Yarn Along...The Hat

It's been awhile!

So I mentioned "the hat" the other day.  It all started out innocent enough.  I had been gifted some beautiful yarn, handspun from one of my all-time favorite sheep, Mia.  I searched and searched for an appropriately special enough pattern, found one I liked, knew I was probably going to have trouble making the proper gauge so did a swatch.

I'm a good swatcher.  Especially with handpun yarn (my favorite for knitting), it's always a really good idea to know where you stand before you start so you aren't surprised and disappointed by how your finished item fits.  Here's where yet again I become "an example for others"...

I was, indeed, unable to hit the required stitches per inch.  I don't have it in front of me, but say, for example, I was supposed to knit 6 stitches per inch and I could only get 5.  If I cast on the instructed number of stitches for a 22" hat (6 stitches/inch x 22 = 132) at 5 stitches per inch, the hat would end up being almost 26 1/2 inches around.  

This pattern was perfect though (I thought...yep ;-) as it was created/offered with different sizes.  The next smaller size, substituting my swatch math, would fit perfect.  I cast on, started knitting, pulled it off the needles a few inches in to try it on, fit perfect, I'm a genius!

So...the other part of useful swatching is your rows per inch.  I'm fully aware that you can go up or down a needle size to try and get closer to the stitches per inch gauge, but have never figured out how to change the rows per inch.  I mean, your rows are your rows, right?  Since I didn't think there was any way to affect that, I don't even measure for that.

Let's do the math.  Okay, so if I'm supposed to be getting 5 rows per inch and I'm only getting 4 (again, just examples) and the colorwork pattern is based on 60 rows, the hat should be (at 5 stitches per inch) 12 inches tall.  If I'm only getting 4 stitches over 60 rows...the hat then ends up 15 inches tall. 

Yeah...um...

The hat fits perfect around my head.  If I'd have realized the error of my thinking regarding the height, I could have modified the pattern to accommodate that.  It's a wonderfully cozy hat and the stranding of the colorwork makes it double thick and super warm especially with the bottom few inches folded up inside.  Quadruple thick over my ears?  Perfect for single digits. 

It's wrong though...and I know it. And I see that every time I put it on.  For the time being, the warm-ness trumps the wrong-ness, but as a graduate from Stella's Knitting School, it's headed for the frog pond.  Not the actual Frog Pond, but the rip it rip it "pond".  It won't really hurt (much) and Mia deserves better.

To end on a happier note, here's a cute iPhone shot from the Wool House yesterday.  I was working on threading the full size scarf and was happy to realize (for once, before it was too late ;-) that I could turn my little loom around so I could sit right up next to the fire.  It's all about the warm-ness this winter!

As far as what I'm reading these days, I just finished up listening to Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good by Jan Karon.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the entire sweet Mitford series.  Joining in with Ginny...