Hey everyone:)  I’m writing this from the Computer room of the Seabourn Pride.  Myria is going to post it for me.  It is unadorned as of now, but I’ll be back Saturday night and by Monday there will be a couple of pictures.

This is more a series of thoughts than an actual, step-by-step tutorial, but perhaps it will be useful anyway?  It was an interesting process and the hat was such fun that I didn’t even mind making it twice! *

Just for the exercise, I decided to make a hat and it’s a pretty nifty hat.  It has a slip-stitch bordered cable all around the bottom and six short-row wedges that kind of swirl to the center top.  It is knitted on two needles and seamed.

I had brought a lot of old chenille with me - nice colors and I keep trying to think of something to do with them.  Nah, that probably wouldn’t show off the cable very well.  Sock yarn? Maybe - if I want this to fit my stuffed bunny.  The only other option was some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I have left over from a couple of other projects.  Seemed like a good choice, so I
went with it.

It worked up easily; Cashmerino is lovely to work with.  However, about halfway through I began to notice that the cable looked a bit loose and sloppy.  I knew I was working it properly so I couldn’t figure out why it looked like that.  I just carried on anyway and finally finished seaming it while viewing “Under the Tuscan Sun” (a nice, understated film).

Well, the hat was a bit big, but worst of all, it had no body at all.  It kind of lies on the table in a boneless lump.  It should stand up.  I mean, obviously I don’t want an old-fashioned knight’s helmet but I would like my hat to have a little integrity and backbone…sigh

Back to the drawing board.

We had an unscheduled stop in Bermuda.  This was fortuitous because I hadn’t brought any go to-hell yarn with me.  You know, the stuff you don’t really care about that you try out ideas on, or practice stitch patterns on?  That stuff.  I’d only brought “project” stuff. 

As luck would have it, I stumbled into a yarn shop in St. George - almost entirety Red Heart yarn in various incarnations, and more than twice the price of the same thing back home - but it had the advantage of being immediately available.  I gratefully purchased a big, skein of SuperSaver in orchid.

I decided to try making a second hat in the RHSS.  To my amazement, though nothing but the yarn had changed, the cable was actually crisp and clear!  The edges didn’t melt into the purl stitches and disappear.  The short-row wedges looked jaunty rather than saggy.  This looked…nice!

This is probably old hat (ahem!) to most of you but it was a surprise to me and something I’ll have to pay more attention to in the future.  Soft and slinky may be exactly what I want for a sweater but it’s not going to be the right hand (is that the right word?) for everything.

*The hat pattern isn’t my own and I’m currently researching its provenance.  Hopefully I will be able to post it soon!