Goose's Fishy Hat

After Chipmunk's stocking I had a new love of knitting. Unlike quilting I didn't need to hole myself up in a sewing room covered in threads and with little bits of fabric strewn everywhere. I could binge watch Netflix with the hubs, have coffee with my girlfriends or kill time at a doctor's appointment while being productive.

While looking through patterns on Craftsy, I found this adorable fish hat . I had similar colors in the stash of yarn I've slowly accumulated for various craft projects and thought I'd give it a go.

A few things: I was still trying to figure out a stranding technique: how to hold the yarn so it didn't pull, when to twist it, how to read a pattern-- all foreign to me. Thank god for YouTube. And the pattern designer, Lisa McFetridge, told me I picked a difficult project for my first stranding. Which makes me feel equal parts crazy and proud!

Also, gauge meant nothing to me. Check the gauge? That must be like pinning when sewing... Useless. Turns out it's not terribly useless at all. Different yarns, different needles, different knitters all end up with different gauges. Lesson learned. (Woof, look at that mess down below! Full disclosure here...)

Then there's that whole "measure the head" thing. Why in the world did I think Goose would fit into a youth size hat?? My dear 2.5 year old who comes from a family of large noggins, who had always been off the charts head size, who can't wear turtleneck shirts, who has never fit into a toddler size hat....sure lets make him a youth size hat.

So the technique was a work in progress, the gauge is a bit small and luckily I switched to an adult cast on before I started though I had only printed a chart for the youth size printed out and had to ad-lib a bit.

It's tight. Like let's- you-a-hair-cut-and-hope-that-makes-it-fit-better-tight. Again, the pattern designer came to the rescue and suggested steam blocking. So I'm going to cross my fingers this isn't acrylic (I really don't think it is?) and give it a go!

I've now attempted two more stranded colorwork (I don't even know if I'm throwing this terms around correctly!) hats that have been much, much, much more successful. I can't wait to get them up here to redeem myself :)

And as a side note...

Chipmunk woke up for an early morning snack at 5am today. I stupidly took that nursing time to look on Ravelry which got the wheels spinning which means I didn't fall back asleep. Today is going to be rough, but this cool, misty, almost-autumn morning with a zebra mug full of hot tea, a lap full of quilt, and a house full of sleeping family is my One Moment and I'm loving it. Thanks for indulging a little Pinterest inspired moment. I feel like I should throw in #blessed or something... :)