Yellowbird Yarn Room

The importance of gauge: a story of approximation

I was being so good. 

I frequently begin projects without doing a gauge swatch.  I tend to just use the label info as a guideline, wing it, and start knitting.  If I don't like the way it's going, I take it out and start over.  But that's just me.  To quote my 9 year old, "that's how I roll".

But this time, I was not following a pattern.  Noone else had done the math for me.  I was making it up as I went along.  And it was a hat.  Something that actually had to fit correctly.

An appropriate time for a gauge swatch if ever there was one.

So I grabbed a ball of my beloved Granite and a set of 10 1/2 circs and cast on 12 stitches (past experience told me to expect about 3 stitches to the inch).  I tested out buttonholes and their placements, using the seed stitch and stockinette in the way I intended for the final product.

 
That's it, under the buttons.  Obviously.  

When all was said and done, I pulled out my trusty measuring tape and started my calculations.  That, my friends, is where things got fuzzy.

Depending on where I measured or how it was laying, the 12 stitches measured at either 4 1/2 or 4 1/4 inches.  So I needed either one or two stitches less for every four inches.  After a little division, that means I got either 2.5 or 2.85 stitches to the inch.  Doesn't sound like much difference, though, right?

Okay.  Let's take a moment here and figure out how many inches I was going to need all together, shall we?

I happened to have a hat on which I was basing the fit of this one, so I laid it out and it measured 11 inches across the bottom.  That means I needed my new hat to be 22 inches.  A little multiplication, and that means...

What?!  Either 55 stitches or 62.7?!  That's a difference of 7.7 stitches!  At so few stitches per inch, that's several inches!

Blech.

That's when I started going with what was convenient.  If I had 60 stitches, the math for the decreases at the crown would be easy:  Start with K8, K2tog across the 60 stitches, and go down one knit stitch between the decreases every other row after that.  Cake.

So that's what I did, and this is what I got:

 
On top, the size I wanted my hat to be.  See that nice, thick green border?  

I have a big head.  But not that big.

I had figured that the hat might be coming out rather big, but I could felt it a bit, right?  Well, I decided I didn't want to felt it quite that much.  Because when I had my ponytail coming out from the unbuttoned top, the hat would bunch up funny if it was all super-felted and thick. 

Out it all came.  I started again with my size 10's.  Muuuch better.  Of course, at this point the hat is not only done, but I've worn it several times and I am finding that I would like it to be just a touch more tightly woven and a touch smaller.  So I might just try and felt it by hand in the kitchen sink since I'm leary of putting those buttons in the washer.

But I'll be sure and get pictures first.  Just in case. 

Don't read this post unless your name is Karen!

And I spoke to you on Tuesday.  And you bought a number of things.  Including a fiber I told you would felt. 

I do apologize, but I was (as my husband would say) mistaken in my facts.  I somehow missed the fact that the merino was actually a superwash, so any attempts to felt would not so much go well.

I also apologize for this highly public notification, but as I have no other way to get in touch with you and I would hate the thought of causing you any amount of frustration...well...a girl's gotta try!

Goldilocks and the Three Buttons

Once upon a time, there was a girl who needed buttons.  Three of them.  So she went to the local big-box craft store, coupons in hand, to buy them.

There was a great big aisle filled with all kinds of buttons, in all kinds of sizes and all kinds of colors.

Goldilocks wandered up and down the aisle and admired the buttons for a long time.  She found many that she loved, but none that were quite right.  There were some that would be perfect...but they were too big.  Others would be perfect...but they were the wrong color.  There were even some that were the perfect size and the perfect color...but they were too heavy.

So she went home and made some for herself out of Fimo and painted them and wore them happily ever after.

The end.

 
Ok, they look something like that.

Sorry, I have two boys so I haven't read too many fairy tales since I was a little.  That's how it goes, right?

Anyway, so I played around with the Fimo and had some fun.  The boys played along, too, making their own Harry Potter wands, and the youngest used some extra to make a mini waffle to feed his stuffties on their birthdays.  Which apparently we had missed. 

After they were baked, I put on a coat of gesso and then had some more fun with paint.    I did one coat where I alternated a little of the yellow and of the green I use to make my tags, then the second coat was silver.  I really liked the look, but didn't think it was quite right for what I wanted, until my husband walked by.

"Oh, wow, those are cool!  I really like those - a little bling.  Nice!

So on went the varnish.

Goldilocks still loves the look, but is still undecided on whether it's quite right.  Especially since Mr. Goldilocks put other ideas in her head that would call for a whole new design with totally different sized buttons. 

But, you know.  You'll have that.

Explaining the origin of the design

I have developed a very bad habit over the years of knowing what I want, and an even worse habit of wanting that which doesn't exist.

My ponytail hat is the perfect example of this unfortunate phenomenon.

