Monday, July 16, 2007

It's a still life watercolor



Pattern: Syncopated Caps by Kate Gilbert from Interweave Knits Summer 2007.
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Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks that Rock in Walking on the Wild Tide and Lovers Leap, 81% Merino Superwash 19% Silk.
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Needles: size 2
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Notes: I only changed a few minor things. Firstly I'm not much of one for skinny baby ribbing on hats, so I did a nice big lining and a hem. This makes for a neat edge and an extra layer of warmth right around the ears. This is the first hem I've ever done and while I always knew the principal it is exciting to see it actually work like everyone says it will. To make up for the lost length ribbing would have given me I added a pattern repeat, otherwise everything is as written.
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The hat could still be just a hair longer, maybe if I'd added another row between each pattern repeat, but it doesn't need to a be whole repeat longer. It is also a little too tight at the top and a little too loose at the bottom. The whole thing could use a good blocking so that should take care of the top, I don't know about the bottom though. It would have been ideal if my lining was smaller and hugged my head more, alas hindsight is 20/20.
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Other than that the pattern is easy to read and the decreasing cleverly fits into the pattern. I like when designers either hide the decreases or accent them in some way, you can't avoid them so you should own them. This one does in the just the right way.
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I worked from both ends of the Wild Tide to break up the huge pooling problems I was having in my first incarnation. This worked quite well and I think the Wild Tide looks really good on this hat. It will be the perfect bright springy hat for the dead of winter when its damn cold out.

3 comments:

Samantha Earl said...

Wow! Your colors turned out beautifully! I love it. I finished my cap last night, and am waiting for a friend to photograph it on my head.

Anonymous said...

those colors are gorgeous!! But to be honest, I sort of liked the first one too. (I'm making a baby cardi in the sunstone right now.) I'm all set to go on this cap too, but had also considered a hem. But what do you mean by lining? And how many rows is your hem?

Nice work!

Christine Olea said...

Juliet -
Thanks! I'm quite pleased with how the colors turned out as well. I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this hat once the weather turns colder. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the sunstone immensely but I just couldn't stand to look at it knit together with the Walking on the Wild Tide. I'm glad I had the red already ordered to turn to. My hem is 26 rows, which after blocking is 2.5 inches. I made it nice and long because I knew I was going to wear this hat on the water and I wanted an extra layer around my ears. To make up for the loss in length I added a pattern repeat, which I would highly reccomend. Pre-blocking my hat was just a little too short, but luckily I got a lot of give out of the Silkie Socks that Rock and now my hat fits like a dream.

Good luck with yours!