Someone’s wondering if I couldn’t just photoshop the hat back to glory. And sure, probably, more or less? In fact, I tried (this pic is heavily edited)!

But I try to be circumspect in my editing, both because I’m Super Bad At It, and because I want my pictures to be a realistic version of what you can expect if you get the same yarn. Doing this much editing feels like crossing a line. I feel like saying ‘I used Imaginary Yarn Company’s Spiffy Base in Nifty Color’ in the pattern suggests that your project will come out similar if you use that yarn.

I can’t say that here, especially once I realized something was up with the second ball.

On the first ball, I’d gotten what I think of as a Reasonably Solid Fabric (not stiff, not floppy, no holes between the stitches, but they also aren’t smushed, subjective yes but your fingers learn this stuff over time) at 6.5 stitches per inch (a bit high for worsted, but not wildly so).

I used the same needles on the second ball (which again, was 20% lighter than the first) and got 7 stitches per inch and floppy fabric. I had to go down two needle sizes to get to a Reasonably Solid Fabric, and it measured out at 7.5 stitches per inch (wildly high for worsted).

I suspect either a ball got mislabeled, or the mill changed the base and I got one ball of the old lot and one of the new.

And look, These Things Happen. Dyeing yarn, especially dyeing yarn like this, is a mix of science and art and maybe a little magic. Stuff Is Bound To Happen (which is, once again, why we are NOT calling out the yarn company, not even a little).

But enough stuff happened here that I didn’t feel good knitting a second hat with the second ball. And I didn’t feel good about using the first hat for photos (I’ll still wear it, I just can’t use it in the pattern).

I decided to post about it because constantly creating content is a huge part of my job! Being able to use it for that offsets some of the time and money I spent doing something that didn’t work out (plus I like admitting that Things Aren’t Always Smooth).

But it does mean I need to get more yarn and knit more things. And oh, oh I found just the yarn for the job. You’re going to love it!