So tonight I finally finished splitting the orange yarn in half. I even had time to knit a swatch for the next pattern I’m attempting and had to try 3 sizes before I got the correct guage with size 1 needles. Crazy.
Since I consider the orange beanie I made him (but haven’t given him yet) to be an epic fail, I scoured Ravelry for beanie patterns until I stumbled across this gem. The pattern is called Pismo Hat and seems rather daunting as it is a 1×1 rib worked in fingering weight yarn. Unfortunately it is entirely perfect for the look I’m going for. What have I gotten myself into??! It’s a good thing for my friend that he’s very pretty! I already yearn to work a project in bulky weight, and I haven’t even cast on for this beanie!!
Anyway, I thought I would record my mod plans here, for myself and posterity, since I will inevitably lose the piece of scrap paper I did all my math and planning on.
The beanie pattern looks like it will only make a hat that is 18.18″ in circumference, but I need it to be 24″. Since I got my guage to match (at least width-wise) the pattern’s guage of 33 stitches to 4 inches, to make the hat the size I need it, I will have to cast on 198 stitches. This will work perfectly because I will still have a whole amount of stitches, so when I divide the stitches into 6 sections when I work my decreases, I will have equal numbers in each section. IN DECREASES Pattern: 6 sections of 25 stitches will decrease to total of 6 stitches around. Mod: 6 sections of 33 stitches will decrease to total of 6 stitches around. I was afraid that this would elongate the crown and make it a weird beanie only suited for Cone Heads, but since I have a wider base that I’m decreasing it over, the difference in decrease length should be unnoticeable to the eye. The pattern’s slope of decrease (if you will. haha its like algebra 1 with the graph paper all over!) will be 18.48% and if my mods go as planned, the slope of decrease should be 18.54%
Sorry if anyone took the time to read that and it bored them to tears.
This is quite possibly the wierest post I’ve written yet. I don’t normally post the math or logic behind my mods on this blog, but I’m so paranoid of losing this paper and then having to do all this work and planning again, that I don’t mind posting a boring entry to ensure that it can’t get lost. Sorry to everyone else who finds this boring! But who knows, maybe someone else will need to make this hat for a 24″ head and will need to modify it for size 1 needles and will just so happen to come across this blog and I will have saved them from having to do the annoying work I had to do. Slim chance, but a girl can dream, can’t she? 
It’s past 4 a.m. again. I had wanted to cast on for this beanie tonight, but I really want to get some sleep and know I could easily be up another 2 hours getting the first few rows done if I start now. So I will be patient and wait until tomorrow. Wish me luck!
