Cavalcade of Xmas FO's -- One Odessa, Two Odessa

More Xmas FO's:


Patty's Odessa


Dad's Odessa

As many of you will recognize, this is Grumperina's Odessa pattern, a favorite hat pattern of mine.

Patty's Odessa is in Jaeger extra-fine Merino, color Blackcurrant (blue with wonderful purple tones), beads from DD's stash again. I know that yesterday I said she graciously allowed me to poach, but the real story is that she tried to throw out her small bead stash years ago and I wouldn't let her, so now the bead stash is really mine. And has to live in my room, because she will throw it out rather than have it in hers. And that would be wasteful, so I would have a hard time with that. Must be something about having been raised by parents who grew up in the Great Depression.

Dad's Odessa is in Jaeger luxury tweed mohair/wool blend (itchiness alert!), and the ribbed band is lined with a ribbed facing (sorry, no pic, I was in a hurry to ship it out). I picked up 4 out of 5 stitches from the cast-on edge, then did a 2x2 ribbing (the outer hat band is 3x2 ribbing) about the length of the ribbed band, then cast off and sewed it down. I'm sure there are more interesting and clever ways to do that, but this worked fine. The facing is KnitPicks Merino Style, pale grey. No beads for Dad, even though it will take me a while to use up the bead stash at this rate.

I knit them both on a #4 16" metal circ from the dark ages (probably a Susan Bates) for the ribbing, then swithed to a #6 Denise. I think I did Patty's crown with DPN's but for some reason I think I did Dad's crown with two Denise circs. This is a good trick to know: make two circular needles with your interchangeable needle set, using the size tip for your project on the right-hand tip of each circ, and a smaller one for the left-hand tip.

It's a good trick to know, but I wish I had remembered my nice set of #6 bamboo DPN's.