I Finally Finished the Pink Hat!

I meant to post this on Sunday, but we went to a birthday party in the afternoon and then out for dinner with Nathan’s family and we didn’t get home until late Sunday night. Yesterday and Monday were just too busy, so I’m finally getting this post up today.

Started: Saturday, January 27th
Finished: Sunday, March 4th
Yarn: Donegal Tweed – Tahki Stacy Charles
Color: 0818 (Rose)
Needles: Clover #8 16# Circular

This hat took way too long! It’s not that it was a tricky pattern or anything, it’s just that I haven’t been knitting at all very much in the past month or so. But that’s going to change! I’ve gone back to knitting my scarf, and I really plan on knitting a lot more from now on.

Back to the hat. Knitting the hat went just fine until I switched to the DPNs. Does anyone else have trouble with DPNs? Once I switch, I feel really awkward holding the needles, and I keep dropping stitches. I tried to finish this hat last weekend, but I had a mishap, and just left it alone for a week. On previous hats I’ve made, it seems like I knit too loosely when knitting the last stitch from 1 needle and moving to the next stitch on the next needle. This time, I was trying to pull the yarn a bit tighter in those spots. Unfortunately, I pulled too tight and I broke the yarn! And, as usual, this happened after all the LYS were closed, so I just gave up for a week. I tried to splice the 2 yarn ends back together, but that didn’t work, so I just tied them together. I’m sure there is a better way to fix that, but I didn’t feel like spending any more time on it. When I picked up the hat again this Sunday, it only took me about 1/2 an hour to finish it. But, when I tried it on, I realized it was too short :( I thought I measured properly, but I obviously switched to the DPNs too early. Oh well, I’ll just have to do better next time!

This picture is even worse than I thought, but I wanted to show a picture of me actually wearing the hat. I know it’s terribly blurry, but it’s hard to take good pictures in our apartment. It’s so dark that we really can’t get good pictures unless it is sunny outside. Of course, when we finally get home from work it’s starting to get dark, so the best time for pictures is during the weekend, I guess.

Any suggestions on hat patterns? I think I’ll take a break from hats for a while, but I thought it would be nice to have a hat that matches the scarf I’m making. I’d like a different pattern that doesn’t get the “bunched up” look at the top of the hat.