Planning

For the very first time, yesterday I decided not to follow a pattern and just knit something on the fly.

Well.

Not the first time, exactly. I have knitted a few scarves that way, but this is the first time that size actually matters somewhat. But I digress.

I am now planning a hat for my large-headed boyfriend. His feet are size 13. He has an above-average sized head. Doesn't look funny or anything, but there it is.

The plan is to have this hat do the following:

a) Fit his head;
b) Be warm and not too stretched out;
c) Look sharp, and not necessarily homemade; and,
d) Appeal to him.

No small task for one poor hat. I have knitted one hat in the past. Just one. It is of a large yarn, knitted with 6.5 mm needles in 2x2 ribbing and stretches to fit. I don't love it. I mean, it works, as far as hats go, but it's kind of just... blah. I dunno. I like the enormous pompom I have put on top of it though. Hee.

So. The yarn I have is black, and lovely. I'm knitting the hat on 4.5 mm needles, which means it is going to take some time. Obviously, this is a deadline hat. Birthdays. There are so many of them. As it turns out, the black yarn is a little bit of an asshole to work with because it is difficult to actually see anything. I love it though, and I'm pretty sure that if it turns out the way I want it to, he will as well, but I digress. I have decided to focus only on this, and then on a scarf for my friend (why do birthdays stick together? hmm?). So hopefully, I will make it in time. These are my concerns. Now, about the actual hat.

I am thinking that I want ribbing for about half of it. I love ribbing. It has give. It is stretchy. It is pretty. It is marginally less mind-knumbing than simple stockinette. And since I'm knitting this hat on circular needles, it's considerably less mind-knumbing than simple stockinette would be. So. Ribbing. Possibly 3x3 ribbing. I'm casting on 156 stitches, after all. That's a lot of freaking stitches. Best to be slightly too big than too small though. And the ribbing will bring it in a bit. Oh, sigh, I hope that is not too big. I knitted a swatch and went by a chart in a book (Stephanie's book, Knitting Rules!, link to the right over there) but I am still worried that it will be too big and that I will not finish it in time.

For the top half of the hat, I am thinking of venturing into the world of cables onto stockinette. Just small ones, every so often. I haven't decided if that will look stupid, and I haven't seen any pictures of what I want to accomplish. I'm hoping that it will be subtle, since it is an all-black hat, and the yarn is eeny weeny, and I'm thinking of small ones. Did I mention that they will be small? Maybe I will run the ribbing into cables. That's got to be doable. I just have to learn how to make cables.

I didn't realize how much planning could go into one simple (though hopefully not too simple) hat.