Urban Aran hat – Life & Fiber

Do you like my stitch marker? — Front view of hat—note how the curve is coming along!

I’ve been working on my Urban Aran Hat between messing around with my exhaust system and running around with my daily life. I’ve made some progress, but not as much as I’d hoped. Still, better than not having picked it up at all!

I knit hats on the smallest circular needles that I can. This cord is 6” long, and the shortest this interchangeable company makes (the needles make the circ bigger, naturally). This makes the knitting easier on me, as the stitches spring around with little effort. It does make the hat seem small, even if I did cast on almost 100 stitches in Aran weight yarn!

Urban Aran Hat—Top View, 29 rows — See how all the stitches are scrunched? When I start decreasing, it will pop open!

I’m getting much more comfortable with the pattern. I don’t need the key right now (although that will change once I pass this section!), and I rarely need to remind myself how to do the stitches.

I’m still not one of those people who can just drop the two stitches and cable, although I know it would be much faster. I grab my little cable holder and keep my sanity. However, there will come a day when I will do that!

Moss stitch continues to be fun, and I’m not understanding how people get lost in it. If the stitch below and behind is a 1 or a 0, do a 0 or a 1. It’s true it’s not explained that way. But maybe it’s more because I knit Continental so the switch is just a finger wave. I’ve heard so many horror stories about moss stitch. Tell me yours?

Thirty more rows to go on this hat! I’m not sure if it will be one or two more posts—we’ll see how fast it works up.

But how did I get that nice, flat picture without dropping stitches? Well…

Urban Aran Hat—Alt View, 29 rows — Front view only looks flat from a carefully chosen angle—camera tricks are your friends.

I didn’t. It’s a very pretty optical illusion based on angle, popping out and popping in until it looked ‘right’, and taking a bunch of pictures and re-doing until I had it just right. I didn’t even have to photoshop. 🙂 Never trust pictures!

Hand holding open a partially finished hat, still on circular needles, knitted in variegated yarn. There is a cable on the right side, ribbing on the majority of the bottom, and moss stitch to the left.

I’ve been working on this for a bit over a month, but in my defense I started in a larger size on bigger needles, and not only did it not match gauge, but halfway through the pattern I could tell I was going to be playing yarn chicken at the end—and losing.

The pattern is the delightful Urban Aran Hat by Robbie Laughlin. It’s half-chart, half-written, and for the most part pretty clear. (If you’re new to charts, or even if you aren’t—this is charted like free lace. It confused me until someone pointed that out, and then it was clear sailing.)

I’m only on row 15 of this go-round, 5 rounds past the ribbing and well into the moss stitch. I just shifted the cable over for the first time. (You may have noticed I bracketed the cable section in very plain stitch markers. I have some brain damage, and it’s easier to block those off so I don’t ever mess up the count. That set will always be the cable stitch row. If you have trouble with this for any reason, feel no shame and mark it off!) That means less moss stitch, not that it’s too wearing knitting continental (although I worry about losing track).

Expect updates!

Tag: Urban Aran hat

Urban Aran Hat, Part 2

Urban Aran Hat, Variegated