Mistake Rib Beanie

This is a knitting blog - Yomama KNITS - and I'm still knitting away in upstate NY. My daughter and I visited a new LYS in Rochester and she saw an example of this hat - the Mistake Rib Beanie by Anne Macri. It was in a solid color and very eye catching. She tried it on in the store and begged me to knit her one for the fall. She NEEDED a new Fall hat. Of course she did!

Then we began to go about project in a very Yomama kind of way: we immediately decided we liked another yarn better than the one suggested in the pattern. We decided it would be "More Fallish" if it had a pattern to it instead of being a solid color. And we decided we'd make up the striping sequence as we went along!

So I bought 3 balls of the very alluring Aurora 8 extrafine merino wool from Italy. This is a popular yarn at this LYS and I can see why. They had some bold, Fall colors that were great to look at and so soft to touch. We decided on green, brown and pumpkin orange. Needles and pattern followed (yes, in that order!) and we were on our way home with a bag of Fall hopes and knitting dreams.

It was a great pattern and wonderful yarn. It felt good to work on a quick finish project that made me feel as satisfied as she was. I might lose my fascination for month long knitting projects like cables and blankets - and start doing the two week quickies like Fall hats!




The pattern was well written and the mistake rib is a fun pattern to work with. The decreases are done in sets of 12, which allows for variation between rows but consistency in pattern with in the row. It was the right amount of focus for my knitting pleasure. I had to pay attention but could still watch Martha Stewart while I knit!

The only problem with the pattern that I ran into was when to begin the decrease sequence. The pattern said to knit the lower pattern until the curve of the head and then begin the decrease. I took this to mean a couple inches above her ear where her head begins to curve...the pattern means the very top of you head. Once you knit the final row and pull the stitches through, it tightens the top into a perfectly ribbed circular seam. However, this really tightens & shortens several rows of knitting, shortening the length of the hat. I "finished" the hat and it was 2 inches too short! I cast on around the bottom edge and made a brim of seed stitch since I was unable to get the mistake rib perfectly on track again. If I do this pattern again (which I might) I'd make sure I knit the bottom pattern until the very tippy top of the head and then begin decreasing.



One of her biggest desires was that this hat would be "Fall in NY". That's why she gravitated towards the Fall colors and pattern scheme. I think it looks great with her Fall wardrobe and even looks stunning in a pile of leaves gathering in our yard. A great Fall hat that she'll enjoy well into the Winter as well.



Details:
Aurora 8 Yarn (extra fine merino wool) in green, brown & pumpkin (color number on tags: 6, 16 & 716)
Needles: US 7 - 16 in circular
Pattern: available for free at my LYS. I"ll send it to you if you want a copy
Cast on: September 11, 2009
Finished: Septeber 26, 2009
Skill Level: Intermediate