Ta-Da! Tuesday #7

Hello everyone!  Happy Ta-Da! Tuesday...

Well today's Ta-Da! is really rather of a Ta-Dump in nature... 



Superwife is a Hokie, she did her graduate work at Virginia Tech (the VT Hokies) and as you can see:

their colors are something of a burnt orange-maroonish purple melange.

So it was no surprise when we were in Michaels and stumbled upon this yarn that she really wanted a hat made of the stuff...

Being a doting husband with mad skillz, and despite the fact that I do not like novelty yarn, I of course agreed to make her a hat.  Having no idea how this yarn behaved, or what the gauge would actually turn out to be, I began looking for a pattern on Ravelry with pictures of finished objects so I could decide if I liked it or not and to get some good advice regarding the behavior of this yarn.  Turns out the pattern I picked out came from the manufacturer of the yarn and, naively trusting them, I set to work on a one-size-fits-all fiasco...

Using the recommended needle size I cast on and thought, that's not nearly enough stitches.  I did some math and added another set stitches and kept working hoping that the pattern would grow appropriately.  Well as it turned out, this yarn does seem to kind of grow on it's own and I eventually felt safe in the pattern's size.  After all, it was big enough when it was flat. (this pattern knits flat and then seams up the back...)

I increased and then decreased appropriately according to the pattern (accounting of course for the additional stitches I had added) and at the specified points (2.5" -- increase, 6.5 inches -- start decreases).  Ignoring that inner knitter voice that kept telling me that this was starting to look awfully small, I finished up the hat as per the specs and seamed up the back.  I presented this hat to Superwife and we immediately discovered that this hat -- enlarged as it was -- wouldn't fit anyone but a six year old girl.  This proves my initial suspicion that one can never trust a novelty yarn!

Oh well, I'm sure I know a Hokie fan with a young daughter somewhere here in Virginia...

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

How are you all doing?  What are you working on?

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