The Hat From Hell

I can't believe I'm still struggling with this stupid hat! Here is a picture of the store sample at my LYS, where this hat was featured as the project in my knitting-in-the-round class. I've sadly decided I ultimately learned zilch in this class, mostly because I was knitting like a fiend in an effort to keep up with my classmates (I knit slowly).

However, we learned nothing about ladders at the corners and how to avoid them, or how to keep stitches from falling off the ends of our Size 7 dpns. These issues, you see, form the crux of my problem.

Anyhow, I've decided once again to ditch the hat I'm working on and start another. See how the seams in the pictured hat are so perfectly even? Well, mine are not, and it's driving me bonkers.

My LYS just got in a shipment of 17 new colors of Malabrigo yarn from Uruguay. I am crazy about this stuff; it's as soft as cashmere and works up beautifully. So I will go over there next week and buy a couple of hanks: enough to make two hats.