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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Lotus

My first knitting project of 2012:

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It's the Lotus Hat (pattern is free and available here) made up in Malabrigo Merino Worsted. The pattern was a breeze to make, very fun and straightforward. I cast on Saturday and bound off Monday, with no marathon knitting required. The charts were easy to memorize - in fact, it was so easy to "read" the knitting as I worked it that I'm not sure memorizing the charts was even necessary. I love the end result.

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My only word of warning: this pattern comes out small. I obtained gauge and followed the instructions for the "long" version (four repeats of chart A, rather than three) and it still came out so short that it popped off my head prior to wet blocking. Now, that being said, I do have a rather large head. Still, it barely covered the tips of my ears, let alone my earlobes (as it said it would)! Luckily, this was made as a gift for my mother in law, who is rather birdlike in stature. Also luckily, I didn't bother to wash and block my gauge swatch, so it had some room to grow. Hopefully it fits her correctly!

In sewing news: my Beignet skirt has been finished for forever, save for the hem (which I just haven't had time to sit down and take care of). It's hard not to use pressure to update this blog as an excuse to craft, but I really do have other things on my plate at the moment. Hopefully you'll be seeing it sometime this week!

7 comments:

  1. Love the hat! It's really, really cute!

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  2. I had the same problem with that pattern. I ended up ripping it out six months later because I never wore it. Glad you could stretch yours.

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    1. Oh I'm so glad to hear it's not just me, I didn't see too many comments about it in other people's project notes. At least, none that let me know how dramatically small it would be! I think it stretched enough... I really hope it fits my MIL!

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  3. Why have I not seen this hat pattern before? Gorgeous colour, the yarn really brings out the cables. So lovely!

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    1. Honestly, I think I'd never noticed it because the photos used on the pattern page are not the loveliest versions of the hat. Not that they're not good hats... just not the sort of photos that would normally pique my interest. But I had such a narrow criteria for this project that I ended up looking more closely.

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  4. Love the hat - the colour is just divine! I think there is something about winter knitting - it's all I feel like doing at the moment!

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