Shedir Style

I started Shedir last night with Knit Picks Merino Style, the yarn I am considering for Eris. I like the yarn, it makes a soft fabric and does not split. I find that Swish is a little splitty and tends to snag if I am not careful. It seems like the plies untwist a little. I am not having that problem at all with Merino Style.

The hat is coming out a little bigger than I expected. Once I had finished casting on, the stitches fit comfortably around my 24 inch circular (My options needles do not have cables shorter than 24" so I usually use 2 circs for all my hats). The pattern calls for a 16 inch and says that the circumference of the fitted hat should be 17 inches. I'm not sure quite what to make of that. I am using needles a size larger than those recommended, but I always default to at least one size larger because I am quite a tight knitter.

I have decided not to worry about it. It is obvious to me that it will still fit my head at the size it currently is. I did kind of want to give it away to a friend of mine at church for her sister who has cancer. This friend had told me that her sister has trouble finding hats that fit because her head is kind of small, and I was hoping that the stretch in this hat would accommodate it. Oh well - I will finish it and then decide whether it is too big or not. I have also ordered supplies to knit Odessa, and I think that one will definitely fit her.

I wanted to knit Shedir both as a trial run on the yarn and for cable practice. I can see that the color I'm knitting with, Dusk, is far too dark for this kind of cable work. It is a beautiful color, but it will make for rather subtle cables. I have another color, Storm, that is more of a blue-green and somewhat lighter than the dusk. I will have to give that a try and see what I think.

Last night I got a few rows past the brim, so not bad for an evening's work. I plan to continue working on it tonight, and to also go ahead and cast on for my first pair of Big Black Socks for Socks for Soldiers, so that I have a pair ready to work on at choir practice tomorrow.

I ordered two balls of Cashsoft for the Odessa hat, figuring that that way I wouldn't risk running out. If I don't use the second skein, I can just make two! I ordered three different colors of beads since I wasn't entirely sure of the color of the yarn. You never can tell on the web. It was all I could do to hold back on buying yarn for scarves for two of my guy friends, but I really shouldn't spend any more money this month - I have already kind of gone overboard.