Fixing My Knitted Christmas Hat Problem

    I'm knitting another Christmas stocking cap.  The last two that I knitted did not fit right and were too big.  On the other two hats I used a 3 x 2 rib on the white cuff then I switched to stockinette in the red section.  When I switched to stockinette it stretched out the ribbing and made it way too loose.  I even reduced the number of stitches I used on the second hat I knit, but it also stretched.  I'm blaming the stockinette stitch.  I was constantly pulling the hat back onto my head.  Annoying. 

     It is time to replace the poorly fitting hat.  I looked on Ravelry for a pattern and and I found the perfect pattern which should make a great stocking cap for me.  The hat is made with the ribbing for the entire hat until you start to decrease.  Why didn't I think of that.  I love to knit ribbing.  The pattern is in a book called "Holiday Boutique Knitting" by Mary Jean Daigneault.  I found the book used on Amazon.  The stocking cap is actually a child's pattern so I just used the ribbing pattern from my favorite knitted hat pattern which is a 3 x 2 rib.  I'm going to make this about 4.0 feet long all in the lovely rib until I start to decrease after the 3 foot mark. 

     I started this project a couple of weeks ago.  I couldn't resist because I was ready for a knitting project.  I haven't done any knitting for quite a while.  I should have waited until I finished my poncho but the knitting needles were calling.   I even bought new needles to make this hat.  I bought a pair of Knit Picks size 7, 16" Sunstruck fixed circulars.  They are lovely.  I also bought two pair of interchangeable needles (same size in the Sunstruck material) and 32" cords to use when I start the decreases.  I use two circular needles to do decreases on my hats.  I never got the hang of double pointed needles, I was always worried about dropping stitches, so two circulars is the easiest way I have found for me to work decreases on my hats.  I learned this technique from a youtube video. 

     I knitted the white cuff with Knit Picks Brava Worsted in white and the red yarn is Lion Brand Pound of Love in the Cherry colorway (that is over a thousand yards of red yarn.  Yes, that ball of yarn is huge).   All acrylic.  I made the cuff 6" wide which is enough to be able to turn it up.  I'll be knitting the red yarn for a while.  I figure if I do a couple of inches every couple of days, I will have it done in a few months. 

  I do use a lot of stitch markers on this rib pattern.  The stitch markers make it easy to keep track of which stitches are where on my project.  There are ten stitches between each stitch marker, 3 knit, 2 purl, 3 knit and 2 purl.  I always know what I'm doing as long as I can count to 3.
   

Crochet Day

 

  I took a few hours off today from sewing my quilt top to crochet myself a soft, cozy scarf.  This pattern is called the Big Rib Scarf.  A link to this super simple pattern is here.  This scarf took me about 2.5 hours to finish and it was the perfect project for two skeins of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the Cappuccino colorway.  The finished dimensions are 42" x 10".  I made my scarf according to the directions, but you can make the scarf as long or as wide as you want as long as you have enough yarn.  At the end of twelve rows I had a little bit of yarn left from each skein, but not enough for another row.

More Knitting

    I'm really having a lot of fun knitting these days.  Yesterday I bought some soft Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in Cappuccino colorway at Michael's for $4.51 including tax after using a 30% off coupon.  I've been wanting to make a ribbed neck warmer with a very soft acrylic yarn for the last couple of years, but I never got around to it.  This yarn is a lovely cream and soft light brown that made lovely stripes in this project.

    I cast on 100 stitches using a long tail cast on and knit a 3 x 2 rib for 7 inches.  I used size 8  16" circular needles for this project.  I like to use stitch markers to count off every 10 stitches so I can keep track of my knits and purls.  I really enjoy knitting this rib pattern.  It's a pattern I learned making a favorite ribbed hat and it goes very quickly, so I just cast on as if I'm starting the hat and then I bind off after knitting 7 inches of ribbing, it's nice and stretchy and the perfect length on my neck.  This pattern would also make a nice ear warmer/headband by knitting 4 inches length instead of 7.  It would be fun in a bulky yarn or a worsted yarn held double made with big needles.  I could make bunches of these, but I really don't need them, so I'm starting a different knitting project tomorrow.