You see, I have loved to wear my hair in a ponytail, high on the back of my head, for my whole life.  I still remember the time in grade school when a boy that I thought was cute told me he liked the way my ponytail swung back and forth when I walked (an action I proceeded to develop into an art over the next several weeks).  And while the events surrounding my wedding were a bit of a blur, I do remember that at the rehearsal dinner my sleek ponytail looked good up there in the clouds.

As I've gotten older the ponytail has become more utilitarian than fashion statement, and it is certainly not a hairstyle I choose when I expect to be seen by anyone I know, but I still love it just the same.

However, this hairstyle becomes problematic during the winter months in the northern climates.  After all, it's cold out there!  So when (not long after I learned how to knit) I saw a pattern for a hat with a hole in it for my ponytail to come through I just had to have one. 

The pattern was called Nippertails (Ravelry link) and I loved the idea, but was looking for something more cloche-like.  Plus, I decided I wanted to use a faux suede yarn for the body of the hat and some tea-stained chenille for the bottom edge and the cuff around the ponytail.  So the pattern needed some tweaking.  And I had never worked in the round before.

Ok, so the hat was wearable for a while, provided I had a few minutes to tug and squish it into place.  But I quickly realized that once it was on, I couldn't take it off because the process really messed up the hair underneath. 

Enter Hannah (another Ravelry link).  For this one, you have a handy little flap with buttons under the ponytail so that you can wrap it and not mess up the hair so bad.  Nice!  Excellent solution!  I love my baseball hats - why didn't I think of that?

But I still had a problem.  And this was I problem I discovered with my Nippertails hat that was not solved with the Hannah design.  What if you really liked the look of the hat and wanted to wear it, but you had no intentions of going the ponytail route that day?

So this idea has been brewing for a while of a hat with a band of buttons.  With no ponytail, it's just a cute hat with a decorative strip of buttons down the side of your head, top to bottom.  But when you have your hair up, just turn that band of buttons to the back and leave the top one undone!  You should, theoretically, end up with a cute little opening under your hair like that of a button-down shirt.

Oh, it sounds perfect in theory.  But can I make it work?  That is the question now. 

Check it out!

It's been a while since I've shared a cool video...

 

I highly recommend, too, skipping over to this site and checking out the story behind the video.  And they say knitting takes patience!

Did I show you my hat?

I worked on it for three days straight.  Sizes 7 and 8 dpn's.  My fingers hurt.

And this is what I ended up with.

 

I wish I had thought to get a picture of me wearing it, it would have been good for a laugh at least!  I was using this pattern(Ravelry link - must be logged into Ravelry to view it) but made a number of adjustments to account for the thinner yarn and smaller needles.  I make these kinds of adjustments all the time because I rarely, if ever, use the yarn called for in a pattern.  I'm usually pretty good at it.

But not always.

I was concerned as the hat progressed but was counting on the old adage that "blocking covers a multitude of sins." 

A multitude.  Not all.

The ribbing was waaaay too loose, and there was not enough slouch in back.  It sort of sat on my head like a hand knit bowl.  I'm sure it would have been lovely felted and sitting on my dining room table.  Perhaps filled will balls of yarn.  But not what I was going for.

But, you know?  Here's the plus side:  I really don't think that style of hat would look good on meanyway!  I think what I really need in a slouchy hat is not so much a beret, but a hat with a ribbed and folded cuff that is knit longer than necessary until desired slouchiness is achieved and then abruptly decreased and bound off.

Now, I don't often pay for patterns because there are so many wonderful free patterns out there and I'm not too shabby at winging, either.  But I discovered this pattern and think the Goldilocks in me finds it juuuust right!  I'm so torn! 

Ok, so backtracking a bit...  After Christmas I had some time and some yarn and a need for my own fingerless mitts.  I whipped up some Toastfor myself in the same yarn as above.  This also lead to the realization that I have more of said yarn and no neck warmer for myself and this patternhas been sitting in my Favorites on Ravelry for over two years.  No adjustments necessary for same said green yarn.

Beauteous.

And done!

Will get a picture up at some point, soon as I can get a good one.  Unless I decide to wait until I finish the hat, too.  Hmmm...

Oh!  And speaking of hats!  I started my ponytail-friendly hat design on Thursday and it is going very well so far.  In fact, I might be done if I had remembered to grab another ball of yarn last time I was at the shop!  Of course, then there's the buttons I'm making because the Goldilocks in me was not happy with what she was finding.

But that's another story for another day.

Meantime, I will be at Open Knit tomorrow but Thursday is given over to kids'-school-type duties so have fun and see you soon! 

I miss New York Seltzer

Root Beer, Blueberry, Peach...Black Cherry...

About once or twice a year it gets to me and I find myself scouring the internet to see what happened to it and if they have brought it back.  I did some minor scouring today, but the only highlights were an interesting bio of the son of the father-and-son-duo-founders (written in 1990) and a Facebook plea for the beverage's prompt return. 

Recently, I saw flavored seltzers on special at the grocery store and had an epiphany...  Couldn't I just make a simple syrup and add it to the flavored seltzer and get something yummy?

No.  No, I couldn't.

Of course, that's not to say I won't keep trying...