The Hat

yup, i'm finally ready to post about this hat. it looks cool, but its a tad bit tight around my forehead. it was so much harder than i thought it was gonna be. basically, i was trying to make a "rasta" hat, or a visored beanie, for my hair. the problem with this is, the hat starts out one size, and then it balloons to a larger pouch where the hair goes to make room for the locs. so, my bright idea was to start the hat on the green loom, and slowly, over a couple of rows, transfer the hat to the yellow loom. doing it this way, i would end up knitting on both looms for however many rows it took me to complete the transfer. i couldn't just go up in one move, then i would have a hat with a ridge with an obvious difference in where the upsizing started. i wanted a gradual size change. the first part on the green loom wasn't too bad. the end part on the yellow loom wasn't so tough, it was the 8 rows i did during the transfer that almost did me in! actually, the first time i tried, i had to completely frog the project because it was coming out all wrong! that was pretty aggravating, after over an hour of knitting.
you know, i say i'll never do this type of hat again, but already i'm itching to try it again to see if it will be any easier since i know what to expect. we'll see. i've already got people asking me if i'm gonna make more to sell them.

a few details about the hat: i used the lion brand wool ease chunky yarn. i did the hat using two strand held together throughout. i used the e-wrap for the visor, then a row of purls, then a few rounds of the flat knit stitch. (this is what did me in. the hat is kinda tight where the flat knit stitching is. if i had only stuck with the purls or the e-wrap, i would have been okay!) then i go back to the e-wrap for the rest of the hat. i did a M1 to make the increase. but looking back on the tutorials on the M1, i did it wrong! you're suppose to twist the bar when you put it on the peg. i didn't do that part. so i ended up with 5 little pentagon shaped holes. check out the video to see how i delt with that! LOL! i added a few extra rows along the back of the hat to help increase the pouch. and i did a k2tog ( i think that's the correct term) on the last row to make the gather at the top of the hat not so bulky.


overall, i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. there are some obvious errors, at least to me. but its not a big deal. okay. i'm gonna say it. i WILL try this again. just not anytime soon. i have too many other projects on my looms right now! enjoy the video!