November 29, 2006

Shedir

This was one of those unplanned projects. Well, to the extent someone that has to order yarn can have an unplanned project. Travis has been wearing this really ugly machine-knit hat (it has a company logo embroidered on it) and I decided that he needed a new hat. So, last week I ordered some yarn and I cast-on Wednesday night. I knit on the hat whenever I had a spare moment on Thanksgiving, and throughout the weekend. I should have finished on Saturday night, but had to rip back a bit and rework the pattern. So, I actually finished Sunday evening about 10:30.

Project Details:

Pattern: Shedir

Yarn: Dolly Maxi in Smoke Grey - 2 balls

Needles: 3.75mm 16" Addi Naturas

Thoughts/Modifications: Well, I obviously substituted yarn because cotton yarn for a winter hat in Wyoming doesn't make a lot of sense. I also wanted to make the hat a bit bigger to fit a guy. I used a tubular cast-on and cabled without a cable needle. I also had to reduce the total number of rows for the hat because my larger row gauge was resulting in a very tall hat. So, I just deleted one horizontal repeat and it turned out about right. This yarn is very soft and squooshy (yes, I do believe that is the technical term for it) and it's superwash - a must for Travis because he throws everything into the washing machine and just assumes it will come out just like it went in. I think the fit is ok. I maybe could have gotten away with a 3.5mm needle, but I wanted the cables to provide a dense hat that would stand up to the cold and wind in Wyoming.

However, despite what these photos might lead you to believe, Travis has yet to wear the hat outside because he thinks that it will not be "wind proof" (although the 12 degree high today would have been a good test). I explained that the cables and the wool would do a nice job of keeping his head nice and toasty, but he does not believe me. Or, he doesn't like it and thought the wind proof thing would be the better route. I don't know. Now, I could line it, but damn it I want him to tell me with actual certainty (by this I mean have some freaking proof) that the hat lets the wind blow through and freeze his ears off. I don't really think that's asking too much after I spent 4 days knitting the thing for him. So, I've decided that I'll give him a couple of weeks to wear it and if he doesn't I'm going to donate it to charity.