An old school friend has just had his first baby, so it was only natural that I take a little unscheduled Carbeth cardigan break to whip up a little gift knit!
It took me a while to settle on a pattern, but the Gather hat by Tin Can Knits ended up being a winner, partly because of that gorgeous squishy texture, and partly because it meant that I could use some of the leftover Ramble yarn from the Dog Star sweater (I still have a little less than a quarter of the ball left! That yarn does not want to quit.)
But, oh, that smocking detail.
I think I'm addicted. It is just so much fun to knit! I genuinely looked forward to working those smocking rounds, and they gave such a lovely rhythm to the work. I now want to smock all the things!
My gauge was smaller than the pattern gauge so I knit the Child size with the hope of achieving the Toddler measurements. The baby is only 11 weeks old (met him for the first time today - chubbiest.cheeks.ever. So adorable!) so the hat is hopelessly big for him, but with the brim folded up it's much more baby appropriate, and by the time it's cold enough to need a hat it'll hopefully fit!
I did have a little moment of panic though.
After tying off the top and weaving in the yarn tail, I folded up the brim and realised that I'd messed up one stitch of the ribbing, right at the front next to the smocked panel! I even blocked it to see if that would help hide it (it didn't) 🤦♀️😂
I debated leaving it and embracing the imperfection, but it was a gift knit, and it niggled me. It's amazing how glaringly out of place a single wrong stitch can look! I briefly thought of snipping above the ribbing so I could drop the offending column of stitches down, fix things, and then Kitchener everything back together, but I've not used that method before and I was a little concerned that it would add too much bulk to a prominent part of the hat.
In the end it was less hassle to unpick the yarn end and frog a couple of decrease rounds. That freed up the affected column, and all I had to do was drop the stitch right down, fix the ribbing, and redo the decreases. So happy I went down that road because it was a completely invisible fix!
- Pattern: Gather by tincanknits | see it on Ravelry
- Yarn: Willow & Lark Ramble from LoveKnitting
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