and now for the non-fluff

That's half of Hiawatha. Well, more than half and less than half. Slightly more than half, not counting the edging. Much less than half, counting the edging. Are you tired of Hiawatha, yet? I'm getting there, which is why it's time for a change of pace:




That's the start of the Fiber Trends "Braid & Bobble Hat", by Carolyn Doe. It's more orangey in real life, but for some reason this yarn just photographs red. It's actually likely that what's in that photo will no longer exist by the time you read this, as I think I need to go up needle size for both size and fabric reasons.

You may be scratching your head over that hat photo, trying to figure out what part of the hat that is. The hat is constructed horizontally instead of vertically. So the cast on edge is the height of the hat, and it's grafted or seamed together when it's long enough to fit around my head. Then stitches are picked up to finish the top. Oh, and you might notice what looks like the rear end of a cable on the left side. That edge gets turned up, so the right side of the cable shows when you're wearing the hat.

I did a really lousy job swatching for this sucker. My shoulder was hurting (this was after the weekend of marathon soy silk knitting), and I only kinda-sorta swatched. I determined that I had to go down a needle size, so I just did, without swatching again. Whoops. I think the hat is turning out slightly small, and the fabric is really stiff. I'll go back up to size 5 circs, and if the hat turns out too tall, I'll just give it to someone else.

I had all these clever, interesting things to say, and forgot them all as soon as my fingers hit the keyboard. Sorry for the really dry post. :-/