My second Azula and I am still crazy about this pattern! I absolutely love what these zippy stacked garter stitch short rows do to speckled variegated yarn. I don’t even like the look of garter stitch, but I love these hats. I especially love how my Color B, the darker color (Autumn Birches), ends up looking like wood grain in this swirling stitch pattern.

It seemed much easier this time. I had far less trouble figuring out where I was after putting it down, and even when I did get lost, I found it easier to get back on track again. This is my third Elemental hat; maybe I’ve finally grasped how they work. But I stand by the advice I gave last time:

Make sure you note what line you’re on, even if you’re only setting it down for a minute!

…and this, too, which for me is absolutely critical for success:

Print the chart in grayscale, then use highlighters or colored pencils to fill in your colors. It makes it MUCH easier to keep track of where you are when the chart colors match the knitting!

I find it hard to get gauge for these patterns, so I decided to go down to a US 2 this time. Garter stitch is stretchy, and my last one, on US 4 needles, was big enough for a big man. This one fits nicely, but I’m still only making gauge for the larger size. I think I’d have to use thinner yarn to actually get gauge for the smaller one, which is too bad because I like the look of garter stitch knitted very tightly; it looks beaded. OTOH, there are lots of possibilities for knitting this hat in thinner yarns!

I was worried it would be too small as I worked my way through the sections, so I added an extra pair of short rows at the brim end in two sections just to be sure (worked in an extra pair at the top end, once, to balance it). Probably wouldn’t need to add any rows for an average size woman’s head, but for my oversized melon it was perfect.

I used Åsa’s winding provisional cast on instead of the one in the pattern, because it works so very well and it requires almost no thought. I used a US1 needle as the second needle for the provisional, so it’s nice and tight.

This time I did the graft as written instead of a 3-needle bind off. It really is almost invisible. (The 3-needle bind off is quite subtle as well, but more noticeable than the graft.) It took at least three times as long, so it’s only worth it if you aren’t in a hurry, but it is definitely a nice finishing touch. Who knew grafting garter stitch was so easy?

Added a pompom again, too. I never pass up an opportunity to add a pompom.

A word about color choices: This design seems to work best with two colors without a whole lot of value contrast (when you put them in grayscale, they look pretty much the same). I also prefer to have the more “showy” yarn--generally the darker and/or more variegated/speckled colorway--at the brim end (Color B) to make the flames. It really shows it off. In this case, my Color A was HALM Glitter and Color B was Rhichard DeVrieze Autumn Birches.

It occurs to me belatedly that a major factor in making the colors work together is to have one tone that carries between the two. In this case, it’s off-white, which shows in little bits in the Autumn Birches and makes up the background for the Glitter.

note: the pompom used 16g of HALM Glitter!