At the start of the month, I cast on for the December Lights Tam from IK‘s Holiday issue. I was feeling quite clever, as I’d reduced the pattern from eight yarns to two by pairing a skein of Koigu KPPPM with a skein of solid black.
I was a bit fretful about gauge. Not that I actually measured my gauge—just that I worried about not knitting the piece too tightly, as I have been known to do with stranded projects.
So I knit and knit and just tried to keep things loose. Nice and loose. Loosey-goosey.
The pattern looked lovely in the colors I’d chosen. The hat did seem a trifle large, but I kept telling myself that would work out in the blocking.
Note to self: blocking does not make things smaller.
I dipped the finished hat into a sink of cool water, and it grew and grew and grew like some 50s mutant exposed to radioactive waste.
Here you see the result: an absolutey lovely hat that is big enough to eat—well, maybe not New York, but at least one or two of the boroughs.
I’ve worked my story out, and feel I’m dealng with this set-back rather well. I wasn’t knitting a hat; I was knitting a reticule. A pretty, pretty reticule. Now all I need to do is line it and add a drawstring.
And before you ask, no, it’s not felt-able: the black yarn is superwash.