A Quick Project

 

Don’t ask me why I cast on, but I had a quick make this week. I saw a cute hat pattern and that the designer was having a knit along. I have finished all my year-long projects for February and had time to work this and I knew I had yarn in my stash. So pattern was purchased and project started on 14 February and the knitting finished on 20 February , with it being blocked on 21 February, the last day of the knit along.

The main yarn is Cosette by Dream in Color, a Christmas gift in 2022 and the pink is MadTosh DK from a friend’s left overs. I  used just under 50g of the Cosette and about 7g of the MadTosh.

One thing I have decided for this year is to be true to myself when rating books – I need to give more 5-stars and more 2-stars. And I need to continue to be honest about yarn and knitting patterns.

This pattern is Lonely Hearts Club 2024 by Becky Beagell, AKA GoGlitterNinjaGo, a previously unknown to me designer. Usually I would check out other designs and comments before purchasing a pattern by an unknown designer but a hat pattern being poorly written is a small annoyance.

The hat comes in five sizes from Baby to Adult and overall the pattern is well written and easy to follow including descriptions and video links to the special stitches. I just have a couple of minor comments; one about the written pattern and one about the design.

The pattern is 19 rows and a six-stitch repeat and is presented as a chart and written. I love having the choice as sometimes I find the words easier to follow and sometimes the symbols. In this case I was following the written directions and wondered why it didn’t say when to change colour. Because at the start of the written directions it says:- “NOTE: If you are working from the Written Dip Chart directions, be sure to refer to the chart for color changes.” Ack! If I wanted to follow the chart I would, plus as I was following the pattern on my phone, the written directions took up the screen, so I had to scroll across to see when to change colour. (Although, to be fair, it is obvious when to use the contrast color.) But how much easier to have written:- “use contrast color only on rows x, y and z?

My comment about the design concerns the decreasing at the crown. There are only two decrease rows; one with a double-decrease and one with a normal decrease. Then as is pretty standard for tops of hats, you gather up the remaining stitches to close the circle at the top of the head. Except there are way too many stitches to close the hole. The smallest size has 17 stitches and the largest has 25. The pictures on the pattern show a hole at the top of the head, which is fine if you are going to sew on a pom pom. Otherwise why do I want a hole at the top of my hat? I’m guessing that as for all sizes the stitches left after the second set of decreases is not divisible by 2 or 3, the designer didn't want to work an uneven set of decreases. This is not a big deal and it is perfectly acceptable to work a round of decreases and have one stitch left. I worked one round of rib and then a round of double decreases with one normal decrease in the middle of the row before making my nicely closed gap.

 

As I said these are minor complaints but does make the pattern a four-star and not five.