May 27, 2021

I used instructions from
Www.10rowsaday.com/tubular-caston-2x2rib

Which used instructions from
Www.10rowsaday.com/italian-caston

to create a long tail, tubular cast on w 2 x 2 ribbing.
I did this last night for practice, then cast on “for real” this morning.

Notes to self:

1) Watch orientation of stitches when knitting the first row (in the paragraph called WAY #2). Instructions call for knitting knit sts through back of loop, but a few of mine were oriented the other way, so they required to be knit through front of loop. (I must have been inconsistent, somehow, during cast on). Same w the purl sts in first round. Instructions called for them to be slipped. Occasionally one required to be slipped through back of loop to be oriented correctly once slipped.

2) Watch that the whole chain of just cast on stitches doesn’t rotate around the needle as you knit the first row. Should be able to observe the amount of twist between stitch just worked and stitch about to be worked to assure row is not untwisting.

3) This cast on is very much faster and easier the second time in two days!!

4) Resist the urge to purl those slip stitches. Muscle memory really wants to work those sts, not slip them. Pay attention!

When working step 3, the one in which we convert from 1x1 ribbing to 2x2, I found I was still fooling w stitch orientation after slipping the stitches and slipping them back again, so I stitched from slipping sts back and forth to simply reaching over the first (purl) stitch on the left needle and knitting the second st, then purling the first and sliding both “used” stitches off the left needle. Seemed to accomplish the same fabric and was less fiddly for me. I hope it is the same fabric because I have no raging desire to see how easy this cast on is when done three times in two days!!

After the row to switch to two by two ribbing, I joined to knit rest of ribbing and hat in the round.

Voila! So easy to join w/o twisting at this point because there is knitting hanging down! Back to the pattern as written. I already have about half and inch of ribbing and only abt a foot of “tail” left…just enough to close up the first couple rows of the cast on.

May 30, 2021

Off the needles and ends hidden in!

I did two extra repeats of the colorwork to get a bit more length in the hat and to see a bit more of the gradient in the contrast yarn. Even so, I have enough left over to knit another hat!

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Finally attached the snap on pompom snap at the lock in at beWoolen (what a fun event). Fiddling with how small to make the opening at the top took a few tries (wanted it tight, too tight meant too much fabric between snap halves and a pompom that didn’t stay on).

Hid ends and called this done!

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I used all of both skeins to make 2 hats, so estimated 215 yds for KnitMeter for each hat.