This hat has been on the needles for decades!!! OK,... no, only about 5 months, but it feels like forever!!!!
K takes piano from a wonderful woman, Mrs. J. She not only plays piano, but also drums and I think something else, maybe trumpet, not sure. She is also a painter. I love Mrs. J, she can take a grumpy teenager and in 1 short hour, using only a piano, paints and paper, send home a cheerful kid. K loves her too.
Well, Mrs. J has seen some of the little things I make and wanted to make something of her own. She was a first time knitter and chose this pattern, Cable Newsboy Cap. Yes, she likes a challenge.
Unfortunately, she had a bit of trouble starting; she cast on and then twisted about 4 times before joining. She made it almost to the first cable before she realized something was very, very wrong.
When she showed it to me, I gently explained what had happened, and worse yet, what had to be done. She just just laughed and decided to give up the sticks and string. I offered to take it home, and get her back to the same point, without the twisting, and she regained her will to craft.
She did an amazing job from that point on. The first time I tried cables, it didn't go nearly as well. She made it all the way to the top and then she realized the pattern she had chosen switched to crochet. O.o
She didn't let it phase her. 30 years of teaching piano to small children prepared her to stay positive, think on her feet, and keep kleenex handy. So she just looked for a similar pattern, found Cabled Chapeau, with only knitting, and went on.
Unfortunately, the patterns weren't perfectly compatible, and she got to a point where she just couldn't finish. So I said I'd finish it for her.
And then things got ugly. Turns out she is a very tight knitter, and I am a very loose knitter, so when I added the ribbing on the bottom, it was not pretty. It took me three attempts, but I finally got it to look right. I don't even want to talk about the brim. Nightmare!
In the end it worked out, and looks very nice, but what a process.
As always, Kitty approved.
No comments:
Post a Comment