I Hate February

I do asset-liability management. If you don't know what that means, don't bother looking it up; it's boring number-crunchy kind of stuff. All my assessments and reports and whatnot are due March 1, so I don't get to do much in February (or January, really, but especially February) besides work.

I have knit a total of 6 rows on Starlight since the last photo I posted. So much for my wear-it-on-Valentine's-Day goal.

I still haven't written up the pattern on the short-rows hat.

I designed two new stitch patterns, both involving ribbing and cables (although not reversible). The first one is small, with an 8 stitch and 12 row repeat:


I started a hat with this stitch pattern, but it became clear early on that it was way too big, so I frogged it. I'll try again, with fewer repeats, when I have time (hah!).

The second stitch pattern is huge: 32 stitches and 40 rows for one pattern repeat.
(click to make bigger and actually be able to SEE it)


I actually managed to make a successful hat with this second pattern! I used beige merino wool (Zara) on size 4 needles. I even managed to come up with crown decreases that blend in with the stitch pattern, which I should probably write down soon before I forget.

I'm debating whether or not to write up this pattern, since I'm not sure anyone other than me can use it. I've noticed one thing that happens almost all the time when other people knit my hat patterns - they leave out one or more row repeats before starting the decreases. Although my head is only slightly larger than average, it is apparently freakishly tall. This is confirmed by my mannequin. The circumference of the hat fits her perfectly (it's very stretchy and should fit just about anyone), but lengthwise it's pretty bad. Bad as in, it covers her ENTIRE FACE. However, you can't just leave off a row repeat if it's 40 rows. Even half a repeat (the decreases would still blend) is 20 rows. So I'm not sure if it can be adjusted for normal heads. It might be worth trying a heavy worsted yarn and leaving off one stitch repeat and one row repeat. Or using a thinner yarn, with a smaller needle, and adding a stitch repeat but leaving the row count alone. I'm not sure. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take some photos of the hat this week. If there's interest, I will write up the pattern exactly as it was knit, and feel free to experiment to get your size.