FO: Lórien

Lórien was an entirely ad hoc project; I had sorte dout all my projects for the Colourmart Lovers competition KAL and suddebly realised that I needed a ferry knitting project (I’ll discuss the blanket another time.) I had seen the Lórien patterns a while ago on Ravelry and it sprang to mind as a candidate. I cast around for some stash to knit it with and my eye fell upon my weaving basket…

• Cast on Date: 21 May, 2010
• Cast on: provisonal for band, pick up band for crown
• Pattern: Lórien
• Pattern Price: £3
• Yarn: Colourmart Geelong Lambswool
• • Quality: pure wool
    
  • Weight: fingering
  • Length:
    
  • Amount:
  • Cost:
  • Colour: green
• Needles: 3.25mm circular, band knitted on  pair of 2.5mm DPNs
• Size: one size Ladies
• Blocked: washed and patted into shape – blocking not recommended
• Finished Size:
• Cast Off: n/a
• Cast Off Date:26 May, 2010
• Ravelry Project: Ferry Bonnet

I had an odds ‘n ends set of Colourmart’s Geelong Lambswool Fingering in green, and I chose one of the shades for the hat. A lovely shade, as it turns out. I had been weaving with the oiled yarn and I set about swatching the hat band with the oiled wool too. I washed the swatch and was happy with it.

I then made the illogical decision to wash the yarn before knitting with it. I should have re-swatched, but I didn’t.

My, that yarn washed up beautifuly – soft, fluffy, and a brilliant caterpilar green. I got stuck in and knitted the lovely leafy hat band. I picked up the stitches for the crown and got the pattern set before I took the hat on the boat.

The pattern is a simple one, easily memorised. There’s enough repetition and long stretches to make the knitting quite fast but with sufficient twiddles thrown in to keep the knitter from dropping off to sleep. Both lace and cable patterns are very cimple but they combine to produce a fabric with some wonderful textures.

I confess – I fell in love with the hat. Rather than wait until next Wednesday to continue knitting it, I just sat down and polished it off. I finished it on Wednesday, and was enraptured. That colour! Those textures! It looked ravishing, perched as it was on my polystyrene head…

Now for the sad part of my tale…

The patterns says no blocking required. I could just have set that thing on my head and worn it. Not me, no. I wanted to wash it so that I could take pretty FO photographs… and wash it, I did.

I was horrified when I took it out of the towel. My lovely ruffled hat had become smooth and lank. Not only that, the hat band had become huge. I believe that I may have ruined it… I know that I should have swatched with washed wool and re-measured everything. But I didn’t.

The hat is still damp. I inverted it onto a towel and patted it into shape, easing it in rather than out. The hat band, I did my best to persuade it to contract a little. I cannot try my hat on until it is dry, but I do fear that it will be over-large. If it is, I’ll knit it again – but there is no more of this shade of green that I like so much.

Isn’t it a sad-looking thing? All that wonderful texture – gone.

I’m going to commit the ultimate heresy here – and wonder if just maybe this hat would benefit from being knit in a synthetic or synthetic blend…