Friday, September 15, 2006

The Curse of the Black Purl, or, Arrrgghhh! The Horror!

Thanks for all your kind comments and knitterly concern regarding my treatment at the hands of the local LYS. Thanks also for the encouragement on the We Call Them Pirates hat.

As I stated in my earlier post, I started the hat on Friday, September8th, and finished it on the following Sunday. Yes, two days. Very fast knit.

Anyway, the whole project started badly with the black Telemark yarn I ordered from Knitpicks. After I placed my order, I got an email saying that particular batch of black Telemark was recalled because of a failure to perform a final rinse of the yarn, which could result in bleeding colors. Well, we don't want that! So I waited another week for a replacement to be sent.

I have to add here that I absolutely hated the Telemark yarn. Both the black and the white were very splitty and scratchy. Even though I was using the supposed bleed-free black, my hands still ended up stained black every time I put the hat down. And the area mauled by my dog turned a dark gray from the black bleeding onto the white.

But I am getting ahead of myself!

I finished the hat, and, despite my best efforts at a swatch gauge before starting, the hat was too small for its intended recipient, my husband. A cursed project, indeed.

On Tuesday, right before I left to go to Knit Night at the library, I discovered that my dog, Annie, had been proceeding under the misconception that the hat was a chew toy. Seriously. The culprit's photo is at right. Note the evil glow in her eyes.

Now I have a gash in the rim of the hat that looks utterly unfixable to my eye.

Luckily, there's Knit Night, so I took the injured hat with me, but no one there was able to offer any suggestions other than, "Just do the best you can with it." (But I appreciated the sympathies and commiserations!)

So that's what I did.

Repair site, inside:

Repair site: outside:

I did the best I could with it, as advised.

Since it's too small for my husband, I decided to give it to my nephew, the only other pirate devotee I know:

This experience has not dampened my enthusiasm for the pattern though. I have already ordered enough yarn to make TWO more hats, including a pink and green version for myself. No Telemark this time though!

18 comments:

laura said...

I'm sorry you hate the Telemark. I tried it when it first came out for a swatch and found it to be soft and not splitty at all! But I was using two greens and testing it for sensitivity against my skin. I fell in love with it. This makes me wary of it for next time however. I'll have to test it again before using it.

Anonymous said...

what an adorable picture of your nephew! i really want to make one of these!

Anonymous said...

Your nephew is so cute! o'mygosh. As long as he likes it and it fits, everyone is happy, right? Just..what, 3 more days to.....talk like a pirate day! Be sure and pass that info along to your nephew, kids have so much fun with it.
Loved seeing you at knitnight, hope you will join us more often.

Erin said...

Sorry you had so many post-production problems with the hat :-( It's adorable regardless, and I'm sure your nephew loves it! I've wanted to make that hat for a while, so it gives me encouragement that it didn't take too long/wasn't too hard.

Sharon said...

The hat itself is great, it is just that some of our projects are doomed especially with a naughty Annie to top things off!!

I reckon though that you have one happy little pirate loving nephew ;)

Jae said...

Oh, no! You did a great job fixing the bite mark, though. Just consider this one practice for your hubby's hat. I'm sure your nephew is grateful that the first one was too small

Maureen said...

Love the hat! My husband thought it very cool too. Sad to see it chewed, but it looks adorable on your nephew!

schrodinger said...

What a hat disaster - looks like you did a great job fixing the hat though, and it looks so cute on nephew's head. I wish you better success with the next tmbp hats.

Webbies said...

I get such a kick out of this hat, you did a good job of fixing the dog chews (silly dogs). I just stumbled across this pattern myself and might have to make one too! I like the idea of spicing it up with some bright colors

BrownPants said...

Oh, there should be counsellors for pet ralted knitting incidents (PRKI), i've had a few myself! And someone already said it but excellent timinig for International talk like a pirate day!

katie said...

I didn't swatch for my very first hat and ended up giving it to my nephew, too! Hooray for nephews! And despite its size, it looks wonderful. You did a great job!

lobstah said...

The hat is so cute on your nephew, and I'm glad you were able to salvage it. I can't wait to see a pink and green version!

Melissa said...

Seriously, he's too cute to be a boy!!
The fix looks good and the nephew looks pleased.

aija said...

Such a cutie! The hat looks great, I can't see the repair myself. Thanks also for the review of Telemark, I was wondering about it.

Sanders said...

What a cutie! I think that sweetie needed the pirate hat... it was meant to be!

annie does look sufficiently sorry in the photo despite the wicked eyes...

are you going to knit night next tuesday? (26th?) we could do like last time and have a refreshment first:-)

Sheepish Annie said...

Any "fix" that can put such a smile on that cute little face is a good one! Nice work.

Beth S. said...

Pink and green skulls... now that I've got to see. :-)

Heather said...

cutest little pirate I have ever seen!!