Aran hat

I will be heading to the east coast in a short while, and my guess is that it won't be the balmy weather in the 60s and 70s we've been enjoying here in So. Cal. So I need some warm clothes, namely hats and gloves.

Friday afternoon I just had to get started on something, so I began the Aran Watch Cap from Hats On! 31 Warm and Winsome Caps for Knitters by Charlene Schurch.

This is what I finished Saturday afternoon:



Pattern: Aran Watch Cap
Pattern by: Charlene Schurch
Pattern source: Hats On! (Down East Books, 1999)
Yarn used: Plymouth Galway, 100% wool, 100 grams/210 yards (1 ball would have sufficed, but I had made a swatch for another project from it. Larger sizes might need slightly more than 1 ball.)
Where purchased: Skein, Arcadia, California
Needles: 3.25 mm (U.S. 3), 16 inch circular and 5 inch double-points
Gauge: Not quite sure. See What I learned below.
Started: 2/6/04
Completed: 2/7/04
For whom: Originally for me but now for my 6 year old niece
What I learned: Read the pattern and pattern book carefully! "7 stitches to the inch over cable and k/p pattern" does not mean the K1P1 ribbing. (Thanks for the enlightenment, Larry!) Also, do not use a stretchy piece of wool to measure one's head. Find the tape measure and use it. My head is 23 inches around. Per Schurch, subtract 2-4 inches to determine the circumference of your hat, which will stretch when you put it on. Also, Small and Medium in Schurch's book often refer to children's sizes. All this to say, I thought I needed to knit the Medium size—I hope it fits my little niece, at least!

Second, now that I've started TKGA Level 1 program, I'm scrutinizing my knitting much more critically. Sarah Peasley mentioned a loose knit stitch in knit/pural ribbing. (See the January 9, 18, and 19 entries of her TKGA Level 1 Archives.) I noticed the left side of my K1 column was looser than the right side knitting in the round. However, on the reverse side, which is the exposed side of a watch cap (the brim gets turned up), the columns are lovely and even!

Third, I executed my second attempt of a yarn-over tubular cast-on, a nicely finished, flexible cast-on for a hat brim.

That the cap is too small does not disappoint me too much because I don't really wear pink; it was the only wool at hand when I wanted to start knitting right now. Now I have loden green wool for a second attempt!

Thanks to Anaïs at Path to Freedom for taking the digital pictures when I dropped by this afternoon to pick up my lettuce.