A few weeks ago I posted about my wonderful malabrigo velvet grapes bucket hat.
It didn't take long before I realized that I hadn't knit this hat long enough -- the wind she was a'blowin here by the ocean and my ears just weren't cozy enough. I had plenty of yarn left over; ripping back from the brim was not an option, and frogging back from the top to before the decreases started would just result in super fuzzy yarn and a whole lot of extra work.
I had to perform surgery.
Luckily I love kitchener stitch. I used a smaller cable needle (size 3, I think) to pick up a row of stitches all the way around the hat, in the straight knitting section somewhere in the middle of the length.
I made a quick snip in one stitch and pulled out a single row of knitting one stitch at a time, picking up the lower row of stitches as I went along, with a size 7 cable needle, the same as used for the actual hat knitting in the first place.
My favorite wee crochet hook helped to pull out the row I wanted to undo:
In case you can't see the gap that is forming...
It took a bit of patience, which totally paid off in the end. I basically cut the hat into two pieces and then knit up another inch or so on the straight lower part, before grafting it back together with the top.
It took an evening's work but it is much more practical now, and as it was 23 below CELSIUS yesterday, well worth the trouble.
If I were to knit this pattern again, which I would, because it's well written, I would pay attention when told to knit 6.5 inches straight - because I tried it on as I was working on it and thought it was long enough at about 5.5 inches - and I was wrong.
It didn't take long before I realized that I hadn't knit this hat long enough -- the wind she was a'blowin here by the ocean and my ears just weren't cozy enough. I had plenty of yarn left over; ripping back from the brim was not an option, and frogging back from the top to before the decreases started would just result in super fuzzy yarn and a whole lot of extra work.
I had to perform surgery.
Luckily I love kitchener stitch. I used a smaller cable needle (size 3, I think) to pick up a row of stitches all the way around the hat, in the straight knitting section somewhere in the middle of the length.
I made a quick snip in one stitch and pulled out a single row of knitting one stitch at a time, picking up the lower row of stitches as I went along, with a size 7 cable needle, the same as used for the actual hat knitting in the first place.
My favorite wee crochet hook helped to pull out the row I wanted to undo:
In case you can't see the gap that is forming...
It took a bit of patience, which totally paid off in the end. I basically cut the hat into two pieces and then knit up another inch or so on the straight lower part, before grafting it back together with the top.
It took an evening's work but it is much more practical now, and as it was 23 below CELSIUS yesterday, well worth the trouble.
If I were to knit this pattern again, which I would, because it's well written, I would pay attention when told to knit 6.5 inches straight - because I tried it on as I was working on it and thought it was long enough at about 5.5 inches - and I was wrong.
scary!!! looks great but - fear-inducing, i tell ya!
ReplyDeleteDr. Lara in the house! Great job. Remember the Norwegian saying "det er ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær" and the preferred remedey: wool, wool, wool.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! I have a hat knit in the so-called stitch pattern with the same problem (knit from brim up in handspun and about an inch too short) I wonder if I could pick up and graft in that pattern without screwing it up...
ReplyDelete