Pining for a black hat

My friend Vanessa and I were in Montreal for a conference in early December 2023 and wondered around a craft Christmas market on one evening. Of course someone was selling hats and she tried a few on, but didn't purchase, potentially helped by my assurance that I will make her one. So here we are, October of 2024 and I am determined to finish her hat for Christmas. 

Vanessa has a fantastic sense of style. She has a knack for finding these vintage outfits that are classy and fashionable but also fun and eye-catching. I figured black yarn with sparkly thread would be just the thing. 

I wanted a pattern with texture, so I searched for cables and settled on Norway Pine Hat. I got two different types of black sparkly yarn, and having thrown out the labels, it is now mystery yarn. I know I case on some number, knit a bit, decided it was too big and re-cast on 88 stitches. This seemed the right size so I went through it all. I finished, I talked myself into believing it wasn't too big, I even attached a pompom and a dog paw button. My mom was not so persuadable. Between the clearly larger size and pattern getting lost in the colour (it was more visible in person, but not much), it was frogging time. 

While the cable work was actually beautiful, it was not getting the appreciation it deserved in black. So I changed up the design and settled on Wickerwork Hat. I also decided to get a new yarn and went for Wool Ease in "Constellation" colour, which -- to the disappointment of my daughter -- was very dark grey rather than black. But it was squishy, luxurious and comfy. I found my bamboo size 11s and cast on 56 stitches. After a few rows, the size was perfect. 

I was loving it. The pattern was visible, it was both fun and an easy knit and with thick yarn it was going pretty fast. I did 10 rows of ribbing and moved into the chart.

Soon enough it became clear that doing 44 rows from the original pattern was going to result in a ginormous hat, so I had to adjust. I did frog and thankfully the pattern was forgiving enough for me to easily pick up stitches, but next time I do this pattern is a different gauge, I will definitely put in a lifeline. I worked as per pattern until row 18 and then jumped straight into row 31. I had to adjust the directions of the decreases to match the pattern and sadly I didn't keep track. But in the end my finishing choices didn't matter too much as the crown of the hat is hidden by the pompom. 

Hilariously though, it's still a bit big. I don't know why. I tried it on after I finished the ribbing and it seemed perfect. Maybe the voluminous knit adds to the space, or maybe I'm very scared of making a tight hat. In any case, half a fold of the ribbing solves the problem here, so I will have to play with the design a bit and leave it as it or create a fold.  

Update: I gave up, I undid it and cast it on again with 48 stitches. Redid the whole hat in under 2 hours. I again jumped from row 18 to 31 and pulled the top closed when I had enough depth, I was a few rows short of the pattern. Third time is the charm -- it finally fits!! It's squishy and warm and just lovely. It was worth the trouble.