"Hatapalooza" hats from Great Yarns - Day 4

Charting my course...

Ah cables.  They require attention to detail between a lot of stitch patterns that look dangerously similar.   Cables to the front look dangerously close to cables to the back, and messing them up results in squiggles rather than clever cross-overs.

I’ve done cables in written directions, but this is the first time I’ve done complicated cables from a chart.  And I tell you, those pesky little squares with all those angles look far too much alike for me to be confident as I waffle back and forth between chart and key.

After making a significant gaff a few rows back, I decided it’s best to stack the chart in my favor.  I now go through each row before I start and write the stitch on top of the squares in question.  Hopefully this will keep my C4BPs from becoming C4FPs and other unfortunate slip-ups.

In to save my embattled confidence comes the simple but adorable KnitCol hat.  Stockinette and decreases are firmly within my skill set, and this self-striping yarn is doing all the work for me.  I’ve made it to the finished hat, and now I get to make all the silly curly-cues that give the hat its charm.

"Hatapalooza" hats from Great Yarns - Day 3

Wait and stitch…

After a flurry to meet a bunch of deadlines last week, this week has been all about the wait.  

And I rot at waiting.  I am by no means a “sit tight” kind of gal.  

This week I’m waiting on publisher’s decisions, waiting on important phone calls, waiting for other people to do their part in projects so that I can take my next step, waiting for data to make a crucial decision, waiting for the next seasons of Longmire and Poldark to begin…lots and lots of cooling my heels.

What’s a fidgety gal to do?  Knit, of course.  Lots of knitting.  Engrossing knitting like the interwoven cables of the Knotty but Nice hat (row 9 is a killer!), calm easy knitting like the stockinette rounds of the curly-cue Knit Col hat.

At many times in my life, knitting has been as much consolation as it has been craft.  I laugh and say it is my coping mechanism of choice, but the statement is absolutely true.  Well, knitting, lemon meringue pie, and chocolate.  The knitting is the healthier of the choices, to be sure.

So I’ll keep waiting and keep knitting.  Because good things come to those who…knit, right?

"Hatapalooza" hats from Great Yarns - Day 2

Two at once...

I’m definitely happy with my dual choice.  I rarely let myself flip back and forth between knitting projects—even though I’m often working on as many as four books at a time—so this feels adventurous.  I take a particular pleasure in the fact that they look so nice next to each other, complementary colors and all. I didn’t plan it that way, but happy accidents are one of the blessings of knitting.

Now, at the headbands, the hats feel similar.  One is ribbed, the other seed stitch.  The distinction will show up soon, when the Knitty hat veers off into challenging cables while the curly cue hat settles into a band of stockinette.  

Hats are pint-sized and portable projects, showing off their progress with a satisfying speed.  As I grind toward a difficult book deadline, the promise of accomplished knitting holds high value indeed. I think every writer should knit—it’s the perfect counterbalance to what we do!