Some Pirate Knitting

I think I’m going to have to shift my host (for this site) next week, so I’m not going to update further until I’m sure. But, quickly…

I’m working on the "We Call Them Pirates" hat in colors Matthew picked out from stash in the basement before we left on our trek to LEGOLand: dark purple and bright blue. Originally, when I saw it around, I thought it was too old for the boys. I kept seeing it, and my opinion started to waffle. I started thinking I'd make myself one, and I might. I found colors in stash for me, too. But first, his. Matthew loved the pattern when I showed it to him. His eyes got all big and round. "That is an amazing hat," he told me.

In the colors he's picked, it’s going to be really, really cute, though I’m a bit (okay, more than a bit) concerned about the roll the edge is showing. (No, I’m not doing the lining, so I probably should have done a different bottom to avoid the roll.) It’s a good knit and good practice for my fair isle skills. I use the Philosopher’s Wool technique of two-handed knitting which works great as long as you constantly keep 1/2 or “even/odd” in your head, which sometimes gets tricky when you are “also” counting the fair isle pattern itself.

Uh-oh. In pulling the URL to link to in this post, I see the designer's note about it being best to use loose carries to allow more stretch. The technique I use doesn't end up with any floats at all. I never though about that being a negative. I like it because everything is really nice and woven looking on the back, so it seems less likely a little boy will manage to snag or pull a float. I guess we'll see if it fits and has enough give when all is said and done. I got a good bit of knitting done on it last night while watching two DVR-ed episodes of Sopranos. But, I think it's looking short. I'm almost to the decrease section, and it doesn't look tall enough. I'm going to grab Matthew's Ropes hat today and compare, but I think I'll have to do another repeat of the skull pattern before decreasing.

It’s a fun knit, and I love watching the skull and crossbones takes shape, but I have to admit the project as a whole has taken longer than I thought it would (and now I need another repeat!). I tend to underestimate, I guess, when looking at hats, which seem small. (I don't underestimate any more on socks. I know they take me a while!) Pictures and a more detailed update next week!