March 2014 #1 - Swirl

Just like the wind, or so it seems. It appears as if the wind is continually swirling the snow back again for another go around and that winter just will never end. Thankfully Spring break is only a few weeks away and I'll be able to spend a few days doing projects around the house and hopefully getting a few extra hours of knitting time.

This particular pattern, HeSaid She Said is available for purchase on the Chic Knits website. (I actually bought it almost two years ago. Yikes!) It calls for a bulky weight yarn, which of course I didn't have, so I substituted Berroco Comfort in Chambray (worsted) and Berroco Comfort DK in Purple. Together they created a pretty variegated color that I quite liked although in doing so I lost some of the stitch definition. Oh well. I used a size 8 16" circular needle from the CO through the rib section and then switched to a 10-1/2" 16" circular needle and a set of 10-1/2 dpns for the remainder of the hat. Stitches used are knit, purl and k2tog. I again used the chained (or crocheted) cast-on which I must say I'm actually liking quite a bit. I found that the stockinette portion of my brim ended up rolling up and not lying flat as in the pattern photo. If I make this hat again I would add a bit of length to this portion so as to make sure I achieve that flat look. The rolled brim works well with this particular hat, but I think the flatter brim would like better with a solid yarn.

I should also probably apologize for the weird photo. It looks like my hat is floating. #1, I need a better mannequin and #2, I need a better place to take indoor photos. Of course, there probably is a #3, I need to actually know how to take good photos. LOL.