Seed stitch hat and scarf

For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on the seed stitch hat and seed stitch scarf from Alison Barlow's Fashionable Projects for the New Knitter.  I got the hat finished in time for Christmas but had barely cast on the scarf by the 25th.  (I was working on it after I recovered from the holiday meal-induced food coma.)  I won't include the pattern here, so as to not undercut the author copyright and income source.  She - Alison Barlow - has some patterns on Ravelry.com, though I didn't check to see if she has any free patterns available there.

My first attempt at the hat didn’t quite work out.

The hat was short; it came to just above my eyebrows and didn’t come close to covering my ears.  I knit quite tightly (I’ve been told I make yarn cry and it should be noted, I’ve made cotton creak), so that might have had something to do with it.  And I admit it, the cast on edge (bottom-up hat) was a little tight.  I’d used a long tail cast on and I’ve been told that can happen.  The yarn was so pretty (Cascade 128, Superwash Merino Wool), it had come together so beautifully, and it was my first attempt at seed stitch.  I decided I didn’t want to frog it.  A friend wove in the ends and then I donated it to the Knitty City 2009 hat drive.  As someone pointed out, it’ll fit someone.

Second attempt worked.  I added two rows to each of the colors and sections – in the 2x2 rib and in the first color (total of 4), and in the middle color – so that they matched the final section, which was written to have 12 rows.  The length of the hat became 48 rows, and that was before the decreases.  It came out well, maybe slightly large for the recipient.  She can pull it down to cover her ears completely, though she still has to fold up the ribbed “brim” or else walk around with the wool over her eyes, hee!  The whole hat is knit more loosely.  I started with a knitted cast on for the second attempt, rather than the long tail cast on I’d used before, and it really made a difference.

The scarf is nearly done.  I’m following the pattern (almost) as written, rather than adding rows to match the hat.  It’ll be wide enough without the added rows, and it’s taking me an average of 20 minutes to make each of 300* count rows.

I’m contemplating making mittens to match too.  My first attempt at mittens I finished not too long ago.  I’m making all of this for my mom; the mittens were a custom fit for her very narrow wrists.  She told me twice in a recent conversation how much she likes that the mittens’ cuffs actually fit her, and she can tuck them inside the cuff of her coat.  With the frigid temperatures we’ve been having, the extra warmth that affords is very welcome.  A matching set of mittens would be a little larger, knit a lot looser than what I gave her already (hey, I can try!), with the goal of having her be able to pull them on over the first pair of mittens.  Don’t know if it’ll work.  Mom’s an experienced crafter (crochet and tatting mostly, though she also knit and did other needle work), I’ll see what she thinks.




*I miscounted and actually have 296 stitches, rather than the intended 300.  I think I double counted where I put the stitch marker.  This is also the first time I’ve worked with stitch markers on the needle, moving them with each row, rather than hooking them through the knitted work.  I always thought it would be too annoying to have to keep moving them, but with a (nearly) 300 stitch count row, I find the markers are good milestones, letting me know I only have x number of stitches until I get to the end.