Off the Needles and out the Door

Earlier in the week I had a hat under construction, and I was knitting stripes.  Before I give you an update, let me back up a bit.

I wanted a hem on this hat, so I started with a provisional cast on. That's the blue yarn.  The provisional cast on would give me live stitches to work with when I needed them.  I wanted a fairly deep hem, so I knit around and around for 3 inches.

After I had 3 inches, I purled 1 round.  See green arrow above.  This would make an easy folding line and would become the bottom of the hat.

Then I worked my striped section using the weighted Random Stripe Generator.  I discussed this part the other day in a blog post.  My striped section was also 3 inches deep.

Next I pulled out the provisional cast on and put the live stitches on a separate needle.

This gave me 2 sets of stitches.  The cast on stitches are on the back left-hand needle.

I finished the hem by knitting together the 2 sets of stitches.

I held the 2 left needles so the wrong sides of the fabric were together. Then I put my right needle through the first stitch on each left needle.

I wrapped the working yarn around the right needle and pulled it through both loops to the front.  Then I slid off both front stitches from the 2 left needles.

I knit the 2 sets of stitches together all the way around, and in the end I had 1 set of stitches.

That purl round is at the very bottom of the hat.

This is the inside of the hem - the side without stripes.

After the hem was finished, I knit until I had the length I wanted.  Then I decreased to shape the top.

My son's birthday is next week, and I knew he needed a hat.  The wind is cold, and I couldn't wait until next week.  I gave him the hat this morning, and it's already in use.

The yarn is Bertha Sport, colorways Raven and Cloud.  I never get tired of working with gray, but I am going to make a concerted effort to move away from gray with my next project.

Schedule Update.  The weekend weather has been in the news, but the Wayland Winter Farmers' Market is on for tomorrow, and I'll be there for Farm Fiber Day.  I'll have yarn, gradient bundles, knitting kits and wrist ruler bracelets.

This week's color inspiration comes for an exhibit at Slater Mill.
Life Of Color by Saberah Malik was on display last weekend, and one of her pieces caught my eye.

Budding  
Immersion dyed shibori on silk