Introducing the Sideways Grande Hat and Fall Poncho Pillow

Sometimes a project comes out exactly as written/pictured/anticipated and sometimes it doesn’t come out that way at all. Today I have examples of both. The Sideways Grande Hat (rav link) from the book Boutique Knits by Laura Irwin is an example of the former. A splendidly simple yet original, well-written and easy-to-follow knit here modeled by an unwilling Alice (“Mom, I have to go!!!!!!!). It’s a little on the big side even for my ginormous head and were I to knit it again (unlikely) I would probably cast on fewer stitches. But then I’m notorious for NOT knitting swatches and I should have known better and used smaller needles to begin with. Ah well I think it’s a lovely hat nonetheless. It’s one of frecklegirl’s favorite hats.

Now onto the second FO featured in this post which is an example of a project that did not come out as planned but was transformed into something completely different by the suggestion of a fellow knitter. What started life as the Fall Poncho (ravelry link) morphed into the Fall Poncho PILLOW (It’s actually the Union Square Shawl/Poncho from the book Weekend Knitting).

After months of knitting those phony little cables the resulting rectangle was much too small for a poncho (should have used BIGger needles in this case) but hey, who couldn’t use another pillow? Thanks Kirsten!