Shedir

Amidst the vines

Shedir, started July 22nd, 2007, finished August 9th, 2007
Pattern: Shedir from Knitty.com Special Fall 2004
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed (50% Merino Wool – 25% Alpaca – 25% Rayon/Viscose [50g / 191 yards]) – #153 Phantom – 1 ball
Needles: US3/3.25mm 16″ circ and DPNs (Boyle)
Modifcations: 4 repeats instead of 5, knit stitch through the back of the loop for stitch definition
Lessons Learned: Cabling without a cable needle (mini-cables with slip stitch method)
Cost of Project: $13 yarn + $7 for the circs + $6 for the DPNs = $26
Would I knit it again? Yes, but with yarn in a lighter colour and I may graft the top rather than cinch it next time.

Top of the world Cabled Crown

Pattern Notes and Comments: One of the reasons I took up knitting was to make a hat for myself because I’ve had trouble finding a winter hat to fit my slightly larger than average head and cover most of my ears. This hat doesn’t protect the ears as well as I’d like, but I think it will stay put rather than slip up on my head as the store bought ones have done. A lot of knit bloggers do only three repeats before decreasing since this hat is long, but I felt safer going with four due to aforementioned reasons. Five would have been too long for me. This hat may be too thin for the upcoming winter, but definitely will look good in autumn with all that tweed.

The yarn is very nice. I liked it right away; I’m partial to DK, and I’ve grown fond of tweed as well. It is also quite stretchy, and I always like alpaca and merino. Rowan wool is expensive around here, but the Felted Tweed is actually less expensive than the patterns’ recommended Rowan Calmer. Still, the most expensive yarn I’ve bought yet. The other gripe is that the wool may be a little scratchy for some people, but I’m usually not bothered by this in the long term. The Phantom colourway may have been too dark, but the cables still pop out. I’m glad I knitted tbl for this as I tried the first repeat with a DPN (lost my small cable needle) and most of the stitches not tbl, and it does look a tad better with the tbl.

Speaking of the cables, it’s almost necessary to know how to cable without a cable needle to make this hat move along faster. It did not take me a long time to actually make this piece, but it felt like it did when I was doing all those mini cables. I don’t frog or rip back things so my decrease cables are a little sloppy, but overall, I’m pleased. The ladies at the LYS were very impressed since I’ve only been knitting for less than 1 1/2 years. Won’t knit this again for awhile, but I like the result.

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