18 November, 2007

A knitted hat: just make it up

In the midst of all this gift knitting (which is fun, I swear, and it suits my startitis very well since I have about eleventy-billion projects all going on at once), I feel an urge to knit something for myself. It's the last thing I should be doing, of course, but what's one more barely-started project, eh?

I used to have this gray tam. It wasn't as full as your typical made-to-stuff-full-o-dreds tam, but it certainly wasn't as slim as a beret. It was perfectly in the middle. I found it in a thrift store. It had a lining knit out of smooth, thin yarn but the outside was a worsted weight cabled affair and man, I wore that cap out. I think it made it all the way through college, but I haven't seen it in a few years. In any case, it's time for a new favorite hat.

My local yarn store was having a final final sale this weekend, and although I had already looked at this yarn once when it was just mostly on sale, something about the complete and thorough markdown made me realize just how nice it is. Bulky, soft, excellent colors, and 50% off. Hello, yarn.

My beef is: I can't find that perfect pattern with which to replicate the old gray hat. I've gone back to Ravelry many times to search through the pattern browser, I've looked through all my magazines, books, and print-outs, and I think I'm just going to have to make it up. I've got a pencil and a calculator and an EZ book... Stay tuned for what may be my first great pattern ever.

(For the knitters in the audience: Last night I started knitting it from the ribbing up, but had calculated incorrectly and it looked like the hem of a sweater, so I ripped out, started from the top down, and realized there was just no way to work out what cables I wanted to put in where, plus I was knitting with size 8's and I should be using at least a 10. So, ripped again. Back to the drawing board.)

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