Tuesday, January 11, 2005

"The tale of a hat" or "I know it's supposedly bad luck to knit your boyfriend something but I had no idea THIS is what it meant"

The saga of Chris' hat is turning into a tragedy.

Let's start at the beginning. Some time before Christmas, I took my mom's print-out of this "simple" hat pattern, followed the directions (so I thought) and cast on 168 stitches on Size 8 24 mm circular needles.

OK. If anyone happened to be reading this, I know I've lost you with that jargon-laden monstrosity of a sentence. And I supposedly get paid to write.

The point is, the hat turned out ridiculously large. So large that I would have run out of yarn before completing little more than the "brim". But alas, I never got that far because of so many dropped and hastily fixed stitches that in the end I had to unravel and start all over again.



On my second attempt, I actually did use up a whole skein of yarn before getting half way through the hat. In a state of numb disbelief I left the unfinished hat on the needles for a good two weeks. Christmas past. So did New Year's.

Finally, I went to the local yarn store, the only one on the island that would sell the kind of yarn I (in my short sightedness) had chose to use and announced to the surprised looking owner (it's not like the place is packed with customers) "Do you have Lamb's Pride in bulky?"

She blinked, gathered her wits about and said, "No. We don't. We just have the worsted weight."

Me, heart sinking. "Oh. Cause it's Hawaii, yeah?"

"No. Because no one requests it. I can special order it for you."

Me, heart further sinking, am silent.

"What were you making?"

"Well I was trying to make a hat but I think I made a mistake. Cause I used up one skein and ran out of yarn."

"One skein should make you at least one hat."

So left with no other alternatives, I left the unfinished hat on the needles for another week. Then finally one evening, I steeled myself, and unraveled the thing again. This time, I decided to ignore the pattern, which called for math, which I was obviously somehow screwing up really badly.

I guess-timated, cast-on 84 stitches on size 10, 16 mm circular needles and went at it. And you know what? The sun began to shine, the birds began to chirp. The thing was actually beginning to LOOK LIKE A HAT.

So much so that I e-mailed Chris this picture in my exuberance:



Alas, it was not to last. When the pattern called for decreasing and switching to double-pointed needles I had no idea how to do it. The "Stitch'n'Bitch" had unbelievably inadequate instructions on the topic. Despite this, I tried it anyway. With disasterous results.

I had to unravel again!!! Frustrated but determined, I started over with 88 stitches (84 would have been too small for Chris I think). Chris always jokes that he has a big head, but I don't think he does really.

So anyway, I'm only completing the hat up to the part where I have to decrease and switch needles. Then I'm going to swallow my pride and ask my mom for help.