Knit Norwegian Cap

This cap, started in April, is a UFO no more, woo-hoo!! The yarn is Lanett leftover from making Ann Norling fruit hats. The pattern is based on Vibeke Lind's "Cap with patterned border" from Knitting in the Nordic Tradition. The chart is from Annemor Sundbo's "Treasures from a Ragpile".

I picked it up about a week ago, and couldn't remember why it got sent to the never-to-be-finished pile. The color work was done, and I had started the crown. I wasn't sure if it would still fit my son, but it was a shame to let all that colorwork go to waste, so I decided to finish it and give it as a gift, if nothing else.

I looked to see if any decreases had been done and counted how many stitches were on the needles and compared that to my notes. It didn't quite match, so I decreased a bit and kept going. Then I remembered the last time I worked on it (Norway Day) and why I gave up. The number of stitches never matched what my notes said they should be after a decrease row. I tried to keep going, but wanted to give up again. Turns out it wasn't my knitting that was wrong, it was the math I did for the deceases.

I got back on track with a new decrease plan and just about finished. When I turned up the cuff over the crown, they were the same height. I never worked straight, just went right to the decreases. Drat. Well, there was a messy spot anyway in the ribbing, so I frogged it down to the ribbing. Big problem, I didn't have enough red yarn to add more than a couple rows. I decided to use white. It looks funny unfolded, but on the head the white doesn't show. I started over, working straight for a distance about equal to the height of the colorwork, then proceeded to the decreases with correct math.

Here it is pre-blocking:


And post-blocking:


And on the recipient's head:


It isn't really too small, just off. When I made my pattern, I wanted it to be about the size of this cap, which still fits the little man:



I guess the combination of out of proportion cuff, and a too short crown is why it doesn't look quite right. But I'm happy overall.