The Fresca Hat

I never even discussed gift knitting this holiday season because I was barely knitting anything at all. It seemed to be completely out of the question. Then, at Thanksgiving, my nephew J, the college dude, saw one of Marissa's hats and asked if I could make one for him. He said it was the only thing he wanted for Hanukkah. He's never asked for anything before and I love him so how could I say no.

I asked a few more questions about style and color and he's such n easy going kid. He just wanted a hat, any hat. Nothing specific but he pointed to a bottle of Fresca and said that he liked that color. Happily, Cascade 220 came in a color that satisfied my need for depth and his love of Fresca green.

Equally fortunate was the fact hat I already had the perfect pattern in my list of favorites. Knotty But Nice by Natalie Larson really appealed to me. It had been a gave for ages and I was so happy to finally try it. I wasn't disappointed at all.

This was such a quick knit and it made me smile all the way through. The only mod that I made was to use different needle sizes. It says to use 7's all the way through but based on Rav notes I started with 5's for the ribbing to get a nice snug fit. Then I changed to 7's for a few rows leading into the chart before moving up to 8's for most of the chart to counteract the effect of the cables which tend to pull the knitting in and make it less stretchy. Finally, after finishing the chart I moved back down to 7's for the crown. It worked like a charm an I would do it exactly the same way again.

Now I just hope he likes it because it's still sitting in my living room. Weeks after the holiday ended. Fail! In my defense I should explain that his sister heard the conversation and made a request of her own. Naturally I said yes to that too but I wanted to send them together and the second piece was only finished earlier this week. I think that hand knit gifts are worth waiting for and hopefully they will too. More on my niece's headwear soon.