Extra! Extra!

Knitter turns to cap for comfort
On Friday, September 28, 2007, a knitter named weezalana discovered some shocking news in regards to her ongoing wip, the Central Park Hoodie (CPH). Having just declared herself a one-wip woman, CPH proceeded to create problems with weezalana, cruelly taunting her with sleeve and hood issues.

After several attempts at counseling, which were ignored by CPH, weezalana had no choice but to leave the Hoodie. Distraught and downtrodden, she quickly found solace with the Cabled Newsboy Cap (CNC). A previous wip, it had been waiting patiently for weezalana to return and offered the comfort she needed to regain her confidence.

Cap proves itself a quick knit
While it does contain cables, CNC proved to be a quick knit (which, in this case, was a good thing). In 2006, weezalana had a brief ribbed-brim relationship with CNC, but was forced to leave it when it could not produce a size 10, 16" needle.

Earlier this year, however, weezalana was able to procure said needle from KnitPicks (KP). Although it was slightly heavy and somewhat tiring, the KP size 10 allowed them to experience the long-awaited closure they had both been seeking.

Pattern cracks under the pressure
Fairly straightforward, the pattern showed a few flaws in its structure throughout the weekend. weezalana, however, was able to make several adjustments to strengthen its foundation (this process has also been known to operate under the alias, "mods"):

• She knitted an extra cable repeat before decreasing for the top.
• In the top decreases, she switched the second k2tog to a ssk for better symmetry.
• After inexplicably ending up with 2 extra stitches following the primary set of decreases, she fudged the final cable decrease round rather than tinking or frogging back to excavate the cause of said stitches.
  

Plastic mesh (former accomplice to the Noni Carpet Bag), was used to reinforce the CNC's brim. However, due to incorrect sizing in the pattern template, weezalana outlined the brim with cardstock, tested the fit, trimmed it to the correct size, then taped it to the mesh prior to cutting.

Cap reunites knitter with Hoodie
In an exclusive interview with knittywhipped News, weezalana had this to say about the experience.

"Overall, I like how this came out! It's very cute and funky. However, worsted weight on size 10s makes for a looser fabric than I generally prefer," she said. "If I were to knit this again, I'd probably go down to size 8s for the entire hat and recalculate the pattern for a smaller gauge."

In the end, weezalana's brief reunion with CNC turned out to be a perfect remedy for her issues with CPH (whom she has now reconciled with). An update on their current status is expected early next week.

Headline News Cap
Pattern: Stitch-n-Bitch Nation
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Chino (approximately 1/2 a skein)
Needle: Size 8 for the brim and ribbing, 10 for the top
Mods: See above.