Rosebud Hat

If you'd thought my summer of ripping back and re-knitting was confined to my cardigan knitting, you'd be wrong. I knit this squooshy hat one and a half times, and then had to give myself a very strong talking to before I very nearly ripped again and re-knit the whole thing one more time ...

I wasn't re-knitting simply because the fabulous Quince & Co. Osprey yarn was so deliciously marshmallowy to knit (although, it really really was). Nope, Jared Flood's lovely Rosebud hat was yet another victim of my wonky summer.

The pattern is great, easy to follow and fun to knit. The problem was that I started off with the intention of knitting the slouchy version of Rosebud but once I got right to the end of the body of the hat (it's cast on at the brim), I changed my mind. Far too much slouch, it was looking more Bob Marley than ... I don't know .... someone more feminine and chic. And, it's a gift for someone very feminine and very chic.

So, I ripped back, carefully picked up my stitches, worked out where I was on the cable and set off again ... knit, knit, knit, decreased at the crown, threaded my yarn through the remaining stitches, pulled it tight, wove in my ends ... you know the drill. I tried it on. "Hmmm", I thought. "Is it me or could the brim be shorter"? No, I discovered re-reading the pattern, it's not just me, the brim should be shorter, three rows shorter for the non-slouchy version. Bums.

You have no idea how much I wanted to undo my knitting and take out those three rows. The urge was super duper strong. But, instead, my rational self somehow took charge. It forced me to slow down and think a minute instead of rushing at the sweet cream hat and unweaving my woven ends. And, whilst wondering how and when I became so OCD about my knitting, I tried the hat on over and over, jiggling it this way and slouching it that. It's okay, I kept telling myself, surely it's okay. Pleeeeeease, can't I just leave one knit alone?

In the end, I asked Mr Myrtle what he thought. He looked at my Rosebud, raised his eyebrows and looked so bewildered I decided that it was probably okay, maybe even pretty good, just the way it was. So I left it alone. Phew.

My Rosebud wasn't all wonky knitting and extra rows though. You will be pleased to know that while knitting this lovely hat I learnt a new way of knitting SSK. Instead of the usual, slip two stitches individually as if to knit them, then inserting my left needle tip into the front of these slipped stitches and using my right needle to knit them together through their back loops, the pattern directed me to: "slip 1 stitch from L to R needle as if to knit, replace this stitch on L needle in its new orientation and knit two together through the back loop". Well, I love this method. As far as I can see it has the same effect as the usual way of knitting SSK; a left-leaning decrease, but it's tidier, and faster. 

Have you tried SSKing like this? Am I the only one who hasn't come across this method before? Do you like it too? Let me know!