Finished Object Dance

The knitting part of the tam is done, but it's not really done until the ends are sewn in, it's blocked, and it fits someone's head.

That's been a part that's concerned me over the last few days, the being sure it would fit. Making flat circles in knitting is always dicey, and I wasn't sure, what with the slightly tighter gauge than what was called for in the guidelines I was following (7.33/inch for me, vs. 7.o/inch book).

But some much can be fixed or ruined in the blocking. The first two pictures are pre-blocking.

This vital tool is a 12 inch tammy stretcher. The sticker says it came from the Tomato Factory (no longer with us) from New Jersey, probably at the Stitches in the fall of 1991 (the one I skipped my grandfather's memorial service to attend).

By a really fortunate co-incidence, the tam just fits it, showing the wheel and upper border on the top, and the lower border and ribbing coming exactly below the fold. The ribbing is doing it's best to stand vertically.

Glad I did it? Yes.
Ready to do it again real soon? Maybe, though I've got a number of other projects I've been hankering to get to while doing this.
What would I think about next time?

1. Maybe going up from a zero to a one. The gauge was a tad tight for this, even with working hard to keep the second color loose.
2. When I get to the top wheel, particularly the small inner rounds, using double points rather than 2 circs in a circle. The geometry of the circle and the length of the needle portion of the 16 inch circ. didn't really get along. If I'd had the double points with me and could have divided the circle into thirds or quarters, it would have made working the stitches much easier.
3. That 3rd color in the middle three rows of the upper border was a bear to maneuver with the other two yarns. Glad I (rather coach Lucy) choose to have the accent, but it was a technically difficult move that got frustrating at times.
4. It was an interesting exercise to see how the pattern came together with the different colors. This is an opportunity for growth for me, but not my next project.

Not done yet until it fits someone's head, right?