My 6th Porom

There can be several reasons for knitting the same pattern six times. In this case, it was because I wanted a slightly improved version of the previous Poroms I've been wearing.

Of the five previous ones I've only really worn two. The first one was a disaster, because I stretched the brim too much during blocking, and, frustrated, threw it into the washer, which, of course, felted it into an unrecognizeable shape (having been knit out of Rowan Felted Tweed). The second time was more successful, but it turned out slightly too big and stiff for my taste (knit with Pirkanmaan kotityö Ohut pirkkalanka doubled). The next three were quite successful, and one of them was gifted to Denise. All the successful versions were knit with a 100% alpaca yarn SandnesGarn Alpakka, so I figured an alpaca blend such as Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light would likely also work well, and the 50% of wool would give it some sturdiness and make it a good compromise between too stiff and too relaxed.

I also wanted this one smaller, less slouchy, than my other Poroms, so I started the decrease chart earlier. I also blocked it quite conservatively, actually using the same "speed blocking" method I developed with Norie: Pull a dry hat over a small balloon, spray just the top of it with water, and leave the brim, which you don't want stretched, dry. Then blowdry so you can take pictures before daylight runs out. It worked perfectly.

The Ravelry project page