A hat for the beach

I decided the day before the camping trip that I needed a new hat. I knit one for myself in Boston, but it's not machine washable, and it seemed like I'd appreciate that feature after all of the campfire smoke. So, I grabbed some Encore from the leftovers of Kevin's hat, and started at about 9 pm. To no one's surprise, I didn't finish by bedtime.

Here's me all bundled up against the dusk with the work in progress against the sunset on Saturday.



Since we missed our ferry, I had fewer hours of daylight knitting than expected on Friday, and despite a valiant effort in the car after sunset, and on the beach in front of the campfire, I didn't end up finishing until we got back. Those last few campfire-smoke rows were deadly. Note to self: if you're planning to knit in the dark on a beach, don't use a lace pattern!

The end result is pretty and I'm happy with it.



I used a tubular castoff, for the first time -- quite satisfying though you can definitely see the ridge where the stitches divided. I wonder if this version would be better? It is stretchy though, and I'll have to keep this technique in mind for sweater necks.

And if I knit this again, I should stop half a leaf earlier – it was perfect before blocking but now it's a smidge too long.

So the specs:
Pattern: Foliage, from knitty.
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, about half a skein.
Color? A pretty mottled green but the ball band is long gone.
Needles: 7 for the foliage, 6 for the ribbing.