The trouble with knitting a beanie. Part 1

Before I discovered the wonderful world of crochet which I attribute to Lucy over at Attic24, I dabbled in knitting.  I’ve made a few rather motley scarves

 

  with two more unfinished.  

  I’ve even tried making fingerless gloves and yoga socks which also remain unfinished.

 At the onset of winter I decided I needed a nice woolly hat to keep my ears warm on those early morning walks with my stubborn Labrador.  I faced a number of dilemmas; the business of making a knitted hat as you know is not one to be taken lightly, especially when you have limited knitting skills like me. 

So what type of hat should I knit?  A beanie or a beret?  Circular needles, double pointed or plain straight ones?  Plain seemed simpler to me and my chosen style was a beanie sort of thing, (a bit like this one without all the ribbing), a lovely pattern off the internet with clear instructions.  Did the ply of the wool I chose and the size of the needles I had match the pattern instructions?  Well just a teeny, weenie bit out but as I was anxious to get started (alright impatient), beanie making production was undertaken.

I merrily knitted away whenever an opportunity presented itself and it seemed as if I was making marvelous progress.  Miss G asked me very politely one evening if perhaps my beanie was indeed going to be rather big.  I had secretly been wondering that myself but not wanting to admit I had been rather cavalier in my attitude to wool ply and needle size matching the pattern, determinedly kept knitting.

Excitement is such an understated word especially when a project is actually finished and excited I was when it came time to sew up my beanie.  With each little sewing up stitch the excitement started to fade and my heart sank a little lower, this beanie was HUGE!!!! 


 When it was time to proudly don my beanie, it was SOOOO big it fell over my face down to my chin.  Of course the size of my beanie provided oodles of entertainment for my family.

Being the stubborn sort of person I am, I was determined to salvage my beanie. Perhaps I could cut it to size and machine stitch?  No.  Perhaps I could roll the edge up multiple times? Definitely not as then I’d look like I had a sausage around my head. 

 What to do?  I delved into the deep recesses of my limited creative ability and decided to roll the edge up and under once (o.k. twice) and stitch into place.  So now my beanie didn’t fall down to my neck but it was slipping off my head.  Perhaps if I sewed long running stitches just above the brim and gathered them in, my hat would be perfect.  Seemed like a great idea.  The final reveal….urghhhhhh, SHOWER CAP BEANIE THINGY!!!

  Oh I was disheartened.  But oh how I love Miss G, (she is so good for my failing creative ego) she was hopping around excitedly pronouncing my beanie/hat/shower cap thingy as AWESOME!  To me it wasn’t and intended consigning my hard work to the bin which in my opinion was where it belonged.  Miss G pleaded with me to let her try it on and well….. it looked perfect on her sweet little head.  She has a petite little head and lovely long hair whereas I have a large flat head with a square shaped face and short hair.  On me a shower cap,
on her slouchy sophistication all the way.

Obviously this isn't a photo of my beanie/beret but this is what it looks like on Miss G's head.

Here is my final result.

Let that be a lesson to me.  Follow knitting patterns to the letter, ply, needles size, pattern instructions, everything.   Have I learnt my lesson…. ummm no.  The trouble with making a beanie part 2 coming soon!