Hat Wars begin

Chapter 1

Wherein I stumble out of the gate, willfully disregard my own misgivings, doggedly pursue dead ends and retire from the field having failed to produce a hat at all.

It was with a start that I read on Friday morning on Ravelry about how far other competitors had already knit. And realized I'd mistaken the start time - not midnight Friday night, but 12:01 Friday morning. Before casting on a stitch I was already behind several hours. No sense beating myself up over it; better to focus on the task at hand.

Four patterns were posted to choose from. The first pattern wouldn't suit - the Skull Hat by Gina Doherty involved stranding 2C knitting - that won't work with the yarn I've got. And I ruled out the second pattern, too - the Boy Hat by Elizabeth Heath-Heckman - too simple, too masculine, not at all suitable for this yarn. The third pattern was a maybe - the Transsiberian Hat by Madtown Mama - but the pattern looked a bit fiddly. The fourth pattern looked just right - the Isotope Hat by Tonya Wagner.

By the time I left for work, the pattern was well established. And by early evening, now home from work, I was nearing the decreases. By 9pm, I had to admit that I was going to be short about 10 yards of yarn. I briefly flirted with the idea of modifying the pattern to rip back and shorten the body to save the hat I'd spent all day knitting. Nope. That's a clear violation of the rule that absolutely forbids modification of the pattern. Why did I choose the pattern for the slouchy hat? The one that required the most yarn yardage? Aagh! With a deep breath I slid the stitches off the needles and unravelled the nearly finished hat. And cast on my second choice pattern. Tired and frustrated, I decided to retire after working the brim - best to leave the complicated stitch pattern for fresher eyes tomorrow.