Selfish Sewing (er, Knitting) Week: Thicket Hat

It's Selfish Sewing Week hosted by Rachael of Imagine Gnats!  It's perfect for my 2014 goal of making more things for myself, so when I saw a call out for knitters, I jumped at the chance.  One can never have too many hats.  I chose to knit up Thicket by Brooklyn Tweed, since you know I'm all about cables.

My first try, though, was a fail.  I should have gone with my gut, along with a few Ravelry projects that said the pattern runs big.  I tend to be all, "Oh, I'll knit this up and even though it seems like way too many stitches for a worsted weight hat, it'll be fine!"  And then no.  Ginormous.  It's kind of cute from the back and side, but just silly from the front, not to mention in danger of falling off any second.  I know some people wear hats this slouchy and look adorable, but it doesn't work for me.

Shoddy bathroom selfie

I absolutely LOVE the cable pattern, though, so I sat down and figured out how I wanted to size it down.  How great is this detail?  I love how twisted stitches pop.

I dug through my stash and found this Knit Picks Merino Style, which was sold as DK weight, but knits up as more of a light worsted.  Then I cast on only 110 stitches and did five repeats of the pattern instead of six.  I also skipped to row 36 after I finished knitting row 27.  That did the trick.

Just the right amount of slouch

I love how the top comes together and forms petal-like shapes.  Having five sections makes it look like a star.

The main pattern is a chart only, not written out.  When I first started knitting, I thought charts were super intimidating, but once I used one, I was sold on them.  It's much easier to "read" your knitting, especially if you have to rip back a few rows.  Not that I ever have to do that because I was distracted while binge-watching Supernatural on Netflix...

One of the cables requires you to hold one stitch to the front and one to the back, so if you don't already know how to cable without a cable needle, I would highly recommend learning.  It made things much simpler.

 

Now that I've finished up my selfish knitting, I have some selfish sewing lined up.  I've been so inspired by the other SSW projects on the Kollabora page, as well as these participating bloggers:

milkybeer · Behind the Hedgerow · jm_subrn · Sew What, Sherlock? Lladybird · sew Amy sew · the Brodrick Design Studio · adirondack inspired The Crooked Banana · Sewbon · Idle Fancy · girl like the sea oona aloona · Lauren Dahl · verypurpleperson · la inglesita Groovybaby...and mama · Buzzmills · La Pantigana · sew a straight line Dandelion Drift · JustMeJay · B Yazoo · Disaster In A Dress the quirky peach · Fishsticks Designs · Seamstress Erin · a happy stitch Casa Crafty · Sarah Jane Sews · YoSaMi · Call Ajaire · miss matatabi
 

There's also a fantastic giveaway that you can enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway