watch cap pattern help please

[Charna]

[Granny Square]

Your link doesn't work since your post is a 'picture', not text.  There's a tool in the post-writing box to insert a working link, it sort of looks like 2 links of a chain.

And I see that the advice that I gave to your other post seeking patterns, won't help here (seriously, I think 0.01% of crochet hats are worked in the direction of your pattern, in rows from brim to crown, the rest are worked in the round top down). 

Seafarer's Hat link

But I see why you picked this pattern, it is sharp looking.  The pattern gauge is given on the right side of the first page - are you hitting gauge?  Normally when I'm making a wearable, I don't pay as much attention to stitch height (row) gauge as I do stitch width, as I can add or subtract rows, because 99.9% of wearables are made around the body part, not vertically like this one is.  So, you have to hit stitch height gauge exactly.  Unfortunately it gives gauge for HDC only, not the slst, and it's the slst brim that you are having trouble with.

I don't do a lot of slst projects, but I do know I have pay attention to keep it loose.  The only thing I can think of, since it is only the slst brim that is a problem, is that you switch to a hook 1 or even 2 sizes bigger for the 16 stitches for just the brim area--will be a bit of a pain to switch hooks each row, but since it's worked vertically....  The pattern says there is a total of 53 rows - I'd be inclined to make a 'swatch mini-brim', sort of a head-band maybe 5 stitches wide and 53 rows and join them, with a bigger hook and see how that goes for fit, before you start the whole hat over again.

I answered your other post in the 'seeking patterns' section giving a recommendation to measure your DH around the head (and hat depth) and make a hat without a pattern, crown down, which is the easiest and by far the most common way to make a watch-cap type hat.  However, it's not going to have the knit look like this one does.

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Granny Square

[Charna]

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/cgord/crochet-seafarers-cap

Hi again Granny Square, can you see the photos now? thx, Charna

[Granny Square]

Thanks for the link to your project.  Most of it is looking like the pattern photo (which has nothing do the fit of course), but I have a couple of questions.

On the second photo from the top, there is a wide ^ shaped gap between the bottom ribbing and the HDC ribbing, it almost looks like a gusset.  On row 2 and row 4 are 2 of the 'short rows' the designer spoke of, where you work from the brim 'up' for the 16 stitches of slst ribbing, then back down to the brim (these are the short rows), and then back up for a complete row all the way to to the top; my first thought was that  you accidentally put those short rows in the wrong place in one iteration of row 2 or 4 so they ended up in the HDC area, not the ribbing area, making the 'gusset', but it looks too long and wide for that.

The third photo from the top, left side near the top of the hat - see below red arrow-- that photo was taken after row 3, right?  Because the other short rows happened at the top of the hat, where on rows 2 & 3 you made 2 more short rows by only working across 41 stitches not 44, by stopping short 3 stitches at the top of the hat, so the next row after the photo would have made that protruding angle with the arrow go away, by working past those 3 skipped stitches making a curve toward the center top instead ... just checking...

 

[Charna]

Hello again and thanks so much for thinking about this. Yes, you are right about everything. That bit looks like a gusset but it isn't - it's just the shape of the hat. And yes, that funny bend where your red arrow is, is the top 3 stitches which are left unstitched for some rows in the pattern. I forget to reply from a previous reply from you that my gauge is correct.

I may give your idea a try - to use a larger hook for the rim, and remember to make the slip stitches loose. I'll let you know if it works! Thanks again, Charna

[Granny Square]

A day later and I still was thinking about this...the repeat is 4 rows, so adding 1 additional repeat would only add 4 rows of width to the hdc "head" part but would add 8 rows at the ribbing end (because each of the 2 short rows create 3 rows of just ribbing, so add 4 ribbing short rows for 1 pattern repeat).  So if you haven't already ripped it all out, and you'd be in a position to guess if 8 extra row/width of ribbing would be enough to fix the problem, this might be a solution to try before you do.  Sorry this didn't occur to me sooner.

