Woden

I posted my first "for sale" pattern on Ravelry last weekend, and it's been met with a warm response.  (A special thanks to those of you who have made the purchase!)  I named it Woden.  Woden's Day in Old English is our Wednesday. . .Woden being loosely connected to Mercury--a speedy sort of god.  I liked it.  Wednesdays are good days for me.  Every Wednesday for about 18 months, I've had dinner with friends, and have knitted.  When we started talking about the things we want to learn this year, and the things I'm teaching at our guild, it seemed a beginner's fair isle hat needed to be designed. Enter Woden.

This hat is great for beginners to begin working with two colors at a time.  It truly is a speedy knit.  The bits of the chart seem to fly by and before long, you're at the snowflake, and then beginning the decreases for the top. The colors in the initial hat are perfect for Joanie, and since she's already laid claim to it, I guess that's a good thing!  Wanting to have one for my own, I cast on another in colors more suited to things I like to wear.  I began the facing on Monday during some social knitting at a local restaurant, and before long I was past the point of where I should have joined the facing to the body of the hat.

I know I'm a speedy knitter, but hadn't planned to make it quite so far.  I was stuck with a choice.  Rip back and install the facing as written, or keep going and sew the facing up differently.  I kept knitting.  The idea behind the provisional cast on in the pattern is to allow the cast on edge to be lose and stretchy (raise your hand if you cast on tightly!)  and to allow it to move with the body of the hat when the stitches are knit together.

I finished the hat last night, and attached the facing this evening.  Here are some pictures of how to hem your hat if you too knit past the point of no return. . .

First, remove the provisional cast on for about ten stitches.

Then determine where the hem will land on the hat once sewn up, and take a lose stitch into the back of the stitch in that row.

Following the color on that row will help keep you lined up and have a neat hem, put your needle through one live stitch from the facing. . .

And back into the body of the hat. . .Obviously, I'm using a shocking color choice so it will show up in the pictures, but with a color that actually matches, it blends in nicely.

Be careful not to pull so tight--remember you want this to be somewhat elastic.  Once the tension is eased in around the hat, you barely see it--even in a color you wouldn't typically use. . .

. . .even on the right side of the hat.

It's soaking and will be blocking overnight.  Pictures of the finished hat tomorrow.