Fiber Arts Friday: Boy Beanie

The London Beanie is a simple hat pattern.  One that I've used at least a dozen times over the last two years.

It was the second hat pattern I ever tried.  I had trouble with it at first.  I was a new knitter and made a lot of mistakes.  Most notably, I would have the stitches twisted when I joined the cast on to begin knitting in the round.  Often I wouldn't figure out what was going on until I had knit two or three rounds.  Eventually I got to the point to where I knew what the cast on should look like before I joined and now it's almost second nature.  My joins are never twisted anymore.  :-)

The other mistake I would make was loosing count on the stitch pattern for the hat band.  Yes, K2, P1 is a very easy pattern, but I was still learning what these stitches looked like and lost count.  A lot.

I kept track of every round on a scrap of paper and wouldn't let my husband speak to me until I reached the end of the round.  My most popular response to any question became, "As soon as I finish this row."

(of course I meant round, I've since learned that round is for knitting in the round and row is for knitting flat)

I remember Hubba saying something to me about how his grandmother never kept track of what she was knitting like I was doing.  I told him certainly she was better at it that I was.

Now a couple of years later, I do keep track of rows/rounds for more complicated patterns.  But in the case of this London Beanie, I reviewed the pattern, set a couple of milestones and just knit the whole hat in a several hours over a week.

I've come a long way baby.  ;-)

Be sure to check out what everyone else is doing for Fiber Arts Friday over at the Wonder Why Blog.

PS: I gave the Boy Beanie and Two Hats for Twin Girls to our friends when they came over to meet Apple earlier this week.  He was very excited about the hat, and his parents were very appreciative.  Which makes me very happy... It's fun to give home made gifts to people who enjoy them.  :-)