Post-Christmas Knitting

Here is a little project that I like to think of as the "Indian corn" hat. That may actually be the name of the colorway; I'm not certain because I only bought one skein, and gave Mom the tag for the washing instructions. This is another effort for my dear daddy, who requested a cap for when he's spending time down in the rather chilly basement of the house. He already has a hat knit from the same pattern that he uses for outdoor wear, but he wanted a shorter version that didn't cover his ears for inside use. Being the generous daughter that I am, I of course agreed to knit him a belated Christmas present. We made a trip to the Yarn Center in Hamilton right before Christmas, and Dad picked out his yarn. He went with the classic Mountain Colors yarn (this is a tradition, too... the last hat I knit for him was also made with MC yarn).

It's a simple pattern, on my faithful size 7 bamboo dpns. This time I actually knit the entire thing on dpns, instead of switching over from a circular like I did the last time. I've become much more comfortable with knitting in the round on dpns; my trick is to always knit an extra stitch onto each kneedle, so that there isn't a "ladder" going straight up the work that shows where I switched from one to the next. The extra stitch makes that ladder sort of precess around the work, and even if you know what to look for, you'll have a hard time finding it. The hat is a basic knit 1, purl 1 rib, worked with a nifty double decrease that lets you keep the rib pattern going all the way up the hat without interruption. Fairly mindless knitting, which can be a good thing!

I was pleased with how I have only a tiny bit of yarn left over. When I first saw the yarn on the skein, I really liked it, and when I swatched it, I also liked how it looked. Then as I worked it up, I was less fond of it, because there are really so many colors going on in there. We've got rusty shades of red, orange, yellow, green, even a hint of purple, and it can be a bit overwhelming. Then, as I got closer to finishing, I realized it was just like Indian corn, and it became okay again. So while I'm happy with the finished product, I'm glad that I don't really have much left because who knows what I'd do with it. Right now I have this sitting up on a bookshelf, sort of like a little pet. (The quarter is there for scale; not bad, eh?) It's just the right amount of leftover yarn; too much less and I'd be nervous finishing up the project--will I have enough yarn? Whereas if there were much more, I'd have to figure out what to do with it. As it is, I can just keep it, and love it and hug it and call it George.