sweet hex | heges

Sweet hex - one hat.
Sweet heges - two hats.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Sweet Hex Child's Hood by Lisa Shroyer, available for free.

Size: One size.

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (45 per cent wool, 35 per cent silk, 20 per cent nylon) in 24 'claret' and '01 'chalk'.

Needles: 2.25 and 2.75mm needles.

Start to finish: I started the project on 6 March 2012 and finished it yesterday, 7 September 2012, six months all up. I knit two hats though, the first was finished on 12 March, so took only six days to knit. The other hat I started on 7 August and finished knitting on 18 August, so eleven days.

Recycle/stash content: Yes, all yarn from stash and acquired at the Seattle Knitters' Guild Fiber Frenzy.

Comments: The pattern instructs to knit the hat in the round (and then steek) which I suppose is conducive to stranded knitting but strikes me as an odd choice given the yarn used, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. Or rather, Silky Wool is an odd choice of yarn, given the technique required. I did in fact use Silky Wool because I happened to have some at hand but I used a different technique - knit the hat back and forth (I don't mind stranding on the purl side) and grafted the last row together. Really, if you're not using a sticky wool, I would recommend doing this.

There is also a discrepancy in the pattern regarding the facings, one is six rows deep, the other nine - unclear why.

Rather than using a commercially manufactured cord and tassels, I attempted to knit i-cord on 2.25mm needles but it was almost unbearable with the Silky Wool which is  bit nubby and doesn't pull through smoothly at that gauge. After managing a few centimetres and realising that I would put off finishing this project forever if I went down that path, I instead made a really tight plait using six strands of yarn. Tassels I had made before for 'the cat on the hat' so I was able to wing it this time.

Verdict: I made these hats in reverse colourways, one for my daughter and one for her best friend who lives across the street. Their names are almost identical (just one sound different, think along the lines of Mara and Lara, which makes for a laugh when calling out to them at a playground) and now they have almost identical hats. I'm delighted with them.

what a tassle!

What is it about finishing? Why do I have such a mental block about it? I love making things, these tassels were great fun to make once I actually got around to it. And I certainly love to finish a project.

But these tassels, and the cords that they are attached to and the casings that the cords thread through, have taken me weeks to get around to. Actually, I have actively been putting it off. Why?? Is it a reluctance to let go of a project, even though I am simultaneously desperate to finish? Is it a fear of not creating a perfect project? Motivation fascinates me.

I realise that I have also completely neglected to mention these sweet little hats that I am knitting (actually have knit, have completely knit and finished and will showcase shortly). I started them way back in March ...