Tall Enough

If you’ve found this from pinterest, welcome! The pattern is called Constellate and it’s available now on ravelry.  If you’d like to hear from me when more patterns like this come out, you can make that happen over here.

The hat is almost done, which means we’re in that awkward phase where I wonder constantly if it’s tall enough and try it on every few rows.

DSC_3113I want to do Really Fast Decreases on this hat, the sort that happen over just a few rows (like maybe 7?), and that means the hat doesn’t get any taller during the decreases.  In fact, because they happen quickly enough that they sort of gather the fabric at the top of the hat together, they actually use up a bit of the height you’ve already created.

I used to give myself fits trying to figure out how tall to make hats like this (with very fast decreases), until I figured out the trick.  I put all of the stitches on two needles, then try the hat on.  If it comes down as low as I like it, it’s perfect.  If not, it needs to be taller.

DSC_3109Holding the stitches on two needles like that does a good job of simulating the fabric that will be gathered up in the fast decreases.  It leads to much less swearing and ripping!  What about you guys, how do you know when your hats are tall enough?

And for anyone asking, the yarn is Tosh Merino Light in Calligraphy, and there will be a pattern down the road a bit, but I have to finish it first (if you want to hear from me when it is out, you can make that happen over here)!

 Once more, for anyone who missed it above, the pattern is called Constellate and it’s available now on ravelry.
48 comments