Pretty Great

I didn't knit much yesterday at all.  I worked on the embroidery project while the light was good, and I am going to do that again today.  Knitting was scattered all about through the day,  and yet, this morning when I got up, I was 8 rows and some decreases shy of a hat.  Possibly only 6 rows.

So with very little effort this morning

I have a hat.  I had just enough of the dark gray to do two seven row stripes.  There might be enough left to do two rows in a sweater, but only if Batman, Thor, or Captain America needs a sweater, the kind to fit a 12 inch super hero figure.  I have just enough of the light gray to make another small pair of mittens.  And that will happen shortly.

I'm thinking it might be a good thing that the lined colourwork hat did not work out well, because while this is a slightly less goofy sort of hat than an earflap hat, it is completely possible that it is a warmer hat.  It's knit fairly firmly and the lofty mule spun yarn holds a lot of warmth to you.  Seriously, I could work with Mule Spinner all day and never once feel the need to knit with another kind of yarn.  If you only knit with smooth sleek yarns, you really are missing half the great things in this world.  It is really quite yummy and you deserve to knit with it.

This might also be my new favourite hat decrease ever.  

You do need to knit your hat longer before you start decreasing than with one of the 'pretty' decreases.  I don't know about you, but for me, the longer stockinette section is a no brainer.  It's in the round, and well, rather sock like.   You don't start decreasing till you are well over the top of your head.  From there it moves along fast.  It was over almost before it was begun.  I really enjoyed just getting down to my decreasing business and getting it over with.  No real thinking or memory work involved.  I could get used to it.  I also think this may be the very best look to finish a slouchy kind of hat. 

I always have finished hats with a thread drawn through the last 6 or so stitches, but as I was sitting there, mulling finishes and what I wanted to do (To pompon or not to pompon, that is the question.), I realized that this sort of top would work really well with an i-cord knit top.  So that is what I did.  I had to double knot it, though.  My i-cord was a little too long.  Did I mention that I kind of like knitting i-cord fiddly bits and find it hard to stop?

But overall, this is a hat that is going to keep someone warm this winter.  And that pleases me.