Felicity

She's done. I was quite possessed for about 12 hours. This hat is very comfy and cozy. The 30% silk in the Cascade Venezia definitely adds heft to the finished product. I wonder how much this hat is going to stretch due to slouch+weight.

I am excited to have a hat that not only fits my big head, but also flatters it. The color in real life is more of a cranberry red. If I knit another one for myself, I may modify again and cast on 80 stitches (this time I cast on 90, the pattern calls for 70).

Happy :-)

Pattern: Felicity (free pattern)
Yarn: Cascade Venezia
Needles: US size 8 (16 inch circs), US size 10 (24 inch circs), US size 10 DPNs
Mods: Cast on 90, increased to K14M1, then knit 4 rows, decreased from K13K2TOG (thanks Melody!)

Felicity round 1: the Universe 1, me 0

But since I am part of the Universe, it wasn't a total loss...

I did it again. I cast on for a new project, meticulously read and re-read the steps of the pattern, realized fairly early on that something was funky...and kept going.

Is it because I am a helpless optimist? Is it because my ADDishness fades back the light on certain types of details? Is it because I'm just an idiot sometimes?

Who knows.

The pattern calls for casting on, joining to knit, a row of purling, and then moving into stockinette stitch. I don't know if it was how I joined my knitting together, or whether I got visually confused with the circular needles, or what, but in order for me to continue into stockinette, I had to keep purling rather than knit.

And I thought that was strange.

Many, many rows later, I thought it was really strange because knitting is so much faster than purling and it didn't make sense that I was purling the hat.

Sigh.

When it came time to increase stitches, 5 1/2 inches from the cast-on edge, I knew I had made a mistake. Back at row #1, probably when I joined. I tried to fudge it, which is what I tend to do. Then, I decided to frog it, which is what I tend to do next.

I took a photo to commemorate. I also wanted to see how the hat fit so far. It fits well, I'm not positive the yarn is the best choice for this hat. The yarn is lovely. A wool and silk blend and the color is brighter and more cranberry than in the picture. I'm going to use it. But, I am also looking forward to knitting this hat again, with a fuzzier yarn. (Up close the knit isn't as 'tight' as I like...the silk helps to create stitch definition which also means the spaces between the stitches are more distinctly visible.)

Pattern: Felicity
Yarn: Cascade Venezia