This hat is rapidly becoming my nemesis.
Take one was too small, and sloppy in the picking up.
Here is take two:
It fits, but the additional two stripes I added to it would fit have made the crown decreases rather unsightly. This is an after blocking photo, and still looks really boxy to me. I think with the additional stripes, I also need to add an additional decrease round to smooth out the puckering a little bit.
And the picking up?
It’s a little neater. But weaving in all the yarn ends from the stripes has made a very thick sort of ridge along there.
What did get better was the seam on the body — can you see it in either of those photos? It’s there. I used a provisional cast on, then a three needle bind off to seam it – it worked beautifully.
My knitting book has some advice on how to pick on diagonal knits — work a line of slip stitch crochet along the selvedge, and then pick up from that. And I think if I don’t break my yarn on the stripes, and instead carry it along the selvedge that might help get rid of the ridge.
This version is knit in Galway worsted, on size 8 needles, and I have enough left to do another one in the same colorway.
Knit-Write 