Let's See, Where Was I?

Before the commercial interruption, I was giving some directions for the multi-colored hat.

You might have noticed that at one point I said that I worked until I had 16 sts less than my desired final number of stitches. And, you might have wondered "Yes, but what the heck was that desired final number????"

Well on the first hat, based on a presumed gauge of 5 sts/inch, I was shooting for 96 sts to yield a finished circumference of 19.2 inches. BUT in real life the circumference came out at 20 inches, which means I was actually getting 4.8 sts/inch.

This was a little larger than I wanted.

So, for the second go around, I worked on the crown until I had a total of 88 stitches. And in the end it gave me a more satisfactory (to me) finished circumference of about 18 1/2 inches.

At any rate, once the crown was completed, I just worked even in my color pattern to the end - no more shaping. Here's how it went:

Join B (brown), but don't break off W (white), just carry it up inside the hat.

With B, knit 1 Rnd, purl 1 Rnd, knit 1 Rnd.

Drop B and pick up W.

With W, knit 2 Rnds.

Drop W and pick up B.

With B, knit 1 Rnd, purl 1 Rnd.

Now you can break off B, as it won't be used again for awhile.

Join R (red) and knit 1 Rnd.

Join O (orange), and with it *k1, sl 1; rep from * (Slip purwise wyib)

With O, knit 1 Rnd.

With R, purl 1 Rnd, knit 1 Rnd.

With W, *k3, sl 1; rep from*

Do the same thing again. That is, with W, *k3, sl 1: rep from *

At this point, you have some elongated (slipped) red stitches stretching over two rounds of white ones.

To be continued (after the weekend, because we're headed out of town)