Over Christmas I started to knit a red hat to go with the red mittens, I blogged about earlier. Well, knitting hats is always problematic to put it mildly. For some reason they never turn out quite right… but this one was a true disaster.
Anyway, it all started with my finding the cutest pattern for a hat on ravelry. Here is my rav page with a link to the pattern: http://ravel.me/aravis83/f2
So I got some lovely Santa Claus red wool and started to knit. But for some reason my pattern turned out looking completely different from the ones shown on rav:
- jinxed red mushroom hat #1
On reading the instructions more closely I realized that it was a top down pattern. (D’oh!). So I ripped it all out and started over… top down this time:
- jinxed red mushroom hat #2
After knitting for a while and ripping it out 2 more times because I had miscounted at some point and the pattern had started to look funny, I noticed that my hat was rather smaller than it was supposed to be. So I re-read the instructions and realized that the pattern asked for size 4,5 needles and yarn instead of size 3 needles and yarn which I had used. So I ripped it all out AGAIN. ARGH!
As I neither had size 4 needles nor yarn I decided to modify the hat slightly and to practise knitting top down at the same time:
- jinxed red mushroom hat #3
It was my first attempt at knitting something that way and it was fun and amazingly easy… I thought. I also managed to include that foliage pattern and was really ,really pleased with the result… till I tried it on:
- jinxed red mushroom hat #4
Don’t let yourself be fooled by how it looks in that pic. As it turned out the hat was lovely but WAY too big for my head. Careful counting of the stitches revealed that I can’t count. I increased till I had 144 stitches instead of 128, as I had carefully calculated beforehand. Not wanting to rip it all out again I decided to block it and hope for the best:
- jinxed red mushroom hat #5
Well, it didn’t shrink, quite the opposite in fact. Even putting it into the washing machine, washing it really hot or letting it soak for ages in hot soapy water didn’t make it shrink even the tiniest bit. Grrrrrr!
So Kara had the brilliant idea of putting a plate into it and trying to turn it into a beret:
- jinxed red mushroom hat #6
It actually worked, though it’s still somewhat too bit and looks really great… as long as I don’t wear it. I look like a mushroom, if I do. Maybe I should embroider it with white dots. 😉
Anyway here is the finished hat, which I’ll probably NEVER ever wear:
jinxed red mushroom hat #7
From this knitting project I learned 3 things:
- Read ALL instructions from beginning to end BEFORE starting
- Careful calculations are useless if you can’t count 😉
- Blocking doesn’t shrink
Aravis' Blog 
Er, let’s be more clear about point number 3 🙂
“Blocking” is carefully and gently hand-washing a newly knitted item so that it DOESN’T felt, then patting it into shape and letting it dry. (You can also steam-block, but that’s another story)
What you tried to do was “felt” it (more accurately called “fulling”), with hot water and agitation, which will sometimes shrink and thicken your knitted fabric. Some wool will felt, some won’t. Anything marked “superwash” won’t felt. Some colors of the same wool will felt more than others.
If you every want to make something felt on purpose, knit a swatch. Measure, felt, measure again. 🙂
But I think your hat is pretty anyway, and it looks very cute on the frog!!!
[…] The pattern for the hat is from “Knitting from the top down” by Barbara G. Walker. It was amazingly easy and fast to knit. It only took me a little more than one day to finish it and it turned out really well …and it actually fits. I’m rather proud of myself, because I usually don’t do too well with hats. See this earlier post. […]