[Charna]

Good day, Let me see if I understand you correctly please. Do you mean that if I add one more repeat pattern (rows 2 - 5) that might make the rim large enough to fit properly? I haven't ripped it back yet so I could certainly give that a try - if that's what you mean? Thank you, Charna

[Granny Square]

Yep, that's indeed what I was trying to say.  One way to tell if this might work - measure your hubby's head where the brim/ribbing edge would be, and stretch the hat as-is, and measure the edge, and also measure 8 cuff stitches -- how much too-short is the ribbing now?  Will 8 rows of ribbing fix it?  Or if you think it would take 2 more repeats, would that make the head too loose?

I'm so glad you haven't ripped yet, I always wait a few days when this sort of thing happens, in case a possible fix belatedly pops into my head...

[Charna]

OK, I will give that a try and let you know. Thanks again so very much, Charna

 

[Granny Square]

Previously I'd stopped reading the pattern after 'repeat rows 2-5'.  I just looked at the pattern again, it continues with 'for a total of 53 rows, or until desired size', so my idea wasn't so clever after all, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works for you and your hubby's chilly head ... 

[Charna]

Well, I think your idea is quite clever!!. We don't know yet if it will work, but it's certainly worth a try. I tried to measure as you suggested and I can't quite tell, but I have enough yarn, and the time (LOL) so I'm going to give it a try. Thanks again for your attention to my crocheting pattern problem! Charna

[Charna]

Good morning,

Well I have good crochet news and bad crochet news to share with you. Bad news first I guess. I finished the hat last night. I stitched it together but it's not very good. It does fit. So the extra ribbing I crocheted helped the sizing but it looks terrible. I lost stitches in the ribbing so it's uneven and between that, and my extra piece tacked on, well it doesn't look very nice. But I tried!

The good news is that I found another hat pattern and it seems to coincide with your idea of how to simply make a hat from the round. So I am going to try again. The pattern I found is for a beanie which comes below the ears, and my husband wants a watch cap which comes above the ears. I think I have learned enough from the first try to figure out when to stop the repeats a couple of inches before what is written in the pattern. I hope it works.

Luckily I bought extra yarn (by mistake) when I made my first cardigan - again for my husband. This is actually the first items I've crocheted for him. Mostly I've crocheted for my daughter, babies, myself and friends. 

Thanks again for your help. Stay safe, Charna

[Granny Square]

Well darn, sorry it didn't work out, sometimes a pattern isn't meant to be, or needs a bit of a 'time out' before trying it again.  

Good luck with your top-down hat!

[Horsy]

Well, you tried!   Best of luck with your new try at a cap for your husband! 

Anyway, before I attempt anything I see on Ravelry (or anywhere) I look at the notes provided by the crocheters who've attempted and/or completed their project.  Even if some people say, "Oh, this project was a breeze!", that's not good enough for me.  I look for all negative reviews as well, then decide.  If there's more negative than positive reviews about a pattern, I look for something else.  But that's just me.  A professional crocheter would know how to interpret any difficulties a particular crocheter had with a particular project. 

Also, I am suspicious of anything containing more than one slip stitch.  Except where you are making a simple edging on a project, perhaps. 

[Granny Square]

I look at the notes in Ravelry too, I agree they are a big influence on how I pick a pattern--I also make my notes partly for others - "I liked the unusual z on round x because"..."I had to add x stitches on round y to keep it flat"..."This project was frogged because ...".  This pattern got a high overall and clarity ratings and was rated on the 'easy-ish' end of the scale, and there were 760 projects, so I don't think the pattern was inherently problematic.  

I've made an all-slip stitch cowl/wimple thing, the technique of all slst is also called Shepherd's knitting or Bosnian crochet, so nothing to be suspicious of.   SLST ribbing is quite stretchy.  In fact I printed out this hat pattern thinking I might either try it as is, or try just the slst ribbing, join into a tube and knit the rest of the hat, or at least swatch it--I really like the look of the slst part.