I made a mistake while knitting this hat. On the last page, 2nd column, it says (in two places) “Repeat Rounds 3 & 4”. I failed to noticed the number of rounds preceding this which are 11 - 14 and 21 - 24. So I should have repeated Rounds 3 - 4 TWICE rather than just once. I should have been paying more attention to the designer’s sample photo which clearly shows the 4 rounds of seed stitch in each of those sections. I was short on yarn, but probably could have squeezed in the 4 extra rounds that were left out of my hat. Next time I’ll be sure to add them in because I think it looks much better to have the seed stitch sections be the same width.

I rarely knit with huge needles, but I received this (expensive) yarn via Freecycle some time ago. I would never have bought it myself because I don’t like thick-to-thin, roving type yarn, but since it was in the gifted yarn bag, I wanted to make use of it. The yarn is an alpaca/merino/silk blend, so very soft. And I do like the denim blue-gray color. However, I think both this hat and the matching cowl I made will look much nicer in a bulky yarn that has a consistent thickness.

The thickest parts of this yarn are super bulky and the thinnest parts are fingering weight. In an attempt to minimize the extreme variation in weight, I decided to knit with it held double. I’m not sure if I achieved my goal since I often ended up with two strands of fingering held together or two strands of super bulky held together. I knit this in one sitting during a leisurely morning after breakfast.

This was the first time that I’d ever used the size 15 US needle from my Addi Turbo Click set. I discovered that one of the needles will not lock into the cable, so kept falling out every couple of minutes. SO irritating! I will have to invest in a large circular needle suitable for knitting hats with super bulky yarn.

I first knitted the GAP-tastic Cowl out of this same yarn. There were still two balls left in my stash, so I knit this coordinating hat. I don’t really like “matchy matchy” accessories, so I probably won’t wear them together. But the seed stitch does tie these two patterns together nicely. They may end up being a gift since the yarn is quite luxurious, and the set will be so cozy during the cold weather months.

The smaller needle is only used for the initial ribbed band.
Hat is knit bottom-up, in the round.

Tubular Cast-On Video

Due to the type of yarn, I used this joining technique.