This is just a repeat of the previous White Frost beanie pattern I just finished. However this time, I’m using my leftover Aran yarn (off-white-colored) and also the faux fur pompom that I had meant to use on the previous gray beanie. And actually I think this color combo should work out pretty well! 🤷♂️
Current Progress
Since I just started, I’m only 8 rows into it (about 10% done).
Here’s my current progress:
Oh and here’s the pompom again:
Gauging
On the last project, I was really torn about how to proceed with the gauging. I felt like my swatches were turning out too large, so I switched down one needle size from what was suggested. It ended up okay in the end, but probably would have been better with the original needle sizes.
So this time I’m sticking with the suggested needle sizes (US 6/7). And even if it turns out to be a bit big, I feel like that’s the point of a beanie anyway 🤷♂️. Plus the pompom is pretty big, so it would make more sense on a bigger beanie.
I’ll be making steady progress on this in the next few weeks!
I’m just planning on doing 4 rows a day, since I have some other things to get to and also don’t have any particular time-constraint, so that should take me 3 weeks or so to finish. At least I’ll finally have something to work on at knitting meet-ups! 😋
The White Frost Beanie (in gray) with pompom is complete!
Pompom Switcheroo
You maaaay have noticed that the pompom is a different one from the one I had originally decided on 😁
The original pompom seemed a bit too large for this beanie, so I opted for another pompom from my stash! This black one was actually stolen from a store-bought hat whose pompom I had cut off a while ago. It’s just a basic yarn pompom, as opposed to the fancy faux fur one from before. This one was a lot lighter, so it matched the weight of the beanie better. The combination of the gray and black also seems to work out well. Worked out pretty nicely in that I got to use up an old bit sitting around in my stash!
I’m planning on using the other (nicer) faux fur pompom for a second copy of the hat (stay tuned 🤫).
Final Thoughts
One thing I have to say about this project was that the pattern was very nicely written.
I think back on the fact that it’s a wrap-around cable pattern done in-the-round, so it can get weird where the rounds begin. But this pattern accounted for it pretty well and adequately explained how to handle the cables crossing over the round starts.
Soooo I was near the middle row (43) of this part of the pattern:
The even rows are pretty much just knit-the-knits and purl-the-purls, which means rows 42-44 were identical. I had stopped somewhere around there and wasn’t totally sure if I’d noted down the correct row number for where I stopped. I tried the next row and kept checking my work to see if I was doing it right or knitting a duplicate row.
It turned out I was fine, but I ended up forgetting one of the cables in the row because I was so distracted. Then while I was undoing the last row, one of my needles slipped and I dropped a bunch of stitches 😭.
By that point, since I was already pretty uncertain about whether I was doing it correctly, I just decided to start over 🤷♂️
Current State
I restarted and got back up to basically the same place that I was at last time.
Hopefully there are no more issues like that from now on 😩
I had a few false starts on this project since I was worried about the gauge and sizing.
I had settled on following the pattern for a size Medium, since that fit the desired head size. The pattern suggested using needles of size US 6 and 7. However, when I tested out my gauge with the larger needles, my swatch was a lot larger than expected. Since I didn’t want the hat to come out unnecessarily big and floppy, I decided to switch down my needle size to US 5/6. With that smaller needle size, my gauge swatch still came out a bit big, but I felt it was alright just from eye-balling it.
Knitting in the Round
Joining
In-the-round is definitely my favorite needle style, and I even prefer to use circular needles when the project isn’t in-the-round. So you’d think I would be pretty good at joining at the beginning, after casting-on, to continue the piece in-the-round. But for whatever reason, I always find myself redoing the cast-on and join since I end up with a bit of a gap at the join.
Initially I was doing the following to join:
Cast-on 1 more stitch than the pattern calls for
Slide the first switch on the right needle (the first that was cast-on) along the circular needle, up to the tip of the right needle
Slip that switch over to the left needle, so the first and last cast-on sts are adjacent on the left needle.
Work those two sts together as the first st of the pattern
I had seen this method of joining online and thought it would work here, but I kept seeing a gap at the join as I knit the later rows.
So I looked up other methods and ended up liking the one where you basically *swap* the first/last sts to link the ends together. This way of joining ended up producing no noticeable gap, so I’ll definitely default to that one in future projects.
Cord Length
Another issue I kept hitting was with the length of cord between the circular needle ends. Initially I used a longer cord than necessary (24 inches I think?) and kept having to bunch the sts and cord up in weird ways to slide them up to working position. Eventually I switched the cord to a shorter one (15 inches) and that worked out much better!
Cable Pattern
I really like the look of the cable pattern here, which has the look of a chain-link fence!
I was trying to account for cable splay near the edges of the cables, but it turned out to be a big hassle to focus so much on my tension as I went. After I had finally restarted enough times, I just ignored the cable splay and let it turn out however it would. But looking at the picture above, I’d say it really isn’t that noticeable (except maybe to other cable-knitters 😁).
