Bicycling hat

 Well, I did not use either of the patterns I have created for bicycle hats.  Because we were travelling last weekend, and it is quite a bit more comfortable to do hand-knitting as a passenger in the cab of a truck than machine knitting, I printed off a pattern from Julia Stone on Ravelry and hand-knitted a hat. It took all of the 10 hours in the truck plus a few at the farm. After we arrived home,  I lined it with Polar fleece, sewing the lining in using a stretch stitch on my sewing machine. 

I didn't follow the pattern exactly.  I did not achieve the pattern gauge using the yarn and needles I grabbbed on the way out the door.  So instead of knitting the "large" hat, which would have fit me, I knit the "small" hat knowing it would come out larger.  

The hat is knitted in the round. The pattern had an interesting two-color cast-on technique.  However, the YouTube video referenced by the pattern is no longer available, so I had to come up with my own version of a two-color cast on.  After knitting up to the rider's foot, I could see that the bottom of the hat was flaring  excessively and curling.  I decided to knit a facing.  Using the larger of the two swatches, and the larger set of needles, I picked up and knit every other stitch (easy because it was the CC) for three rows.  Then bound off.  I realized the bind-off was too tight, so I knit one more row, increasing in every stitch by making a stitch from the row below.   This facing has a curl of its own.  If I leave it alone, it curls to the outside, giving an additional border beyond that intended by the pattern writer. 

If I turn it under, I will need to tack it down or stitch it down, probably using an overcast hand-sewn stitch.  This will hide the edge of the Polar fleece, which is a raw edge, and give a more finished appearance.  However, it also marginally makes the hat shorter and I may need to add some earflaps to cover my ears before I am finished.