A souvenir hat and ruining perfectly good knitting

Around this time, every year I have a yearning to make a hat. Sometimes it is for me…other times it is for our son or my husband.

I am sure it is due to a number of circumstances. The February half term is a time that we take time to be outside and frequently enjoy an outdoorsy holiday. The winter knitting designs are every where and something usually catches my eye. Finally we have a number of winter birthdays in our family – making a hat seems like a quick and easy project that provides an exciting woolly accessory gift.

It does worry me that a bit like our cat Stanley, my knitted hat making is the woolly version of marking our family territory. These hat wearers belong to me!

But the hats act as souvenirs of those holidays – there are photos of each one and they mark a year, a place, a time. Each has its memories.

In previous years on this blog I have shared my favourite makes. Fairisle wonders from Juliet Bernard or Shetland Wool week. The pink and blue hats are the Diamond Hat by Juliet Bernard and the Red hat is also by Juliet – Torshavn

This year I came upon a lovely design by the gorgeous design collective Tin Can Knits. Their Snap design is great for sock yarn stash busting. By combining 3 or 4 strands of sock yarn together you can create a marled chunky weave which knits up really quickly. I planned to make 2 hats one for my hubby – another for my nephew. I enjoyed them no end. All well and good. The pom-pom was made and sewn on.

I then decided to add a little luxury… and in doing so made one hat totally unusable for their recipient. And yes my friends I should have known better.

You see my boys…they like a fleece hat. They are intolerant of itchy wool and previous hats have to pass a very high standard of comfort.

No matter I thought… I will sew in a fleece lining. Ha Ha…..You will be delighted. It was done neatly and successfully and I even used my sewing machine. Two hats made and lined ready for our chilly break. Alas I failed to take into account that the thickness of the fleece would really reduce the circumstance of the hat…Silly silly silly girl. One hat proved so tight it was deemed unwearable and very headache enducing. Darn.

I don’t mind telling you that this little mistake made me really rather cross with myself. I should know better. Really should.

No new hat for walking adventures. I share this with you just to admit that even though I knit a lot of things, I design a wide range of objects – I can still make the same mistakes that everyone can make.

The consolation is that as a crafty person there is a joy in the giving, but (with a glint in our eye) the real joy is in the making. With a few weeks off doing other things I will return to this pattern. Remake it again, after taking proper measurements. The hat can have a new life and there will be a new make. Although mistakes are made, nothing is unredeemable and trying again is part of the fun.

The question is do I add in the fleece or not this time?

Have you made a last minute adjustment which you wished you hadn’t? What will you never do again to your knitting or crochet?