If at first you don't succeed....

...keep ripping it out. Seriously, after several attempts and just in time for this glorious thaw we're having, I finished The Toddler's Toasty Topper from Knitty. It's a clever little pattern, a hat knit top down with a built-in scarf.

I'd had it in my Ravelry queue since the pattern came out, thinking it would be a good stash-busting charity knitting project. But this past cold snap made this kind of hat a necessity, so I set to work.

First I tried using two strands of Cascade 220 Superwash together. That got me gauge, but after I'd knit all the increases, I realized the hat was stiffer than cardboard. So I ripped (that's becoming a habit with me lately). And I broke my resolve to stash-bust and ran down to Natural Stitches to pick up two skeins of Wisdom Yarn Poems.

Still, I had problems: instead of getting 4 stitches to the inch, I was getting 4.5, and the yarn was suspiciously itchy. But I could not, would not buy more yarn. I had to, to quote my beloved Tim Gunn, "make it work."

So here are the modifications to the original pattern:

• Yarn: Wisdom Yarn Poems
• Gauge: 4.5 stitches to the inch using size 9 US needles, ribbing done on size 8 US
• Added an additional round of increases to 72 stitches
• Worked short rows as written (but as a short row newbie, that's another story....let's just say it didn't occur to me to work the wraps as I went, but I don't think they show too much.)
• Followed short rows with an additional four rows in pattern before casting on for scarf portion
• Added pitiful attempt at a pompom

Then the hat took a bath in a little bit of Eucalan in an attempt to soften it up. But the big question remains....after all this, will the Toddler wear it?