Sunday, January 10, 2010

Short Rows Wavy Hat by Lee Meredith

This one is a relatively old knit...in fact, I think it might be a year old now, but I've finally gotten around to getting photos and so it's show-and-tell time!


Pattern: Short Rows Wavy Hat by Lee Meredith
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Black and Pearl Ten (grey)
Needles: Addi Turbo Circulars in size US8

I remember seeing Lee's orange & green sample on display for a while at Twisted in Portland, OR and I was really intrigued (enthralled, fascinated, obsessed with...you get the idea) by the wavy stripes. I chose black & grey for mine (naturally) in remnants of yummy, soft, smooshable Malabrigo Merino wool that I had leftover from a couple of different projects.

The wavy shaping of the fabric is achieved with some really clever use of increases, decreases, and short rows. The hat is knit flat, so it's a very simple and natural option to create stripes by changing colors at the beginning of every right-side row (if striping is your goal).


I used the provisional cast-on/kitchener close option for knitting this hat (one of the options described in the pattern). I planned to knit the hat at a slightly tighter gauge than indicated in the pattern, though, so I added a few stitches to add the necessary length and knit more wedges to add circumference. I remember taking very good notes, but they've disappeared into the ether somewhere. I believe I added 6 or 8 stitches, spread out over several "sections" of the pattern, and I knit 13 wedges total.

To be completely honest, David ultimately completed the kitchener stitch finish for this one. I finished the knitting before I had ever tried kitchener myself, and everyone made it sound so scary! By now I've done my share of kitchener stitch, and I kind of wonder what everyone was complaining about, but whatevs. For this project, David was visiting one day and noticed that the fully-knit hat was still sitting (unseamed) in my project pile (one of many). Out of some kind of frustration (and maybe a desire to practice his kitchener stitch skillz?), he picked it up and made short work of the seam (which looks great, by the way; I can't even locate it to get a picture of it now).


This was one of those projects that's a sheer pleasure to knit because it takes shape before your eyes as you work. I was really delighted to see the curve of the fabric come about as I knit each wedge, and the gentle variegation of the grey Malabrigo definitely adds interest. Each grey stripe is completely singular, as the lights and darks play off each-other.


I love how this is the sort of project that can take on a very different look, depending on the colors you choose for it. I have plans to knit one with black and orange (like a tiger--RAWR!!!) and one with black as the main color and multi-coloured neon stripes. We'll see how that goes, though. Stay tuned!