Sunday, January 20

A Story Worth Mentioning

For some time now I have wanted to make something for Husband, but, save a very time-consuming HUGE project of a Norwegian sweater (my eventual goal), I could come up with nothing. Until I found a pattern for a Peruvian hat.

Armed with all my scraps of leftover wool, the project began. It knitted up quickly, largely due to the fact that I couldn't wait to see the addition of the next color, and the next and the next. (Multi-color knitting is addicting!)


In no time, the hat was done, and I dropped it in the washing machine to shrink it.

Now, previously, I have had mostly great success with shrinking things. The patterns seem to be written well, and items decrease to their appropriate size, albeit with a little stretching afterward on occasion. This time, though, no amount of stretching was EVER going to get this hat over Husband's head! I was so disappointed. Upon tugging, it will go over Son's head, but he is convinced it is Daddy's hat, and not his, so he absolutely will NOT wear it. When Husband and I mentioned putting some of my pompoms and tassles on it (in Daughter's presence), the hat quickly found an owner. Amazingly, it fits her head better than anyone else's. Her only request, though, is that I make another one, "with pink". Of course!

Once I put the pom-poms and braided tassels on, though, Indian Giver Son soon became a willing receiver of the new hat! Daughter agreed to share until she receives her pink one.



Incidentally, Hat #2 is in the works currently, with the pattern vastly enlarged to take into account the shrinking. (Don't you think I could have guessed, by looking at the "before" pictures, that shrinking would make it deemed appropriate for someone with a smaller head?) Clearly, the pattern did not take shrinking into account, although the directions for shrinking are included. Hmmm . . . Not all patterns are created equally, it seems.

3 comments:

The Frequent Whistler from Misty Ridge said...

Love the hat that dear son is wearing!! I can understand why he wanted it back.

Ann said...

You are really inspiring me to knit. I love everything you make!!! Did you take a class? Somebody teach you? Or have you always known? Thanks for sharing your awesome projects.

Kiersten

American Swede Photography said...

I came out of my mother's womb with knitting needles in my hands.

Did you believe that one?

The truth is, I'm still learning. A few years ago I started teaching myself to knit from looking at books and looking on the internet, and every project I do, I learn another new thing. It's not that hard, once you catch on to the two basic stitches. The worst part is that I often need silence and lack of interruption, or I end up doing more "un-knitting" than knitting.

Do you know how hard un-interruption is to come by?!