Scarlet | All Night Knits

Last week I had this very sudden, very overwhelming urge to knit for fall. It seems quite silly considering it is still spring here in the Buckeye State, but all I could think about was cuddly sweaters, tailgating, hot chocolate and my OSU Buckeyes. So I went through my yarn stash, which happens to be full of fall colors, and found the scarlet and gray that screamed “Football Season!” as loudly as possible and casted on.

Thankfully this time I remembered to take pictures of my progress, just to see how the hat came to life. If it worked, fantastic! I would always have these to look back on and take gauge measurements on. If it didn’t, I would be able to see where the mistake was.

: Three Sections Down

: Four Sections Down

: Six Sections Down

: Finished!

There was no need to worry however, the hat turned out fantastic! I had taken a pattern I have written about before (the Etta Hat) and heavily augmented it to fit the yarn I was using and the color changes that would be necessary. I still would never call this my own pattern, but I believe this is a step in the right direction. Sitting down with graph paper and rewriting to fit my needs was a bit scary at first, but I am thrilled with the results!

Up Top Sharpened.

A Bit Blurry on Top.

Facing Left.

Close Up Facing Left.

Back Decrease Natural Light.

Back Decrease Sharpened.

Mostly Gray OSU Buckeye Hat.

Trying to Show the Slouch.

Up Close Showing Dimensional Lace.

So with a successful hat cleaned, blocked and photographed I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I started to stare at the hat, my Panic Monster going “Well, it certainly is GRAY isn’t it?”. I started to worry that there wasn’t enough color, not to mention an overwhelming (it isn’t really, but the Panic Monster thought there was) amount of gray. I checked the yardage I had left, figured if I prayed to the knitting gods there might just (barley) be enough for another hat. I was off and running, casting on hat number two with more red than gray.

Back Decrease-Natural.

Back Decrease-Sharpened.

Front

Up Top Front.

Facing Right.

Facing Left-Sharpened.

Mostly Red OSU Buckeye Hat

Facing Left-Natural.

As it turns out there was 5″ of red and (oh my!) 2″ of gray left to finish the hat. I just made it and I am aware of just how lucky I am that I did. I loved the new hat, it had more warmth to it with the scarlet framing the face. Then I started to stare at these two hats and I was perplexed, which one did I really like better? I loved how both the hats turned out and liked them both for different reasons. The hat with more gray seemed to be more akin to most OSU athletic colors and the red was warmer with that beautiful red framing the face and popping out with the lace. Stupid Panic Monster, I like both!

Mostly Gray Collage.

Mostly Red Collage.

So I am going to leave it up to you friends and neighbors to tell me which one you think is better, if you would like to share that it. Do you like more red in the hat, or do you like more gray? I would love to hear from you, your input and influence is making me a better knitter!