First FOs of 2009!

I actually completed this one New Year’s Day. It’s that quick of a knit. It’s His Black Cable Hat from Sabrina Thompson. The pattern calls for Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick, but I didn’t have any on hand and wanted to start this hat right away, so I improvised.

I used one strand of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal and one strand of Red Heart SuperSaver in Zebra to get the gauge. I thought I would tweed up a little more, but as you can see, it’s more stripedy than anything. And, while I like this okay, it just doesn’t seem like the hat I wanted to give to my little bro. So I went out and bought some LB T&W (aw darn it!… I had to go to Joann and buy yarn!) in Oatmeal and cast on again.

Curiously, after I finished the second one, I tried it on and it was way too short. The guage was fine and it was the same size as the first and looked the same on Notpatwoman. (The first hat fit me fine, too.)All I can think is that LB T&Q must not be as stretch as the Red Heart. Any way, I frogged back to before the decreases, added another pattern repeat and then decreased. That seemed to work fine.

If you are counting the cable repeats, you know this is not the finished product. It's before I did the extra repeat. But the finished product looks about the same.

I like it. I think Chuck will like, too. It’s going to be his Christmas gift. (I know, I know. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it up there before mid January.) I think I’m going to hold onto this other one for someone else, though. Maybe me.

This is a good pattern, though. You can do a hat like this during the course of a movie. That earns it the right to join Big Ribs Beanie in the gift hat pattern library!