Sunday, December 03, 2006

Meathead!

Greenman Hat



Pattern: Meathead, by Larissa, to be published in her upcoming book. I got a test copy of the pattern as part of the Meathead Knitalong. I did the Adult Small version (for 21-22" head)
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky, color M-184 Pistachio. Yarn was used doubled. I used 1 skein, and had about 11 yards leftover
Needles: US 13/9 mm plastic straights for the ribbing, US 15/10 mm Crystal Palace bamboo straights for the rest of the hat.
Time to complete: about 2.5 hours, but I'm a slow finisher.
Gauge: ~2.3 stitches/inch
Notes:
I've never knit with needles this large and I found them quite awkward. The straight needles I used were the longest Crystal Palace needles I could find. I did the ribbing on a size smaller because my ribbing looks like crap unless I do it more tightly than stockinette.

I had trouble getting the stated pattern gauge (2 st/inch) even with the big 10 mm needles. Usually I'm a loose knitter and I need to go down a couple needle sizes, but I'll chalk this up to the awkwardness of the big needles. The hat still fits me now that I'm done, so I'm not all that worried about missing the gauge. It's about 19" around, unstretched. It fits my ~21" head snuggly and warmly.

I used the Twisted German Cast-on because I don't like the like the look of the wrong side of a long-tail cast-on, and I didn't want to change the pattern at all (e.g. do an additional row of ribbing). Twisted German is nice and stetchy as well.

The yarn is used doubled. For the cast on, my "tail" length was uneven-I made one of the yarn lengths about 5 feet longer than the other, so that I'd have an extra long length of single thickness of yarn to seam up the side when I was done. This worked very well and meant less ends to weave in at the finish. 5 feet was overkill; I really only needed 3 or so.

I call mine the Greenman hat, it seemed to be calling out for a sprig of something. It's a thick, quick, warm, and fun knit - check out the pattern when Larissa's book comes out. You can see a bunch of other people's meathead hats at the Flikr group.

It's cute, but I've already got a warm hat and so do all my family, so this one is going to someone who could use the warmth this winter. Spread the Meathead love, y'all.

5 comments:

Carole Knits said...

It's adorable! I'm so bummed that I missed signing up to make one of these.

SJ said...

Consider your Meathead love spread. Thanks for the link! I shall reciprocate shortly.
Signed,
One who does not knit but finds it captivating just the same

Anonymous said...

beautiful hat...beautiful job...was it fun to knit? I have a patient (40) who has metastatic breast cancer. She is a kick and a half, and I have made her 6 or so chemo hats. She said she wanted one in racing green with a red stripe. I like this pattern, because it is different. I will "Pre-buy" the book (I collect knitting books) Is there a way you could ask your friend if I could have the pattern before Xmas to make a hat for her? If she does not want to, I REALLY understand. I just thought it was quirky enough that she would love it....(I made a "pumpkin hat, a strawberry hat, and some other assorted wild color hats for her...) Thank you in advance!

Anonymous said...

Looks great!

Big Alice said...

Thank you!