A-ha!

Long uninterrupted stretches for knitting have been rare in the past couple weeks. Tonight I finally found one of them again. TV and knitting time may not seem like anything special, but it really is something I need.

Mildly optimistic about the Bengals' chances against the Steelers, I settled in to watch the football game and start over on the seaman's cap. Per the advice of my lovely readers, I switched to US 6s to knit the cuff. I was slightly thrown by the pattern, but now that I've finished the cuff, I understand what wasn't making sense before.

You see, while I knew that the cuff would be folded up, I wasn't taking into account that the stockinette portion is what is fitted around the head. That's why I was confused about using the smaller needles first and using the bigger needles to obtain gauge. I understood once it was explained in the comments, but I still had some misunderstandings about the pattern.

I thought it was strange that the wrong side was facing me as I knit. I couldn't figure out what the purpose was of knitting a single row after twenty rows in *k1, p2*. I didn't see this design element in the photos with the pattern. Then I began to wonder if I was doing something backwards since the stockinette would be showing on the wrong side.

Eventually it clicked. The wrong side is showing because I'll fold the cuff over it. The single row of knit gives the cuff a natural folding line, or so I assume.

Everything is in its right place. The Bengals lived up to their losing history, clinching their fifteenth non-winning season in sixteen years with this evening's defeat. The hat is looking great. I'm feeling better after three-plus hours of knitting. Now to make a dent in all of these programs backlogged on the DVR...