5184 Stitches
Even the fact that there were 5184 stitches in the brim/ribbing alone didn’t dissuade me from making a Melting the ICE Hat.
5184 1×1 Rib Stitches No Less
Many of you know that my least favorite knitting stitches are any stitches that require me to move my yarn from front to back or back to front for every other stitch. Like 1×1 ribbing. If there were 525,600 stitches, I still would have made the hat. And I could have sung Seasons of Love while I knit those stitches.
One of the things I love about knitters and yarn-crafters is that they will rally around a worthy cause. In the same day that Fred commented about the “Melt the ICE Hat” pattern, I started to see it incessantly in my social media feed. I love this kind of thing. It gives us a commonality around which to rally. And I am definitely a rallyer.
When Laurie noted that she had to re-do her ribbing a number of times, I was glad I wasn’t her. But I had almost completed the hat when I realized I hated to things about the ribbing. So I ripped back. And re-did almost all the 1×1 ribbing again. I would not be discouraged.
Overall, I’m quite happy with the result.
Current Knitting
I put down the neon striped Thermal Crochet Hat for a bit and worked on my Melt the ICE Hat until it was finished.
Apologies for the awful model for the hat. And believe it or not, I’m looking forward to making another one shortly.
I also snuck in a run on my circular sock knitting machine to crank out a second pair of neon socks.
This time it was with the neon yellow yarn. And I used a leftover remnant of sock yarn for the hem-lining. I successfully made a “snake” with the two socks (meaning I didn’t have to re-cast on for the second sock. But I still have to graft the toes and wash the machine oil/grime out of the short-row stitch rows.
When I first saw this pattern (which is coming up when I get off sleeve island) I thought that this would be a great use for a CSM with all that 1:1 ribbing. I take it I’m wrong since you didn’t crank out a few instances of the ribbing to use for this and for any future hats. In fact, you could sell the ribbing to those of us who do want to knit the hat but are not crazy about 1:1 rib. The money (after expenses) could go to a worthy cause. I’m currently planning to personalize mine with 2:2 ribbing as I can flow that off the needles without any thought.
Hi, dear Leslie! I’d knit 1:1 ribbing for you anytime.
Looking great! After striking out at 1 LYS earlier in the week (other craftivists had basically bought them out of red by Monday!), I was able to secure appropriate yarn last night and got about an inch of 1×1 ribbing done. (I read a tip yesterday that suggested doing at least 9 in– what?– of ribbing rather than the 6 suggested in the pattern.)
Joe, get over it, you are a good-looking man and your new hat looks wonderful on you. Amen to your comments on rallying!
I wore mine for the first time yesterday and felt warm and purposefully good about it. I’m about to start another in a heavy worsted or chunky weight.
As a Continental knitter, moving from knit to purl repeatedly is not that big of a deal; might you try that for ribbing, Joe?
I’m thinking the same about the ribbing, Joe. I knit combination and I barely notice the yarn moving from back to front and from front to back.
I was thinking that it might be time to try portuguese knitting again (for all this ribbing) and my altered tension may not make a different for the worsted version???
ugh, nasty red-heart-like stuff from stash… but ICE is nasty so’s it’s appropriate I guess!!!
The finished hat looks great, and you look good in it. It sets off your eyes. I thought it would be odd to have a hat that is all cuff and such a shallow crown, but it looks fine.
After I recovered from my stretchy cast-on failures, I did a long-tail which I can do fast and evenly. It’s stretchy enough. I’m done with the cuff and ready to start on the crown.
Your hat looks great! I downloaded the crochet version. I’m looking forward to trying it out as soon as I find my red wool yarn.