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Pineapple Hat 


This is what happens when a beginner tackles a project that is way too hard. 

There used to be a really great yarn store in Berkeley, CA called Straw into Gold (I think it may have been owned by Crystal Palace Yarns - based nearby). When I had just learned how to knit a few years ago, I heard they were going out of business. Not one to pass up a going out of business sale, i headed over. in my opinion, this was a really interesting plan since i had only ever knit 1 thing and barely had any idea what i was doing.

Turns out, i didnt get much yarn because i didnt know what to get. i did get a bunch of really oddly sized circular needles for really cheap (most of which i have yet to use). I think i was having delusions about making tons and tons of hats. i also picked up a bunch of cute patterns that were half off. One that I was particularly excited about was for a pineapple hat. it had cute green leaves around the bottom, a patterned stitch in yellow that made it look like a pineapple, and a funky pineapple stalk coming out of the top.

I realize now that there are several things about this pattern that were just too hard for me then. luckily, i didnt get very far before i had to quit. the first step was to knit little green triangular leaves that would be the brim of the hat. this required using 2 strands of yarn, and a really small circular needle. then something happened where you had to switch to a smaller circular needle. Since i knit very tightly it wasnt long until i had totally seized up the stitches. thats right - they were so tight i could not get them to move on the needle at all. i am still not really sure what happened. It was so discouraging that i quit. which is probably good because i probably would have lost my mind doing the yellow pineapple stitch. 



 
I saved this little piece of the pineapple hat to remind me of how much it sucked and not to try again for a while. Dont let this story discourage you from trying the pineapple hat though. i was just too inexperienced and impatient to make it. And now i have a mental block against it, so i am not going to try it again for a few more years. 

Posted: Tue - April 6, 2004 at 10:09 AM           |

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