Confessions of a Yarn Addict: FO Friday: Nottingham

Happy Friday!

We're just a couple weeks into the new year and I have a finished object (FO) to show off today :)

Nottingham Hat (link to Project Page)

Pattern: Nottingham by Melissa Mall

Time Frame: started January 12, 2016; finished January 14, 2016 (yes, that's two days)

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Azul Profundo, maybe about a half-skein (I've not been fussed enough to actually weigh either the hat or the leftover ball)

Needles: US #4 (3.5 mm) and US #7 (4.5 mm) 16" circulars and US #7 (4.5 mm) DPNs

Size: Child

Modification(s): The first modification I did was changing the needle size that I used for the main part of the hat from a US #8 (5 mm) that the pattern calls for to a US #7. I also added about 3/4" of ribbing at the beginning using the US #4 (3.5 mm) needle because I like my hats that way. I also changed the decreases a bit. I did the first 5 decrease rounds as written. For the 6th round, I did a K1, P1 around. For the 7th and 9th rounds, I did K2tog around. For the 8th and 10th rounds, I just knit the round plain. After the 10th round, I cut the yarn and wove it through my remaining nine stitches and wove in ends normally.

Thoughts: This hat was a very quick knit, even through the cabling section. I made Stormageddon the child sized one because it will grow with him and he can wear it for at least another year, maybe two, if I'm lucky. The pattern is well-written, except for one thing that kind of bothered me...the cable section doesn't line up with the ribbing. I mean, it does but you have to either remember that everything lines up shifted over a stitch to the left from the beginning of the round or you have to move your beginning of the round until the cabling section is done. I chose to move my stitch marker at the beginning of the round for the cabling section and I moved it back afterwards (before the decreases). I'll be making another one for Little Man using a different yarn and I plan to make the same modifications I did for this one. The only thing I may do differently on the next one is to do all my knit stitches through the back loop (tbl) for a little extra pop...but I'm not 100% decided on that yet. We'll see what happens when I get that far...