Hat Knitting Frustration

Warning this is one of the posts that has nothing to do with librarianship and a lot to do with knitting.

I've knit a lot of hats. I'm pretty good at it. Do you hear that? That's hubris. And pride as we know goes before a knitter falling on the floor, weeping and throwing pointed sticks around.

It all started simply. My dad's head is oversized and he has trouble buying a hat that fits him. I thought I would knit him a hat to wear in the winter when he walks the dog. He needs it to keep warm, especially as every year passes and he has less natural coverage up there. He seemed agreeable to this plan. Normally he likes ribbed stocking caps because they stretch to cover his head. I don't like knitting boring stocking ribbed caps because they're boring. Knitted hats should be special. It seemed a bit daring but I chose the Knotty But Nice hat from Knitty. I added a full extra repeat of the cables to make it big enough. It was fun to knit, fairly quick, and turned out lovely. It was mailed to him (mostly) in time for his September birthday.


See how pretty?
Note how the bottom part is wider than it should be? I should have read the comments on Ravelry and done the ribbing down a needle size, the cables up a needle size, and the crown down a needle size. The hat (despite my mods) was too small/too short for Dad's head. Grrr. But it's pretty! (That doesn't count for anything). Yarn is Cascade 220

So I tried again. This time with the Ryan hat in navy blue Ella Rae Classic Superwash (one of my new favorite workhorse yarns). Modified the pattern for worsted weight (basically added a lot of extra pattern repeats and winged the decreases). Made it nice and long so it could be rolled/folded up double over ears. This one was mailed off in the first week of November. It looks lovely, see:


This time Dad thinks it is too big (and too loosely knit).

Now by the rules of statistics and Goldilocks if the first one was too small and the second one was too big, then the third one should be just right. Maybe I'll try that next year. Maybe not.

I knit two other hats for Christmas for D's sisters.


Quest from Knitty in Ella Rae Classic Superwash.



Habitat by Brooklyn Tweed in Cascade 220 Heathers

Those two hats fit well and worked well for their recipients. (I really only bat about 50% success rate at knitting for people other than myself.) Now I'm working on two baby hats and a hat for my knitter group's January hat swap.

I apologize for the poor quality of all these photos, I'm never home during daylight hours this time of year.