11/22/09 - Initially, I planned to use the Ellen’s Knit Hat pattern…until it occurred to me that with a gauge of 20 sts over 4”, casting on 80 sts was going to get me a hat with a circumference of only 16”. To stretch that to the called-for 22-24” meant I was going to have to stretch the yarn well past the point where I was going to like the fabric. So I opted for the Seaman’s Cap pattern instead. It’s fitting since a) I’m knitting this hat for a Sailor and b) I’m knitting it to wear when we watch Navy beat Army!

I’m also knitting at slightly under the called for gauge; I like the denser fabric better.

11/23/09 - AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

This hat is kicking my butt. I’ve already cast on and frogged twice. The first problem was that I shifted to 2x2 ribbing (which I prefer to 2x1), but failed to note that the number of sts I cast on was not divisible by 4. So I added 2 sts for try #2 and knit a few rounds, but I was hating how loose the ribbing is knitting up. So I’m frogging AGAIN and trying 1x1 ribbing--I usually knit that up well. I might have to go down a needle size; I’m getting just under the gauge called for in the pattern, but I’m thinking that it might be too loose (even though it’s a tighter gauge than the yarn itself calls for). We’ll see how the 1x1 ribbing goes, although knitting that for so many inches might make me crazy.

Oh, and since I have to recast on anyway, and I’m fumbling with really long circ cords because my shorter ones are all in use, I’m going to try magic loop this time. Why not?

11/28/09 - Done! Thank goodness…and Steve loves it, so all of the pain was worth it. Magic loop turned out to be an absolute breeze; I really thought it was going to be trickier than it turned out to be.

I made a few modifications to the hat. First, I knit the ribbing in 1x1 rib, for longer than the pattern called for, and without the “fold” line. I wanted Steve to had a good-sized overlap (that would cover his ears entirely) and that would be adjustable for as much of a fold as he wanted. I also knit a bit longer than called for before starting the decreases, just because I’d knit extra ribbing…and then discovered that the decrease section was knitting up longer than it was supposed to (especially considering that my row gauge was smaller than the pattern called for). So I took out 2 of the plain knit rows at the end of the decrease section, and the hat fits perfectly.

It is technically done, but if I have time (and yarn), I’d like to try duplicate stitching an N on the hat before the game.

12/6/09 - Duplicate stitching done! It’s acceptable, especially for only my second try (the first attempt was on my hat, but with stitching lighter yarn over darker yarn the gaps were bound to be pretty obvious. Need more practice with tension to find that sweet spot between too tight and too loose, but I think it’ll be pretty darn obvious who we’ll be rooting for at the Army/Navy game!