Sunday, March 22, 2009

Busy As A Beaver or What Would You Do?

Robin's Egg Pink - Button Flap
Project #12 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Robin's Egg Pink hat

I know, you thought I dropped off the face of the Earth.

I'm really here though. Steadily knitting away on hats, interspersed with some quilt block-making.

Work has kept me pretty busy and at times overwhelmed for the past couple weeks. And it will continue this way, if not more so, through Easter. So I might still pretty MIA around here. Plus I feel kinda blah about continuing to share all these hats.

I've become a hat sweatshop! Hee.

Can't stop now, though. An old friend from high school asked if I would make a cute little brimmed hat for her newborn son. So after this week's hiatus from the hats, I must get cracking on that.

But hopefully I'll have some 'One for Me, One for You' progress to share in the meantime, so I can stop the current streak of hat posts at 4.



Hopefully I haven't reached my peak of acceptance, happiness and satisfaction with the hats I'm knitting. Two of the last three…I'm just not crazy about.

First there was the lace fiasco ending in a larger than needed hat, and now there's this one.

Robin's Egg Pink- Plain Side

I like how the plain side turned out. The seed stitch is a new texture for me, so it's refreshing. But the purely cosmetic button flap is bothering me to the point where looking at these photos I snapped the other day has me thinking I should start it over.

I had to alter the pattern so the hat will fit
(I hope!) a smaller head, and I think in the process I ended up making the flap a bit longer than the original version. But that's besides the point because even if I had worked the pattern as is there is still a flap that only sits around part of the head.

And it's chunky yarn, so it's bulky.

I just don't know.

I can't even wear the hat around because it is made for a 7-year-old (I think), so though I can squeeze my head into it, I don't want to stretch it out.

Oh! And to top off the addition of a bulky flap, there's a GIANT button on it too.

I'm afraid this kid is going to develop a neck problem because of my hat.




Wow, I just went back to the pattern to look at the picture that drew me to using the pattern. And look how cute it is!

I think I just convinced myself that I will reknit this hat before Christmas. I need to cast on less stitches so my flap will be considerably smaller and I also think I need to stop my seed stitch band sooner. Arg! I even gauged this project, though I was off, I thought I had accommodated for the difference (hmm, perhaps I accommodated the wrong direction - live and learn).



So here's a question for you:
If you were doing a challenge as I am, to complete a certain number of projects in a year, how would you deal with a situation like this? Would you count the first attempt and the second attempt (both being totally completed) as two individual projects? Or would the second attempt negate the first?

Having just decided I will redo the hat, I have yet to decide whether I will frog this version. Though I can't imagine why I wouldn't. So if the first hat is no longer in existance, would you still count it in your final tally?



In happier knitting news, I think I am finally ready to knit myself a garment. The question is where to start, here's the short list of contenders:
• the Pimlico Shrug (which I've had my eye since the day Mike gave me Knit2Together).
• the Paper Doll Sweater.
• the OWLS Sweater.
• the Pioneer Sweater.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

count them all I would!

mommo

JenGoPop said...

Ah, that's the infamous flap. I'd count it . . . done is done, even if it didn't work the way you expected.