let's hope for a "happily ever after ending" now.

It's Best to be Prepared

Well, thank goodness I got that hat all set to go, sorted out and up to a point where it was straight stocking stitch. I took it to the ND game yesterday. (I didn't think I'd be knitting during the game, but I thought maybe at half time or who knows.) "Who knows?" indeed. Half time turned out to be a 2 hour weather delay. They evacuated everyone out of their seats and we spent most of the time sitting on the floor on one of the ramps.

That's ok--I had my knitting to keep me occupied. I got so much done, I am working on the Kitchener this afternoon and hope to be finished soon. wOOt wOOt!

Leaf Beret: Plan B

Remember the green leaf beret I talked about here? I was heavily modifying a pattern to make a beret to match my Green Thumb gloves.
I ran out of yarn and wanted to rework the pattern. I ended the post with "until I have the energy for that, the hat can stay on the plate."

Well, it stayed on the plate for a while. Then it was stored with my wool stash for a while. I wanted to work on it for Project Spectrum's green month in June but that didn't happen either.

Then I got a notice from Vogue Knitting that they were having a pattern sale and one of the ones that was shown was this hat:

Pattern link.

I immediately recognized the true match to my Green Thumb gloves. This was it! So I checked that the pattern would work with the yarn I was using, both for weight of yarn and how much I had left and decided it should work. By the next day, the pattern was purchased, downloaded, and the old hat was frogged away. (I put the end on my yarn winder and it was gone like buttah.)

The hat itself got off to a bit of a rough start. I cast on the 120 stitches the pattern recommended--and did a very fine looking Turkish cast on, I might add--but it was way too big. I know it's supposed to be a bit of a slouchy hat, but it has to actually stay on my head. So I ripped it out again and restarted with 100 stitches. That is feeling much better.

Once I had the ribbing and chart done,

I started to get a little worried about having enough yarn. (The pattern called for two skeins; I had 1.75. Plus when you're substituting yarn, you just never know.) I did not want to work on this and then run out with a few rows to go on the decreases. When you're working bottom up, it's not like you can decide to make it a little shorter and just leave a hole at the top of the hat!

So I took the other end of the yarn and a set of dpns in the same size as the circs and started the hat again from the top. I did all the increases until the number of stitches matched the number on the main body of the hat. Now I know I will not run out before my hat has a top to it. In fact, here it is,

ready and waiting. It doesn't hurt that I also like the look of a top down hat better. I find the Icord tab is an elegant way to start.

I also was pleased with the amount of yarn I have still to work with. I should be able to make the hat good and slouchy (one of my original goals). The pattern says I have two more inches to go on the body. I think I'll get it in, but if not I can just work until I have only enough yarn to Kitchener the two parts together.

I know, that's a lot of Kitchener. But I don't mind.

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.