Kisses, gnomes, elfin hats & question authorities

The brown/beige hat's knitting recipe was born of a long ago mistake that has given birth to any number of knitted flowers.

It has also inspired speculation about rather rude knitted projects that the shape suggested to some.

The mistake BTW, did not originate with me. It originated with me following the recipe laid out by Mary Thomas in Mary Thomas' Knitting Patterns which was a significant source of my virtual seminar on knitted polygons.

Mary Thomas' recipe has a swirl pentagon recipe that alternates increase rounds with rest rounds (no increases) and while that knitting recipe may lay flat for some people in some gauge in some stitch patterns it never has for me. I maintain that the swirl pentagon, like most other swirl pentagons must increase in every round to lie flat without blocking.

Back to hats, when I embarked on the latest hat knitting frenzy, this one was the wild card project with much of its knitting in a TBD mode so naturally it ended up being the first one I finished.

I did five purl points to "finish" the increase lines of the pentagon and then I did a series of extreme decreases to bring the stitch count down to the 75-80% of total stitch count I prefer for my ribbings. This sharp decrease nips the piece in hard and forms a base much like a beret or tam.

It really does look like a bleached out Hershey's Kiss and could be modified to be a bit more like a gum drop.

It could also easily be modified to be an upside down acorn or strawberry hat. Depending upon the underlying head size it could also be seen as a bit elfin or gnomish.

It's whimsical, fun and warm. It didn't have a target head to warm while it and the other Borjana beret inspired projects were in process but recent events have made my where should they go decision a bit easier -- big easier.