Hat 35 --- maybe it's "coral"

Hat 35 is another mosaic hat. It is made of Paton's Classic Wool Merino, on size 8 (5mm) needles. The pattern is from the Mosaic Knitting book (Barbara Walker), and was called "Branches". However, I'm renaming it "Coral Reef" for this hat.

Here's the scoop: I wanted to use up the last bit of pink from a prior hat, so I bought a skein of black. Black goes with anything, right? Then I picked the "branches" mosaic, but didn't like that the branches point downward in the book. I showed it to a friend who said "willow tree branches". Eh. Not droopy enough for willow tree branches. Real tree branches point upwards.

So I turned the chart upside down to knit it. (Mosaics can be turned upside down but you may have to make a few tweaks.) I wanted pink tree branches pointing skyward on a black hat. That's what I knit.

However, I didn't anticipate that pink branches pointing skyward on a black hat meant that the human eye would seek out the black and *still* see branches pointing downwards. ARGH! If only I'd knit the chart right side up, I'd see upward-pointing black branches!

Sigh.

So, instead ... if you look really hard ... you'll see upward pointing pink "branches" (if you can ignore the downward pointing black branch-like things). Hubby says "evergreen branches droop like that". Agreed, but that's not the look I was hoping to achieve.

So, dear reader, please focus on the pink. If you focus on the pink you can see coral in the dark water. Pretend you're snorkeling in the Bahamas, OK?

Hubby says "Yup. Coral imagery will mean a lot to Choctaw Kindergarten students." Funny guy.

So there you have it; the reason why I'm renaming the "branches" mosaic to "coral" mosaic for Hat 35.