Salunga Beret

My mother-in-law requested a red hat to wear at Christmas. I wanted to use fingering weight yarn so it could be worn indoors if she wanted. I spent some time wandering around Ravelry until I found a pattern I liked, and pulled a barely-used skein I had in the stash.

The knitting went smoothly, but I had problems with the bind off. I used a different set of instructions for the tubular bind off than I've used before, and it ended up way too tight. I couldn't get it to easily frog, and I was in a bit of a temper after working at it awhile. I ended up with this:

That hat messed with the wrong girl. 

The next day, I did a bind off using these instructions, and everything went just fine.

Perhaps I am easily amused, but I love seeing the difference in lace before and after blocking. This hat called for blocking over a dinner plate, and it added the helpful instruction to weave a piece of waste yard between the ribbing and the main body of the hat. Once it was on the plate, I pulled on the waste yarn to cinch it a bit, which meant that it dried without the ribbing being all stretched out.

It's cute on my head, but it's more stunning in its blocking form.

I think I'll recommend Karen occasionally carry it around on a plate and show it off that way. I'm sure she'll see the reason in the request.

Salunga Beret (mine ravelled here),

knit in Knitpicks Stroll Tonal, Gypsy colorway