Hi Knitters,The Monster Hat is a success. I ordered the kit here. The designer is Insubordiknit. She needle felted the monster and the yarn is her original hand spun. It is beautiful yarn. (Sorry about that weird cord sticking out on my neck. What's a 42 year old to do? Just keep your eyes on the hat.)
I used her pattern but changed it here and there. Her needle suggestions are a little vague, to get the gauge of 3.5 stitches per inch she suggests needles anywhere between US size 10-15. I grabbed my size eleven 16-inch circulars and started in. I started with the medium size hat and I first used a seed stitch border. I quickly noticed that it was waaay too big. I was knitting at about 3 1/4 stitches per inch. I pulled it out and dropped down to the smallest size. This size required 10 less stitches than the medium size. This is a much better result. I switched to a 2x2 rib for the brim so it would be a little tighter as well.
I have to warn you that if you get this kit pay close attention to the amount of yarn you have left while you are knitting. I actually ran out of yarn before I finished my decrease rounds. The kit says it has enough yarn to complete a large size hat and I made the small size. I am not sure about this and when I make the other hat I will let you know if I end up with enough yarn. I switched to dpns for the top section. After I discovered that I didn't have enough yarn to finish the hat I ripped back and did a quicker decrease (every row instead of every other) to get down to 8 remaining stitches. I ended up with about 2 inches of yarn left.One thing you can't see in the photos is that every once in awhile there is some coppery tinsel thrown into the yarn. I love this surprise so much. Insubordiknit yarns often have crazy stuff thrown in and I think that is so great. I sewed on the monster patch with red thread and it's ready to go. The hat is actually for my daughter and she is thrilled about it. She wore it all morning even though it is 87 degrees today. I love the finished result just as much as my daughter.
Cheers!
best,
susie
p.s. I still haven't received my beard yarn.