In Which the Pirate Blocks the Hat.

The hat has been finished for a while now. The ends woven in, the yarn put away (sort of – more on that in a moment) and the styrofoam head located. The hat, finished but unblocked, has been sitting on the styrofoam head in my living room, where I’ve been admiring it on a nightly basis. “But,” I said to myself, “I can’t finish writing up the pattern without pictures, and I can’t take pictures without blocking the hat.”

So it had a good warm bath, luxuriating in the Eucalan suds for half an hour or so…

…and now it’s back on the styrofoam head, its stitches far more even (especially around the decreases) and looking good. The head is actually too small for the hat, so it doesn’t look as good as it might. I’d love to have a proper-sized blocking head. One day!

It has a name now, too: I’ve decided to call it Moorefield.

As for the yarn, which has been sort of put away (it’s in a cubby of the coffee table), I might be making some matching mittens. I got started but then had to rip back; the cuff on these isn’t nearly long enough. But they’re pretty, so I’m sharing anyway.

There might not be enough brown yarn left to make two full mittens, so I’ve changed the colours around in the chart to have the main stripiness be red instead of brown for the second attempt. I’m also going to do these as flip-tops, because flip-top mittens are the best thing ever. If I really focus on them, I might be able to get them done and written up in time to release along with the hat. That’s ambitious, but not impossible.