A fellow classmate, Michelle, from Michele Wipplinger’s color workshop was working on Lucy Neatby‘s Equilateral Hat! I was hooked. I picked up the Noro, but then couldn’t find the pattern. No problem, I said to myself, Stitches West is around the corner. I’ll pick it up there. Nope. Nada. Couldn’t find it.
I’ll wait to pick it up at the Gig Harbor Retreat! Lucy was going to be teaching there. They’ll have patterns there. Yes, finally, I’ve got my hands on the pattern. Over the weekend, I casted on my swatch. Nearly a month after I decided I was going to make one. This is sheer torture. I’m an impatient kinda gal. Once I decide I want to do something, I’m not easy to be around until I can get started. (Note: This is not to say that I’ll finish whatever it is. Just that I have to start it. There’s a difference, you know.)
The instructions said that we’d be making equilateral triangles. Cast on x number of stitches, work the decreases, and voila! you’ll have a triangle with 3 equal sides. The sides measure 4.5″ Change your gauge up or down for different sized heads. Start with US #8 needles.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Well, it would if you weren’t brain dead. I started with the size 8 needles. When I casted off the last stitch of my triangle, my cast on edge was over 5″. Nope, my head’s big, but not that big. And the hat was destined for my mother, whose head is smaller than mine. So, I changed to a smaller needle. And a smaller needle. And yet a smaller needle. Finally, I got to the 4.5″ — with US #3 needles. I know that Lucy Neatby likes a nice firm fabric, but that’s ridiculous. Now, that’s just not natural for Noro Kuryeon. And my fingers cramped up. And the side edges were too short! They were around 3.5″. No amount of blocking was going to fix that sucker.
I sat back and thought. Well, yes. Stitch height is shorter than the width. Duh. It will always be off. And if I worked the next triangle off of the shortened edge, the hat will be too small. Since the hat is always working off an edge, I need to make sure that the knitted edge, not the cast on edge is to gauge.
I finally settled on US #7. The knit edges are around 4.5″. The cast on edge is much bigger. But, in the light of day, I realized that didn’t matter. It was going to be mattress stitched to another knitted edge so it will scrunch up and all will be well.
I’m on the 11th triangle now. And I have to say, this pattern is extremely addictive. I can see why Michelle made 3 of these. It’s a very simple mindless project (once you get past the initial hump, that is), and a great way to use up all those bulky handspun, handpainted singles that I’ve been playing with.