A knitting fail
The PetiteKnit Oslo
Whilst I was in London recently, visiting my bestie, we went to the knitting shop Beautiful Knitters in Pimlico. An adorable, cosy little yarn store, tucked away on a side street but with warmth and ambience spilling out of the windows and onto the pavement. It was the gloaming, with the night drawing in and the Christmas lights through people’s windows as we walked were really adding to the vibes.
I was looking for two colours of Knitting for Olive mohair; a navy to complement some Drops Merino Extra Fine leftover from a snood I knit for a tiny person, and a burnt orange for an upcoming balaclava project. I've never knit with Knitting for Olive before, but had heard good things and was excited to buy it from an indie shop. I love buying yarn as a souvenir of a trip or memory, it makes the end project so much more meaningful.
Knitted snood for a wee scone
This post feels like blogging of old, in the days of yore when I used to exclusively write about my finished makes. Back in those days I had so much more free time for crafting, so used to churn out finished objects of varying degrees of success. Many of those items are long gone, gifted, donated, or consigned to the great textile recycling bin in the s…
Beautiful Knitters did not disappoint, with a range of Mohair options in various colour ways. They even packaged up my purchases in a canvas tote bag, for bonus memories when I'm carrying my next thrifted find home from the charity shop. If you're ever in central London and have time for a browse, I would definitely recommend this place.
I set about turning my leftover Drops merino into a PetiteKnit Oslo hat, held double with the mohair. The resulting fabric was a perfect weight and softness, with that beautiful fuzzy halo from the mohair. I've knit this pattern before and it's a fairly straightforward make, perfect for winter evenings in front of the stove with a good TV show (Only Murders in the Building anyone?).
Unfortunately, pride comes before a fall, and my smug self-assurance that I could just plough on with this project without swatching first came back to bite me. I didn't really realise until way too close to the end how large this hat was, and by that time it was too late to really do anything other than finish it off and hope for the best.
I'm sad it's as large as it is, because it's not really that wearable in it's current form. I managed to take some nice enough photos in the garden for this post, but in reality it looks a bit ridiculous. I wore it to the gym recently, to cover my bed hair (no point showering before getting sweaty) and felt like I was constantly adjusting it. The back band folds over at the nape of my neck, which is annoying, and the whole hat feels like it's about to slip down over my eyes. I had my father-in-law try it on, thinking I could gift it to him, but it's too large for him too. I think the only option really is to frog it and start again, sizing down this time. It’s annoying but it’s the way it goes sometimes. I’d rather frog it and reuse the yarn, than have it languish unworn. Too many nice memories to let it go to waste.
You made a "hat swatch" a la Elizabeth Zimmermann!
It looks nice enough in the photos, and the color is lovely. Frog it and make it again starting with 10 or 12 fewer stitches. But good reminder for those of us who also like to wing it- “Swatch and wear, or don’t do either!” I hear my grandma’s voice echoing in my ears….