I am now officially DONE with the White Frost beanie (in Aran).

Here’s the finished product:

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Final Thoughts

General Tightness

On the previous beanie attempt, I had decided to switch down a needle size since my swatches were coming out very large compared to the given gauge. That ended up with the previous beanie feeling a bit too tight. So this time I stuck with the given needle sizes, but it still ended up with a similar level of tightness. Both of them are still wearable, but I was hoping they would turn out baggier (like beanies should be! 😤).

Anyway as long as I can wear them, I don’t feel a need to redo them 🤷‍♂️

Tightness at Top

On the previous beanie attempt, I felt that I had closed up the top a bit too tightly, which gave it a bit of a dimple right at the top. This time I tried to knit a bit more loosely to avoid that, but I now believe that that can’t be fixed. I think the pace of decreases towards the end causes it to close up a bit too quickly, which forces that dimpled shape. However the looseness did at least help with making it feel better to wear!

Pompom Attachment

I had been planning on using this pompom on my previous hat, but decided against it since the pompom felt a bit heavy compared to the main hat. That turned out to be a good choice (in my opinion) just based on the color similarity.

Also, the previous pompom was cut off of a store-bought hat and was basically just a bundle of yarn ends. To attach that on the previous beanie, I just took the loose yarn from the end of the main beanie and repeatedly seamed it through the pompom to attach it.

This faux fur pompom was different because it had an elastic loop, which the other pompom didn’t have. I read one attachment method online where you basically sew a button onto the inside of the beanie, and then simply insert the elastic loop through the top of the beanie and wrap the elastic band around that button. That method turned out to be pretty easy! And it’s also nice because I can detach the pompom if I ever feel like washing the hat.

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Next Project

For my next project, I’m thinking of knitting a sweater for my friend’s dog!

I made one for my own dog some time ago, so I was thinking they could have matching sweaters. It’ll be a bit difficult though, since he lives elsewhere, so I won’t be able to continually test the sweater on his dog to make sure it fits. Guess I’ll have to pester him for a lot of measurements 😮‍💨

Stay tuned for updates on that!