What’s Next?
Continue Pattern
Most of the remaining rows are just repeats of what I’ve already done, so that’ll just take a few days to complete.
Decreases
The last bunch of rows is where the beanie gets closed up with decreases.
Looking ahead in the pattern, the decreases seems to just be k2togs, so nothing fancy.
Pompom
I received the faux fur pompom in the mail:
There’s a little loop which I can use to attach it to the apex of the beanie.
Right now I don’t know exactly how I’ll attach it, but I’ll deal with that when I get closer to the end 🤷♂️.
I was looking for a beanie with some cabling, and this one really has a nice look!
I’m planning on making two of them in different colors, but first is gray.
Example Project
The plan was to make on in a nice gray color, so that the cables would be more visible. Initially, I was going to get the same yarn brand as mentioned in the pattern, but turns out they are in Europe and don’t ship to the US.
However I found a user project on Ravelry that had the color I wanted. Also it had the same yarn material composition as the pattern, which is something I wanted.
Since my previous post, I (very slowly and tediously) sat down and wove all of the ends in.
That part wasn’t too difficult, but there were quite a few loose ends due to the multi-part nature of the sweater.
Neckband
I had been considering whether I should undo the neckband bind-off since it came out a bit tight. I ended up deciding not to re-open it and just let it stay as it was. That turned out to be a good decision because the collar loosened a bit over time! Even though it’s still somewhat tight, it’s not difficult to get my head through anymore. And also the tightness of the collar actually makes the fit more snug overall, which I think is a good feature for a sweater to have 👍
The pattern also called for the neckband to be folded and sewn down, but I just did this with the yarn itself and it turned out pretty well!
Final Thoughts
This was definitely a fun project and very straightforward to follow!
The pattern document itself was very well-written and nicely formatted too.
Also, since the cable patterns here aren’t very difficult, it’s a good project for beginners to get into cables.
I haven’t posted at all yet this year! Can you believe it??
In the meantime, I was slooooowly getting the seaming done, and now I’m nearly finished!
While I was getting the seaming done, I was a bit worried about whether my pace was even. Also the sleeve cuffs seemed like they might end up too tight, but I’d say everything turned out fine.
Remaining Steps
Weave in Ends
Lots of loose ends to weave in and hide in the mesh…
Not too difficult, but far from my favorite part of any project 😩
Fix Neckband
When I finished the last knitting step and bound up the neckband, I didn’t do it very loosely. So now the collar is a bit tight, and I may have to reopen it (snip ✂️ snip ✂️).
The neckband is also supposed to be folded inwards and sewed to its bottom, so that it becomes half its current height. But I think this will be difficult to do with the bind-off being tight, and it’ll probably make the collar even tighter. However, I’ll push off the decision on reopening the neckband until I’m done weaving in the rest of the ends.
Almost There!
Time to weave in those ends!
Here’s hoping I don’t procrastinate again and end up posting months from now… 🤞
Once again, it has been some time since my last post!
The separate pieces of the Aran sweater had been sitting around while I procrastinated the seaming.
But with December ending soon, I’m hoping to get it done within the year 🫡
I’ve just completed the seaming for (almost) all of the slanted boundaries where the raglan-style sleeves link up with the main front/back pieces. One seam (the back-left) is left open to be seamed later on.
Here’s what it looks like now:
Now things are a bit tidier since all 4 pieces are connected up into a single item.
There are still loose ends everywhere though 🥲 gonna be fun weaving those in at the end.
Seam Technique
I think my seaming generally comes out okay, but I could definitely work on that in the future.
To be honest, I’m not even sure I do it correctly, but I like the way the slanted boundary came out here so… 🤷♂️
Neckband / Collar
One of the last steps is making the neckband, which needs to be done to all the pieces at once.
That involves picking up the stitches that had been left on stitch holders, as well as picking up new stitches from any closed/cast-off edges.
I started on that and have done a bit of it, so hopefully that part will be done in a few days.
After that little neckband digression, the last part will be to seam everything up and weave in ends.
Then I’ll finally be free from this project and done with the year 😭
It has been a while… but I’ve returned to finish up the Aran sweater I’ve been working on!
I was a bit distracted with the Swan Shawl project that I picked up in the meantime 😅
All Pieces Complete
I finished the 2nd sleeve, so now all of the pieces of the sweater are complete!
I considered washing and blocking the parts to make them fit the measurements, but I was a bit worried that it might end up stretching it out and making the sweater baggy. The pieces already seemed to have the right measurements, so I felt that washing was unnecessary. So I ended up just pinning them to confirm they were the right size and make them fit the measurements neatly.
Last Steps
All that’s left to do now is seam all of the pieces together.
That’s definitely my least favorite part of the project 😔 might take me a few attempts.
Oh and I also have to knit the neckband to finish up once everything is connected up.
Mihir the Cable Guy 