As usual, my hat binge is showing no signs of slowing!  I don’t know why I’ve never explored the possibilities of short row hats before.  I’m loving it right now though!  It’s a great way to use up all those yarny oddments laying around.

My first hat this week, is using a rustic, hand spun, llama yarn that my mom dyed.  And when I say rustic, I don’t mean slubby and homespun, I mean vegetable matter.  Lots of vegetable matter.  Even that doesn’t do it justice, I’m picking full on tree branches out of this stuff.  It’s really pretty though!  And it’s bulky!  One afternoon in the park, even with a false start that required frogging, and it was done!

I’m happy with the result.  The short rows give it a nice close fit, not much slouch in the back at all.  With the bulk & weight of this hat, you definitely don’t need any extra fabric hanging around.

The short rows are the garter ridges.  The color change highlights them nicely, really gives you a clear picture of how the shaping is effected.  You can imagine a big round noggin filling the front of the hat, and no weird gaping to bunch up around the back of the neck!  Perfect!

As I was patting myself on the back for a job well done, I started the next hat.  More stashbusting scraps, more short rows.  All was going well until…

I forgot to change needles at the end of my ribbing.  D’oh!  No big deal.  I’m now knitting a hat on size 3s.  It’s still going to be lovely.  It’s just going to take forever.  (or a day and a half…somehow I’ll manage to survive!)

Check Ravelry for the details:  Rustic Llama  or  Purple Waves