So, as promised, here is the Olympic project I did finish:
OLYMPICS HAT
Pattern: Olympics Reindeer Hat, by Helena Bristow, which she kindly created by deconstructing the hats worn by the US Olympics team for the Opening Ceremony.
Yarn: Stash diving! The red and blue are Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, and the White is Webs Northampton.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm and US 6/4.0 mm
Notes: I fell in love with these hats immediately, because they were just so lovely. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, well, here:
That is the hat. (There were other hats, like the awkward medal-logo intarsia thing that Lindsay Vonn was wearing, but they were just not as awesome as this one.) It was designed by Ralph Lauren Polo, and they sell their version, but those versions are pretty pricy, and there’s really something shameful about buying a hat when one is perfectly capable of knitting their own version with their own hands. I fell in love with the design, and I knew I wanted one of these hats, but I wasn’t expecting to make it as an Ravelympics project.
Then I hit the really long rows on the raglan shaping of my Featherweight sweater. Those are long rows, guys. Over 400 stitches a row. They were taking forever, and I was getting, frankly, bored. And I was starting to become concerned about finishing. I needed a break, and my stash has some red and blue and white worsted that looked just about right. So I put the sweater aside and finished this hat in two nights. I KNOW. Something about switching from laceweight to worsted was just inspiring, and despite the inevitable struggle to keep my gauge in colorwork in order, it just clicked beautifully.
I did make a few modifications, mostly born over the fact that I didn’t have a whole skein of blue, so instead of doubling the hem as the original does, I did a few rows of ribbing on a smaller needle. I also chopped out the last chart, which was the colorwork at the top of the hat, and just did a solid red, and made the tassels red to match. I started the decreases earlier as well, since this hat was tall. And finally, I did the reindeer antlers with a duplicate stitch to avoid having long floats in those sections.
This is a big hat. See:
I’m really happy with how it came out. It’s insanely warm and I think it will make an excellent hat for winter sports. And shoveling. Which I hope to not be doing again until next winter. (I just jinxed it, didn’t I.)
And despite the fact that the Featherweight was not completed before the end of the Olympics, I finished my hat so I get a medal!
Medals are like the icing on an already delicious cake.
I might make this hat again someday. My row gauge was obviously gigantic in comparison to the original, and my colors didn’t match at all. The original has stately dark red and federal blue. I love my more cheerful, bright colors, but they do make for a different impression. I think I would enjoy having the choice between the more serious versus playful versions, and if I could get the row gauge to cooperate I could take a stab at the colorwork in the crown. All of this is to say I loved making this hat so much I’d be willing to make it a second time.
And, just to add to my glee, I did finish the sweater, and wove in the ends yesterday and now it just needs a wash and block. So I think it was an excellent experience all around.
I’m kind of missing watching fun sports like bobsled and curling, though. I think I have Olympics withdrawal. When does the World Cup start again?