Headband Revisited

Remember my project? 

I haven't forgotten it either.  I have been working towards making one of these:

I found the pattern on pinterest, link here :)

A week or so ago I decided to just start knitting it, knowing full well that my bulky hand spun 100% alpaca yarn would knit up different than the yarn suggested by the pattern.  I know about doing a gauge swatch and all that, but how boring!  So I didn't.

And, I am learning that at least for my own hand spun 100% alpaca yarn, which is incredibly soft yarn, if I knit it with a small size knitting needle, that soft feel will fall into disguise.  Bulky yarn on a small needle = it knits so tight that the product almost feels hard and stiff, not alpaca like at all!

Combine all these things and I was not making a nice cute soft headband.  It was turning into a disproportionately big and stiff headband.  Not at all what I wanted!

So I frogged it. 

Which means to "rip it out, rip it out" commonly called frogging in the fiber arts world.

While at the alpaca show this weekend, I brought my yarn, larger size knitting needles, and a complete over haul of the pattern done specifically by me to fit my own yarn.

It is knitting up fast:

And best yet, it is soft and proportionate and everything I wanted this headband to be.