Off With Their Heads - Finished!

The past couple of weeks I have been taking the odd hour or two to stash my latest yarn acquisitions and catalog them in my Ravelry stash.  Some years ago I did a major stashing operation in which I got the majority of my massive stash up on Ravelry and boxed up and organized by yarn weight, but after that initial effort, I have not been going to that extent, so now I have collections of stash by dyer, or yarn company, or mixes based more or less on when they came in to the house.  Now that I’m retired, I do need to slow down the acquistion of yarn, and focus on making.  Anyway, while I was stashing I came across a kit for this hat nicely sealed up in a plastic zip lock bag.  I do like it when the yarn comes sealed up in a nice plastic zip lock bag as it protects it from nasty little bugs that like to eat beautiful fiber.

According to the printed pattern that came with the kit it appears that it came out back in 2018, although I bought the kit in early February of 2024 - it was probably a Valentine’s Day thing.  As I was looking at the pattern I noticed a Ravelry download code on the back of the page and gave it a try, and it worked!  So kudos to the designer for that, sometimes those codes expire, which is sad as I much prefer to work from knitCompanion as opposed to paper.

I know that I said I was trying to be a more monogamous knitter, but this kit was just begging to be knit up so I decided that a snack knit was just the thing.  A snack knit is a quick little project that does not require a major time commitment but satisfies the itch to cast on something new, as well as giving you the satisfaction of finishing something.  Best off all, they are zero calories.

So this past Friday I caked up the two skeins of yarn that were in the kit and cast on, finishing the hat Saturday morning.  Colorwork in the round is just so potato-chippy.  For blocking I used my medium metal mixing bowl.  It was the perfect size and has a flat base which allowed it to sit nicely on the flat top of the post that comes out of the top of my dress maker dummy.

Of course I also had to make a Pom-pom for it.  I have never made a Pom-pom before, but of course I have a Pom-Pom maker because if you want to make all of the things, you have to have all of the tools.  I knit the second size (19.75 inch circumference) but my hat came out a bit smaller as my gauge is a bit tighter than what is called for in the pattern.  No, I did not knit a gauge swatch.  After knitting the ribbing I attached a Barber Cord to my needle tips and tried it on and it fit, so I went with it.  It all worked out, the hat fits me perfectly.  The original is modeled as a slouchy hat, but mine does not slouch, which is great because I’m just not a fan of the slouchy. 

Pattern:  Off With Their Heads by Faye Kennington

Yarn:  Polka Dot Sheep Whitefish Worsted

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm) for the ribbing, US 7 (4.5 mm) for the colorwork