Another Hat: the Hutchin by Brooklyn Tweed

Despite the fingering weight yarn and the cabling, this might be my quickest knit to date! I cast on a couple of weeks ago and finished Friday, a day late for Mr. Elvy's birthday.

I absolutely love this pattern. I am ambivalent about the yarn. The pattern is Hutchin, by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. The cabling looks complicated but was actually quite easy. The pattern diagram was excellent.

The yarn, Brooklyn Tweed Loft in Birdbook, knit up beautifully. However, it had a tendency to break easily when pulled. I accidentally sat on the tail once and broke all but an inch off the tail, which made it difficult to weave in at the end. Also, when I was tightening up the hole to finish off the crown, the yarn broke, again leaving me with only an inch with which to work. I had to make an ugly knot to have enough yarn to weave into the hat.

All in all, though, this is my favorite hat to date. Eventually, I'd like to make myself one in cream. That will have to wait, as my 10-year-old has also requested a hat. His request is for a black watchman's type hat. You wouldn't know it, but it's somewhat difficult to find a nice quality yarn in black, but that's my next mission.

On Habitat and Economy

This is my third Habitat by Brooklyn Tweed.  If it hasn't become apparent by now, I love this pattern.  This time it only took me about a week to knit, although I had to knit it almost twice.  I started with a left-over ball of Princess in a beautiful orange-red -- I had just a little less than one ball, maybe about 130 yards where the pattern calls for 135 yards for the M/L size.  I ran out of yarn with just about half an inch left of the crown.  So I ripped the whole thing out and knit the S/M size.  I had about two yards of yarn left.

I won't say I regret my effort at economy -- after all, I ended up with another hat and absolutely no wasted yarn!  The only downside was I lost about a week's worth of knitting time.