Project: Short Row Hat (pdf), by Veronik Avery from Winter 2005 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: Faith in colorway A-50, by AmiAmi, distributed by Ami-Itoya
Needles: Takumi bamboo straights, 7US (4.5mm)
Recipient: Me!
Notes: I am extremely pleased with this hat! I saw the pattern last year and immediately ordered the yarn from Canada. Then I tried knitting the hat and couldn't finish. The short row shaping was too unfamiliar to me, and I couldn't see where the hat was going. I abandoned it, with regret.
At the start of the new year I was looking for a project that I could really get excited about, and thought that I would give the Short Row Hat another go. Lo and behold, it was easy! I have learned enough about knitting over the course of last year that I sailed right through the pattern. Happy happy!
The pattern itself is genius. Despite the fact that my knitting is making progress, I still can not imagine in my wildest dreams how Veronik designed this thing. I mean I get it, because I knit it, but I just don't see how she "got it" in the first place. Such creativity!
I wasn't all that excited to be knitting a hat flat, since I find seaming tedious, but it was well worth the effort in the end. A couple of things to note though, about the seaming. This hat is started with a provisional cast on which is then picked up and knit together with the last row of the hat in a three needle bind off. 
This is actually way better than seaming, but I found that my provisional cast on had left a purl ridge after I bound off. This was probably a problem with how I did the cast on, but I don't have enough experience with it to really know. Unsatisfied and undaunted, I unseamed the bind-off and pulled out the cast on row. This did the trick, and I am pleased with how the seam turned out. Blocking flattened it out nicely.
The yarn is extremely soft, and I found it wonderful to work with. I was afraid that it wouldn't be very strong since it's a single ply yarn, but it held up under plenty of fiddling around with the short rows. One downside to the yarn, and I will keep you posted on this, is potential felting/pilling. The start of the hat was quite fuzzy by the time that I got around to the bind off, and that was just from working on it on the couch for a week or so. No traveling in a purse or anything. The hat also felted very slightly when I blocked it. The instructions say to "block lightly," which probably means to steam it, but there were some wonky stitches that needed a good soak and real blocking. I risked it, and did notice some loss in stitch definition. But not much. Also - I blocked the hat on a balloon blown up to my head circumference (visible in some photos). Why didn't I think of this sooner?!
The colors in the yarn speak for themselves - gorgeous! I was constantly entertained by the color changes as I made each diamond and top section. You need a yarn that makes it's color changes fairly quickly if you want to avoid pooling between sections, as Lori discovered when she used Noro to make the hat. I think it's beautiful either way, and the construction still so novel, so it's up to you to choose a yarn that you like. A solid would be fun, too, but wouldn't show off the design as well. I had such a grand time with all of the short rows that I would be tempted to knit this with a solid yarn if I didn't have any other colorways available.
I gave the hat a test run in Canada this past weekend. Despite ridiculous temperatures (negative 9F? WTF??), my head was warm, soft, and cradled in hand-knit lovin'. This one is a keeper!
This yarn was a pleasure to work with again, and I recommend it to everyone. You have to pay for shipping from Canada, so be sure to stock up to make it worth your while. This colorway is sold out on their web page, but there are five left to choose from, including the green used in the pattern.
Goose disapproves and shows that he is far cuter than the hat. And much fatter.
