More Hats and Not Much Else

Hi everyone out there in blog-land!

I've temporarily lost an internet connection at home, so I'm coming to you from sunny (not so much, really) University campus in Philadelphia! It's been rainy and yucky and all around unpleasant here the past few days. But there is always the internet.

So, I don't have any new photos, but my current project is a doozy. Remember how Little Bro #1 wanted a hat like the one I just finished? And in horribly clashy and garish colors? Well, he's got it. I don't have a photo, but suffice it to say that it is this color:


With this color for the snowflakes:

And will have this color tassels and pompom:
I almost feel like knitting this hat is an affront to my dignity, not to mention my eyes, but he wanted an ugly hat (his words), so by Jove he's going to get one. If you can't tell, the pink there is sparkly pink acrylic from a friend's grandmother's old stash. I've got nothing against acrylic, but this is 80s acrylic. An entirely different breed.

It's been interesting, because my gauge is off. These hats are the first time I've bothered, because the gauge really obviously affects the size of the hat (all the sizing is done by changing gauge). I know gauge affects the size of anything anyway, but this made me actually pay attention. Plus, you can use an ear flap as a swatch. So I actually went and measured my gauge, and it was 6 stitches to the inch, half a stitch smaller than the gauge for the smallest size, which is 20 and a third inches around. I think the blue yarn (Which is Deluxe Worsted Tones by Universal: Yarndex link) is more of a light worsted. Then again, I do usually have pretty tight gauge. Anyway, I figured that I had to add stitches, because this wasn't going to fit my little brother's 22.5 inch noggin and hair. This kid has got a fro that would make 70s era Peter Frampton jealous. Kindly look on the right, and imagine it more voluminous. It's like a giant triangle of hair. He gets it from my mom, who has really curly hair. Both of my little brothers got it, but I managed to get the thin, limp head of hair typical of my dad's side. Boo. So anyway, I had to make accommodations for his fro. In addition, I thought the earflaps were a titch too narrow on my hat, so I increased until I hit 25 stitches instead of 21. I ended up doing the math (22.5X6 = 135) and then realized that a hat is supposed to be smaller than the head it's for, not the same size. Usually you'd cast on 112 stitches, so I realized that the easiest thing to do would be to add another repeat's worth of stitches, so I ended up with a cast on edge of 128. I tried to keep the front-back proportions the same as the original, but made the back a little longer and the front a little shorter by a stitch or two. I was not, by the way, pleased that I had to do math. As an English major, it affronted my sensibilities. I could write a paper on gauge and knitting, or knitting's history, but math? Pah!

The hat seems to fit well so far. I'm almost done the actual knitting knitting bit and after that it's just i-cord, tassels and a pompom in Old Mrs. Proulx's sparkly acrylic.

Also, I've been looking at colorwork patterns like mad since I found out that yes, I could do it. Mittens, mostly. I lack any DPNs between a size one and a size I'mnotsurereallya5or6, but I'm still looking at some fingering weight ones. I have a size 3 nine inch circ which could be useful for this. I've got my eye on Endpaper Mitts. A really popular pattern, but so pretty.

Also, there's an interesting discussion over on Rav right now about the pronunciation of skein. I say skayne. It's also got a little bit of hank vs skein vs ball in it. For me, a hank is a twisty thing that you need to wind to use. A skein is an oblong center pull thing, like most big-box put ups, and a ball is usually something I've wound myself (I don't own a swift or ball winder). A cake is something wound by a winder. What do you all out in blog-land call these things?