I did it!!!!

I set out to knit my dear husband a hat. I'm still a beginner knitter (though I think I've mastered the ruffle scarf) so this is an achievement. It's not perfect. You can see a few small holes near the top closure, but overall I'm very proud of myself.

I didn't have a pattern. I went to the yarn store to buy yarn to match his jacket. Then I talked to the wonderful ladies at In a Yarn Basket for simple cap patterns. I wanted to do something with a vertical rib, and while I know how to do that in crochet, I have no idea how to do it in knitting. Julie suggested doing a rib edging and then continuing up with the purling to create an invented rib. My question then was how to reduce at the top. She said, "bring it back when you're ready and we'll figure something out".

So, I went home and started knitting. It's a bit slow going with my eye, but the plain yarn was much easier to see than the novelty yarn (which stinks because I really want to finish the ruffle scarf that I'm making for myself!). Today I got to the point where I was ready to reduce, but since we had an ice storm and the roads are bad, I couldn't go back to the store. So..... I winged it! (Wung it?). I continued the purl pattern, and did patterned reductions in the middle of the knit sections. I didn't think it would work because I had an odd number of sections, and an even number of knit stitches, but with a little creativity, I found a way to do it.

It's still a beginners work. I wish the stitches were a bit tighter and more neat, but I like it, and more importantly - he likes it!!!