This is the first of the Christmas knitting. I have knit for everyone in my family but two (dear husband and my brother). Each of them will receive a hand knit for Christmas but both are receiving … how should I say … simple? projects for Christmas. My brother is being given his requisite Turn-a-Square toque, which he got last year. He has worn it so much this past year it has felted. And he asked for a new one. Of course, I said – not realising how close Christmas really is. Holy Hannah – has this Fall gone quickly. And no, Christmas shopping is not started. Since school has been so heavy, I refuse to feel stressed.
The first present finished for my family is for my father. He is easy to knit for because he generally wears everything I knit for him – including the scarf from last year that I was worried he wouldn’t because up until then, he hadn’t worn scarves. I stumbled across this pattern on ravelry and decided that the book didn’t look half bad. I also really liked the Wilson Hat so I decided to track down the book, which wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and did a gauge swatch. Ha. And I thought, with pattern and yarn in hand, this project would be easy!
After finishing my gauge swatch (I have turned over a new leaf, I am swatching for everything – and washing it prior to casting on, too!), I realized this: Thank goodness I hadn’t cast on right away and started knitting because my toque would have fit a sasquatch. No kidding. My gauge was totally different using 5.00mm circs. I ended up with a gauge of 18 sts = 4in over the toque’s stitch pattern, so I cast on 90 sts, which meant that after the ribbing, I would have 15 repeats of the cable pattern.
To clarify: my gauge gave me 1 repeat per 1.5 inches so that’s how I figured out how to get an 18” toque, which if the gauge was right for the pattern, the pattern’s stitch repeat would give you an 18” toque if the gauge was right. I think it’s more of a DK weight that’s needed for this pattern, not the worsted or aran like the Peruvia (I’m not sure though, just guessing – going down significantly in needle size would give you gauge obviously but then the knitting would be really tight). I did the decreases the same just taking into account I had a different stitch count, so I didn’t count my stitches or anything, I just decreased with faith it would work out ~ and it did!
Lastly, the toque is still very loose. My dad had asked for “a loose fitting, turned-up brim for the cold days – you know I feel the cold more now” when I talked to him back at Thanksgiving {yes, I always talk to loved ones about what they want because I want to knit something they will use – unless they drop hints, then I just go ahead}.
What do I mean by loose. I mean this:
- the cable ends up working like a rib so it stretches a lot more than I initially thought
- even with my gauge, the 18” toque is more like 24” (which is good because my dad’s head is 25” around)
- the photos here look “normal” on dear husband – his head is approx. 21” but do not be fooled – it’s HUGE on him (we folded the brim an additional 0.5-1” to take the photos. There is actually a lot of cable hiding under the brim!)
I really liked making this because it was fast and once the gauge issues worked themselves out, it was fun. I would make it again in the same yarn, doing exactly the same thing for the same results.
So, through the comedy of errors that was this toque (Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson style!), I really enjoyed knitting it and am excited to see it be used. Now all we need is snow …
