And Then There Were None.

Project #42 in '50 in 2009 Challenge' - Teal Foliage Redeux

I'm happy to say 2009: The Year of Hats has come to a close.

Thank goodness.

As much as I'd like to say that it will be a very long time before I knit another hat, I know that I'll be knitting myself one in the new year to coordinate with my French Yarn scarf, since the Bubble Yum Button Tab clashes horribly.

But for now I am done.

And since I sent this off a couple weeks ago, I have been hard at work crafting away for Christmas. My personal Christmas crafting load has been light this year, but has kept me quite busy - even up until this morning before we headed up north for the holiday.

The funny thing about this Foliage hat is it works up wonderfully when you pay attention, keep count and do gauge. I used the same yarn as my first attempt, but this time I did gauge swatches until I reached the right results. I ended up having to go down 3 needle sizes - yikes, no wonder the last hat was so big! Knowing that it was easy to gain and lose stitches, I kept count every patterned row (which is every other row)and didn't mess up...until the last five rows or so. Ugh, I was so pissed, but I was able to go back and fix the mistake when a problem did arise.

I was doing so well, but December was quickly slipping away and I hadn't started any of my own handmade gifts, so I was getting impatient. The end was so near and I was determined to finish on craft group night. I was quickly binding off, trying to finish before Panera closed for the night. I finished up leaving the last couple stitches on the needles (thankfully) to weave in the ends at home, and headed out. Upon getting home, I tried to put the hat on and was crushed. I couldn't even get it on my head. Hoping it was just my big head, I ran to get my StyroHead, but alas no luck. Another lesson learned. Remember to bind off in pattern (in this case K1,P1), not only will it look more cohesive, you won't negate all the work you've done (in my case, I made a ribbed band to add stretch and then completely negated it with a tight bind off). As I noted, thankfully I had not finished binding off. I still had a couple stitches on the needles so it was easier for me to undo my bind off and then redo it properly. Once it was completed a second time, it fit like a dream. Despite being a nightmare (haha).

Hopefully it's well received.

My sister asked how much she owed me for knitting all these hats, and I gave her a price per hat but couldn't just give her a total...because I couldn't remember how many hats she actually ended up with since I've knitted, ripped out, reknit, etc. I think she ended up with 6 hats, but I've probably knit up at least 18 hats fully. A little scary, if you think about it. I usually recommend that new knitters start with a hat, but after the year I've had with hats, I may have to come up with a new recommendation.