Apparently, I cannot read....

It has taken me way too much time to finish this hat. It is a lovely hat - a variation on what I call a 'skull cap' (if you have Newfoundland roots, you know exactly what that is!). I first became aware of this hat when I saw a knitting friend making one at our Saturday Morning knitting group. She is the type of person that always, and I mean always, has needles in her hands. She is amazing. 

http://cas.seamenschurch.org/sites/default/files/sci-1898-hat-kristine-byrnes-web-w-schematic.pdf

Anyway, this was unique and I had a hat in mind for my dear old Dad for Christmas. Covers the ears and close to the head, won't fall off or blow off all those things that you subconsciously think about when knitting something for a loved one. My Dad is suffering from dementia. So he is forgetting things - he cannot do anything with numbers (he hasn't called myself for my brother for years), has a hard time with clocks and time but yet knows instinctively when the news is on and when Coronation St comes on! He knows how to clean his house and is spotless yet he has a hard time with feeding his cats - err overfeeding his cats. He throws away more than they eat sadly. Nothing we can say makes a difference. He's wasting money, he is making the cats fat, he is spending a lot of time doing this feeding twice a day etc etc. He cannot drive any more because he is too slow and his reactions are not as fast as they should be when handling a vehicle. The hardest part is, he is well aware of his limitations and has gracefully accepted them He is upset when he cannot remember numbers - he worked as a hospital administrator in a children's hospital and balanced multi-million dollar budgets to the penny. Imagine not being able to remember four numbers to get money from an ATM. I cry when I think about it.

Last winter, my brother received a phone call from a neighbour next to my Dad's. (Dad lives in Newfoundland and we live in Nova Scotia). Dad was outside in a blizzard with thin cotton pajamas bottoms on, rubber boots, a raglan and no hat or gloves shovelling the snow. It was the middle of a blizzard. Of course, this kind neighbour keeps an eye on our Dad, thankfully. He did persuade him to go inside until the storm was over so he wouldn't freeze. I know there is humour in there somewhere - I do smile when I think about all the times Dad used to go around the city when there were storms years ago and he'd pick up the medical staff and bring them to work and bring the ones home whose shifts were over. He was and is so kind. Not many administrators would do that for staff. He was always the first one out to blow the snow away from some person's door, and help with pulling folks out of the snow.

So this hat, was ideal in my opinion to make. I have made hats before, it was a little different around the ears (a double layer) and the edge appeared to be an I-cord. I quickly read the pattern and cast on my sts. I should taken the cast on as a sign...it was a provisional cast on.

Now, I have done a provisional cast on before. I usually do a crochet chain cast on and pick up the sts and then off I go. I learned a new provisional cast on during the last class I took. Lucy Neatby was doing a class in double knitting and it was something new to learn. She taught me how to actually crochet the sts onto the knitting needle, so I learned a new technique. I didn't want to use this one (cannot explain that one) I wanted to learn another new provisional cast on. So I turn to my most favourite book Cast On, Bind Off by Leslie Ann Bestor. I cannot find the @#$ thing....I hate loosing things, who did I lend it to? Was my name in it? Why would I lend it, it is my favourite? Where is my book??? (No idea, I ended up ordering another one)

Off I go to the internet and searched for another provisional cast on....I came across one that is similar to the slingshot method. Needless to day, I was not perfect and fiddled with it for a long time. It is just a hat, I can knit a hat. How much time did I waste figuring out the slingshot method.

I spent the morning trying to figure out how the heck I was to join the ear flaps without having an obvious seam. It is a garter st. section with a slipped st. middle that looks like a few p sts. Quite nice actually. If you kitchener stitched it, then how to do you do that without having a p side in the rows of garter? Duh, kitchener st it from the back side. That leaves a ridge across the p sts - so I flipped it over and did the kitchener st from the right side for those three sts and then flipping it around the wrong side. Not bad actually.

Then I had to pick up the sts from the ear part to make the head part. Easy, I can do that. I looked at the pattern, and it said to knit for 5 inches. I can do that, it is only a hat. 

So, the next day I knit. I was kind of thinking, gee this is too long, but I kept on knitting.....I read the pattern, 5 inches from the purl st part.....damn it. Frog, frog, frog. Another night with this hat not done. Time to go to bed.

Next day, I can finish the hat today no problem. After work, after supper, listening to a radio, I look at the pattern, K 9, k2tog k two rows, K8 k2tog k 2 rows etc. I can do that, it is a only a hat.

By the time I came to the K1 K2tog I realized there was a problem...a pointy hat, not a skull cap. Gee that's weird...ohh the pattern says to K 9 k2tog, k 2 rounds, k8 k2tog, k 2 rounds, k7 k2 tog k 1 round, k6 k2 tog etc. 

Really??? Frog , frog , frog. 

Friday night, after work, after supper I finish the hat. Lessons learned, read the directions, do not assume (it is a hat, I can knit a hat) and check the instructions regularly. Sigh.

I'm just hoping Dad will actually wear it and not go outside half dressed during a blizzard again. At least his head will be warm.

Make your day beautiful!