i have been trying to knit this hat off and on for over two years now. The yarn i'm using is 100% acrylic, cost me about $2.50, and it is supposed to be great for cables. i have become a yarn snob and hate using acrylic, this yarn has only reinforced that for me. The pros are that the yarn is super soft and machine washable, the cons are that it splits like crazy and is already pilling a bit after being taken out a couple of times.
i finally found a zigzag stitch that looked perfect in the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 2 but have had nothing but trouble with it. It uses a Left Twist and Right Twist that, when worked, looks nothing like the picture / example. If i knit the st as instructed there is a gap in between the twists that looks far more lacy than i would like. So i have done some research and apparently the LT is the bane of many knitters' existence. No one can agree on how it should be done, there are at least four different methods one can use, and none of them look exactly like in the book (not to mention that the method outlined in the book looks worst of all). My search was not helped by the fact that KnittingHelp.com has no vids on how to knit an LT and while the forums claimed there were videos on YouTube i couldn't find any by searching for "LT knit stitch" (apparently there's a musical group named LT Stitch, however, and i did finally find two videos when i searched for "Left Twist"). i finally made a breakthrough when i found Let Me ExplainKnit's rather lengthy post on the woes of LTs, which verified for me the need to turn every 2nd st so when i ktbl i am actually ktbl i am actually knitting through the front of the loop instead of twisting it. She also linked to the pattern for Cable Twist Socks which instructs the knitter to slip the 1st st as if to purl instead of k2togtbl. This has yielded a stronger unified look, instead of the twisted lacy pattern that, while pretty, was not the look i was going for at all.
This pattern is very much self made though i have used two others as a guide (in a manner of speaking). i used Son of Stitch 'N Bitch's Half-Pipe Hat as a guide for gauge and returned to the idea of encasing the brim instead of trying to knit a shaped case for it (as i did with my Flaming Snowboard Beanie. i used a stockinette st instead of a rib and folded the cast on edge under instead of over. The Half-Pipe brim was far larger than i was wanting to use (the Flaming Beanie's brim is too large, too), so i turned to the Lidsville pattern instead. For the Flaming Beanie i used foam, this time i am using some plastic canvas that i had lying around, and i prefer foam because it is softer and doesn't have jagged edges. It took me the better part of a half hour to trim the plastic canvas so it wouldn't catch the yarn and damage it.
i am currently a third of the way through the LT section and am hoping that the RT section doesn't give me as much grief (though from what i read the RT usually works better than the LT). i'm also winding the yarn for my Wrap Sweater into balls, i'm not sure if i'll actually be casting on today or not, but i have a lot more of Tale of Two Cities to get through, so it's entirely possible that i'll finish the hat or cast on or both.
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