Well, this is a fast project -- I was finished with it before the ink was even dry on the last post!
Interestingly, it took more wool to do the bottom half than it did on the top, despite the rather large opening for one's head. I added the second ball in the middle of the turning, and had a fair bit left over. It was also curious how the spacing of the decreases affected their shape -- on every other row, the SSK and K2tog pairing lies smoothly, but working them every row (about halfway along the top) makes them stand up a bit, even tending to fold away from each other.
I did make a rather embarrassing gaffe at first, reading "Gauge: 5 1/2" and realizing after a few inches that the hat coming off the needles would barely have fit a baby doll -- the gauge is "5 1/2 sts to 2 in.," which I can only murmur weakly is an unusual way of writing it. I did have to adjust the pattern then to fit the gauge of the Cleckheaton, which was in fact 5 1/2 sts per inch, so I merely doubled the cast-on. The "pithy directions" are especially pithy here, and I found the longer explanation in the text of the chapter much easier to follow, especially as Elizabeth gives measurements here instead of row counts, and I could use those for my readjustments.
I was happy to take Elizabeth's advice -- "Do not feel that you are in any way obliged to possess perfect sets of four needles. Emergency and experiment have taught me that a very motley quartet will finish off a hat quite adequately"! -- since I have at the moment only a US6 small circular and 3.75mm (US5) double-pointeds. I used the circulars for the majority of the hat, and finished it off with the smaller dpns when it got towards the end.
It has a rather beret-like languor -- which would be lessened with a firmer gauge, of course -- and the corners make it not a little jaunty.
"Wear it down or up, with the point to the front or the back, or with all points tucked in -- it has as many lives as a cat"!
What a fun hat! I have to go hunt down a copy of the Almanac now. The construction just looks so interesting. My fingers are itching to reach out and examin it, especially after seeing the photo of the edge. Is this for you or your girls?
Posted by: Marie | June 11, 2006 at 01:55 PM