Swatches, pfft!

When last we spoke, I was casting on for a hat, which I was going to design on the fly, using NORO brand “Kotori” yarn. I had even swatched!

Well, something went terribly wrong somewhere along the line between my swatch, my math, and my long-tail cast on.

By Saturday night, after 3″ of knitting, I had a feeling I should try on the hat before I went any further. To accomplish this I used a darning needle to transfer the stitches from my LYKKE circular needles to some scrap yarn.

As I suspected, the hat was coming out too big. Around 20 stitches too big. Ack!

Since I needed time to regroup, I decided to block my swatch to get a more accurate gauge measurement. You know, like I should have done before I cast on for my hat.

The Koroti yarn does seem to have plumped up and gotten softer after taking a bath in some cool water.

While I was waiting for the swatch to dry I knit a second “Barnes Hat” using the other half of my ball of NORO “Kiso” yarn. This second hat took only two days! Two hats from one hank of yarn seems like a good investment to me!

The cowl I’m wearing is the “Isadora Long Cowl” by Louisa Harding. It is knit using one skein of Louisa Harding brand “Trenzar” and one skein of “Amitola Grande“.